Haelig: Larsen, Township Committee, Procrastinate As Local Government Is Consumed By Overdevelopment And Traffic Gridlock; “There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch”

Committeeman Richard Larsen Interviews Surgical Team For Possible Procedure To Remove His Foot From His Mouth As Keansburg Sewer Charge Analogy Turns Sour

Lucky Keansburg Residents Get To Pay $709 A Year (Compared To $225 In Dover Township) For Sewer Service And Debt Coverage

Meanwhile, Former “Mayor” Paul Wnek, Hiding In Burlington County Highway Department Bunker, Reviews Old Casablanca Tapes To See If Captain Renault Was Really Talking About HIM

Dover Township: Richard “The Accountant” Larsen apparently did not check his facts when he claimed he “saw on the internet" that the boro of Keansburg “saved $150,000 a year” when its sewer authority was dissolved and turned over to the borough.

Larsen, now a township committee member, wants to dissolve the Dover Municipal Utilities Authority which has a basic annual sewer rate of $225 a year, one of the lowest in New Jersey and one that has not been raised in 19 years since 1984.

Larsen Wants DMUA To Subsidize Township Budget
Bloated With Payroll Padding And Patronage

Larsen wants to turn DMUA operations over to the township public works department (the one that has trouble getting leaves picked up) to use DMUA reserves to float a township budget bloated with payroll padding and patronage.

Larsen Cited Keansburg As Example Of Good Things That Happen

Larsen cited the borough of Keansburg as an example of the good things that happen when a sewer authority is dissolved and turned over to the municipal government.

But he acknowledged to DMUA Commissioner Robert K. Haelig Jr. at Tuesday’s township committee meeting that he “did not know” how much Keansburg residents pay for sewer service.

Haelig said Tuesday he would “correct that little oversight” for Larsen and the township committee and “report my findings” at the next township committee meeting.”

Haelig said the “exhaustive” Keansburg research project, “required at least ten minutes of my time, but the effort was worth it because it confirmed my darkest suspicions.”

Keansburg Has One Of The Highest Sewer Charges In North America

“Namely, that Keansburg has one of the highest sewer charges in North America, a situation that dissolution did nothing but perpetuate”, Haelig said.

“Lucky Keansburg residents pay a minimum of $709 a year for sewer service, which includes a basic sewer service charge of $320 plus an added charge of $388.80 for debt service - a cost included in the DMUA basic rate of $225.”

Keansburg Residents Pay $709 Annually;
Dover Township Residents Pay $225 Annually

“The equivalent breakdown for the Dover MUA is a basic annual sewer rate of $195, plus about $30 for annual debt service, making a total basic sewer rate of $225 for Dover MUA customers”, Haelig said.

“This would be a minimum quarterly payment of $56.25 in Dover Township compared to a minimum quarterly payment of $177.20 in lucky Keansburg”, Haelig noted.

Dissolution Would Produce Big Sewer Rate Increase
As Well As Huge Tax Increase, Haelig Says

Haelig repeated his assertion that Larsen’s proposed DMUA dissolution “would eventually lead to a huge tax increase as reserves are squandered by extravagant township officials.”

“With the reserve revenue gone, there would inevitably be a big sewer rate increase as well”, he said.

“There is no such thing as a free lunch”. Haelig said, “not in Keansburg, not in Toms River.”

“No Free Lunch” Postulate Is Good Government Rule #1,
As Overdevelopment, Traffic Gridlock Continue

Haelig is the author of the “Eight Rules Of Good Local Government”, of which the “free lunch” postulate is Rule #1.

Haelig also repeated his contention that “our community is in real trouble because of failure on the part of township officials to confront problems of rampant overdevelopment and traffic gridlock: Mr. Larsen’s dissolution campaign against the DMUA is wasting valuable time and squandering valuable resources to the disadvantage of every Dover Township taxpayer”.

Wnek, In Burlington Highway Dept. Bunker, Reviews Casablanca Tapes

Meanwhile, newly appointed DMUA Propaganda Minister Paul Wnek, having refused to retract a whole collection of petty lies, was not around to comment on a rumor he was holed up in a bunker in the cellar of the Burlington County Highway Department reviewing old Casablanca tapes to see if Captain Renault was really talking about HIM in a recent article featured on OceanCountyPolitics•Com.

Captain Renault said he was “Shocked! Shocked! to see that Wnek was lying again, this time about not knowing where he worked, using Burlington Highway Department facilities and employees to launch political attacks on DMUA officials he doesn’t agree with, reciprocal misrepresentations regarding the Toms River East Little League, falsification and doctoring of important DMUA documents, suppression of vital financial information, double dipping on health benefits, etc. etc.

Click here for “1984 DMUA Commissioners May Have Been The Best Public Officials In Dover Township History”

Click Here For Haelig's Eight Rules Of Good Local Government

See Front Page For Previous Wnek-Hedinger-Burlington Articles

and

Click Here for Wnek Payroll Pad Piece

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