Former GOP Assemblyman, 24 Year DMUA Commissioner, Is The Only Official In Dover Township History Who Ever Made REAL Cuts (19% In One Year) In A Public Agency Operating Budget

Result Is A Sewer Rate That Has Been Stable At $225 For 20 Years, But It's Threatened Now, As New "Republican" Commissioners Join Clements In Trashing Authority Finances To Produce Third Straight Budget Deficit Over Haelig's Vigorous Objections: Mattia-Brush Won't Support Haelig's DMUA Budget Cuts, Either

by Grace Cavalaneria/OCP Staff Toms River

Peoples Republic Of Toms River: The Number One campaign promise of Democrat-Independent mayor Paul Brush was the following "firm" commitment: "My cost cutting measures will save Dover Township millions of dollars," Brush pledged.

Brush Rejects Offer To Help Him
Cut Costs In New Government

But, after he won the election, Brush immediately rejected an offer of help from the only man in Dover Township who ever made significant spending cuts in an agency expense budget.

Haelig Confirms Brush Spurned His Offer Of Help

Former Republican Assemblyman Robert K. Haelig Jr. acknowledged yesterday that shortly after the election where voters picked Brush over former "Mayor" John Russo Jr. by a paper thin 400 vote margin, the new mayor and Democrat-Turned-Republican-Turned-Independent-Turned-Democrat campaign "advisor" Salvatore Mattia spurned an offer from Haelig to help  them find ways to make significant cuts in township spending programs.

Mattia-Brush Pushes Payoffs, Kickbacks,
Payroll Pads, But Rejects Spending Cuts

Instead, Brush appointed a "transition team" headed by Mattia to superficially address every category except the need to cut spending in a local government bloated with political payoffs, padded payrolls and cozy sweetheart deals costing taxpayers $millions.

Pledge To Cut Spending Is Cynically Blown Off As
Mattia-Brush And Council Spend Like Drunken Sailors

The Mattia-Brush campaign promise to "cut" spending by "millions of dollars" was cynically blown off in favor of an unprecedented hemorrhage of political payoffs and crony kickbacks that would embarrass a dredge full of drunken sailors, as the Mattia-Brush "administration" doubled administrative costs and hired seventeen politically-connected lawyers to help them confuse and disappoint the taxpayers during the first hundred days of the new government.

Doubling Administrative Costs And Hiring Seventeen
Politically-Connected Lawyers Will Cost Taxpayers Dearly

The major consequence of all of this will probably be a big tax increase this year or next, more failures in the township's open space program, and an eventual increase in the DMUA sewer rate, as costs continue to spiral out of control because nobody is effectively minding the store, either at the township or the DMUA..

The advice of Haelig and others was rejected by the Mattia-Brush and the seven member Republican council.

Haelig: "Where Did I Go Wrong?"

"Where did I go wrong?", was the only comment Haelig would offer as taxpayers faced the bleak consequences of the failure of any of the elected or appointed officials to seek out his  or anybody else's advice regarding potential economies and budget cuts for the new government.

The current fiscal year ends next month on June 30th, so the six months since the election have been essentially wasted.

Haelig's Proposals For DMUA Budget Cuts And
Economies At The DMUA Also Fall On Deaf Ears

Haelig, a DMUA commissioner for the past 24 years, also has made several proposals for cutting operating costs at the DMUA to stem the out-of-control budget deficits that have plagued the agency since the commission majority stopped taking his advice on financial matters three years ago.

Mattia-Brush and the council have not offered any support for the Haelig cost cut proposals at the DMUA, either.

Clements Are Opposed To Budget Economies

None of the proposals have been implemented because Republican Club Boss Richard Clement and his wife, DMUA Commissioner Deborah Clement, have opposed the cost reduction programs.

Drunken Sailor Spending Has Consequences For Residents

The consequences of the failure of Mattia-Brush and the Republican council to  seek out sound advice as they spend taxpayers money like the proverbial drunken sailor, will be the subject of at least two more articles in this series over the next couple of weeks.

Haelig Successfully Rescued DMUA In The 1980's

The next Dover Township article will deal with the successful rescue of the DMUA in the 1980's by former Assemblyman Haelig, an economist, and four other former Republican commissioners, from a far more serious financial crisis than the one currently faced currently by the township  and the DMUA.

This article prepared for May 6, 2004.

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