Dover Council Meets And Decrees Three Phony Politically Expedient "NO" Votes On Township Budget At Chairman Gilmore's Law Office At 8am Sunday Meeting: Virginia Haines Brought The Doughnuts

River City: The little scam where three members of the Dover Township Council cast phony votes against the spending and tax increases they caused and voted for about fourteen times was dreamed up at a Sunday morning caucus meeting that probably violated the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act.

Virginia Brought The Doughnuts

The meeting was held at 8am on a Sunday morning in early December in the palatial third floor Allen Street offices of Republican County Chairman George Gilmore, and was one of a number of such meetings where township business was discussed by members of the all-GOP council, Gilmore, former Municipal Utilities Authority Chairman Virginia Haines and other local party bosses.

At the meeting where the phony budget votes were conjured, Haines brought the doughnuts.

Three Ward Heelers Voted YES On Larger Tax & Spending Hike

The final vote on the budget was taken on December 14th and three Ward council representatives, Council President Gregory McGuckin (Ward IV), Brian Kubiel (Ward II) and Maria Maruca (Ward I), cast phony "NO" votes, despite their expressed support of the original budget which carried an even bigger spending increase and a larger tax hike than the one they ultimately voted "against."

They all voted "YES" on the 11.5¢ tax increase and $4.8 million spending hike in the original budget presented by Mayor Paul Brush, but voted "NO" on the final budget, with its "reduced" spending increase (UP "only" $4.7 million), and the "reduced" tax hike of 9.99¢.

Ms. Maruca Was Even More Disingenuous Than The Others

Maruca scammed the situation even further at the budget approval meeting by saying with a straight face "I think we ought to develop more revenue instead of higher taxes," whatever that means.

An Extra $54,385 For
Troncone Legal "Work"

In another brazen raid on the public treasury, the council unanimously approved an extra $54,385 for the former law firm of $140,000 township attorney Marc Troncone, a former Democrat freeholder.

Billings From Last April-June

The big extra payment resolution was added to the "consent" agenda of the same meeting as the budget scam, for "work" allegedly done by Troncone before he became a full time township employee July 1st.

Now, six months later, somebody discovered they would like to have another $54,385, and the only suckers gullible enough to fork it over nlo questions asked are the 55,000 township taxpayers and the Republican council.

McGuckin Says Troncone Was Getting $18-20,000 A Month

Council President Gregory McGuckin, himself an attorney and a partner in one of the largest law firms in Ocean County, said the Troncone firm had been earning between $18,000 and $20,000 a month before Troncone made the switch to full time employment with the township.

Troncone Over-Expenditures Took Eight Months To Surface

But McGuckin, who voted to pay the extra $54,385, did not explain why it took eight months to figure out that the original Troncone contract was being overspent by a factor of 90%, a number that could have been anticipated by April 30th if anybody was watching the store.

Happy New Year To The Taxpayers

This article prepared for New Year's day, 2005. Happy New Year to the taxpayers of Dover Township and all over Ocean County.

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