How not to fund a township budget unless you want a HUGH tax increase next year!!!

There are many basics in building a municipal budget, county budget school budget, even state budget.

The biggest mistake you can make is by using non recurring revenue otherwise known as unused bond reserves, surplus, one-time sale proceeds, previously undisclosed revenue (always raises eye brows) and the "found money"( my favorite since it indicates that money was lost prior to it being found.)

Middletown Republican Committee people have long used this spectacularly poor choice of funding the budget as their runaway spending has gone unchecked. You simply cannot spend more than you take in, or you must raise taxes to bring in more money. Raising taxes is a BIG NO-NO as a politician, so you try to blame anybody else that you can, hence the recurring Scharfenburger letters.

The reason the county faced a tax increase this year is because of Lillian Burry and her use of non-recurring revenue to bring the county budget down to a zero increase. Sure it looks fine when you are running but the next year there is no new revenue to fill the hole she made in the budget by using on-time funds.and so you have the unenviable tax increase.

In Middletown they are now facing the same problem. the Republican Township committee members, in a move that can only be called"irresponsible" sold the cell tower leases and used the money to fund the budget. While we could have had a solid stream of revenue for twenty years, the sold it off at a loss and we now have a revenue hole in the township budget.

So the township is looking at an increase in taxes of 9.2%

They have exceeded the state's 4% cap on the budget put in place to keep our tax increases low.

They have deferred this year's pension payments for twenty years.

They have borrowed $53 million from the schools in deferred taxes.

Their CFO, Richard Wright disappears after it finally becomes clear that the budget mess created by the Republicans will increase our taxes beyond those of our neighboring communities.

This in a year when the re-eval hits our pocketbooks too.

Now comes word that Robert Roth, our temporary CFO has uncovered reserves from unused bond proceeds. So we are going to take the money that we are basically paying interest on and use it to fund the budget in fact creating another revenue hole in the town's budget.

Is this anyway to properly manage a township budget?

I think not.

So, next year when we are all still struggling with the recession, unemployment and foreclosures, there will be an even bigger tax increase staring Middletown in the face.