In Dover Township: Fiscal Conservatives Vanish And Leave No Trace

Township Fiscal Year Budget Contains Record Spending Increase, Hides Big Tax Hike For 2003

Committee Provides Less Money For Open Space, More Funding For Political Patronage, And Covers Up The Big Tax Increase By Burning Vital Reserves

Dover Township: The township budget, adopted a few weeks ago, contains a record spending increase for operations of nearly $5 million and a big built in tax increase for next year.

At a time when inflation is around 1.5%, and senior citizens are getting a meager increase of 1.42% in social security income, the township committee increased spending for operations by nearly 10%, roughly 6 times the rate of inflation.

Seniors Get 1.42% Social Security Increase
Dover Budget Goes Up By 10%

Total spending in the police budget alone was up from $13.7 million to $15.1 million, an increase of more than 10%, not including health insurance costs.

Health insurance costs rose from $4.9 million to $6 million, a single year  increase of $1.1 million, more than 21%, the largest cost increase in the state.

Insurance Increase Has Boss Clement’s
Fingerprints All Over It

The huge health insurance cost increase is due to an ill conceived political patronage driven decision to take the township out of the state health benefits program several years ago, a decision ordered by local GOP political boss R. C. Clement.

The huge spending increase was covered up by the reduction in open space acquisition. The big tax increase was papered over by using vital reserves to hide it, a decision which will make the tax increase worse.

Budget Does Not Address Huge Pension
Cost Increases Set For 2003

The budget statement does not even address an enormous increase in pension costs . a contingency which is directly connected to the huge Whitman administration bond issue of a few years ago, and related losses in the stock market of $22 Billion.

Patronage Flunkies Get Big Money
Seniors, Homeowners Get Peanuts

Who better to address these issues than Virginia Haines, a Whitman administration lottery department appointee who benefited disproportionately from excesses in the Whitman administration pension system, spent $100,000 with her cronies traveling around the country on the generosity of the taxpayers, and fervently supported the ill conceived Christie Whitman bond issue.

Aldrich’s Pension Scam Replacement Also Left Big Current Year Operating Deficit ($6.4 Million) At The Dover MUA

Haines is now a township committee member, a replacement for “Mayor” Clarence Aldrich. She resigned from the Dover Municipal Utilities Authority earlier this year in the wake of a $6.4 Million operating deficit caused by her reckless policies.

She voted for the township budget document without ever mentioning the big deficit or next year’s tax increase caused by her carelessness and duplicity.

The first line of the budget statement endorsed by Haines and fellow “fiscal conservatives” Carmine Inteso and Michael Fiure reads as follows:

“The fiscal year budget represents a sound spending plan for our community”.

Please Give Us All A Break!!!

© Copyright 2003-2007 Ocean County Politics .com. All Rights Reserved.
Questions & Comments: gvgeditor@aol.com