Mayor Impreveduto Responds

In a recent posting on this blog, one of the Democrat candidates for Township Committee posted a misleading editorial using the time honored political tradition of setting up a completely false premise and then attacking it.

A fair question voters can ask themselves is: if a candidate will intentionally mislead voters to get elected, what will he do if he is elected? 

To clarify those misleading statements: The Township Committee members have always said that the budget challenges Holmdel has faced over the last several years have come from a number of issues, including, but certainly not limited to, the reduction of the Lucent ratable and loss of state aid.

A state mandated 50% increase in pension contributions, double digit increases in healthcare costs, skyrocketing utility and fuel costs- all costs beyond the control of the committee members- have also been major contributors.

We have also lost considerable revenue from construction permits due to the housing crash. This is not excuse-making, it is a fact of life that all municipal officials in New Jersey are dealing with. 

We dealt with it in a number of ways. We reduced the number of police and other township employees through attrition and elimination of some positions- including several that had been newly created when the Democrats controlled Town Hall.

Extensive restructuring has provided both greater efficiency and improved operations.

As an example, returning the construction department to “in-house” under a new organizational structure yielded significant savings and enhanced service compared to both a shared services agreement and the structure that existed under the previous Democratic administration.

Every area of spending which the Committee could control was scrutinized for possible savings.  (The Democrat candidate also chooses not to note that the 2012 operating budget is actually down by about half a million dollars compared to 2011. Most of the budget increase in the 2012 budget is attributable to paying down high interest debt– very much an example of the long term steps he insists are missing.) 

Simply put, our municipal budget in 2006 was $19.4 million. This year it was $21.1 million. That’s an 8.7% increase in six years, an average of less than 1.5% per year.

The idea that there is out of control spending at Town Hall under Republican control is just false. 

For too many years, Democrats failed to attract and develop quality, compatible commercial and retail businesses. As a result, Holmdel’s tax base is excessively dependent on residential properties.

The current administration, in addition to ensuring that our operations are “right-sized”, is implementing a businesslike plan to achieve a greater tax balance, including redevelopment of the Lucent property and appropriate commercial and retail zoning changes. 

So far the Democrat candidates have spent most of their time misleading people about the actions of the current Committee and no time discussing their own plans for Holmdel. With six weeks left before Election Day, that should tell you all you need to know.