In this third segment of my conversation with Gerry Scharfenberger, the Mayor discusses more of the budget, compares Middletown to other municipalities, discusses shared services and municipal consolidation and points to projects in the works that will both save tax dollars and generate revenue from non-tax sources.
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This is becoming hard to watch. What has this Mayor been doing the last year and a half? Too little and too late in addressing the financial crisis we are in.
Need boots to wade through this BS !!
Anon 8:11 - he was busy making Middletown one of the top 100 places to live in New Jersey. Funny reading the same drivel over and over again. As the Bard would say, me thinks I detect the presence of a green-eyed monster!
Oops - meant top 100 places in America. It's already the top place to live in New Jersey.
Speaking of constant ,meritless, drivel anon:10:44p.m. and 7:09 a.m. we ,believe you should practice what you preach !!
"THe lady doeth protest too much" and it is ,repetitious redundancy and insulting to every intelligent person regardless of party affiliation.
This man is a manipulative,conniving farce!!
This top 100 BS is not credible!!!
Ha - Art, one thing that didn't come across in the interview was the mayor's wisdom in not cutting down several large trees and pour thousands of dollars into street modifications to open a street for a temporary detour. Or to not go ahead with a turf field project in a location proposed and supported by the democrats on the council. Or to stand up to the unions who are killing New Jersey with their greed. Or to fight allowing illegal aliens crammed into illegal boarding houses. Or to fight low income housing projects supported by the liberal democrats. Oh well, there is always time for another interview.
Turf field project was crammed down this hypocrit's
throat by this town's citizens. His nonsense about illegals brought very unfavorable attention to Middletown . His claims of latinos urinating in the streets were absurd!
The courts control the outcome of COAH and what have trees got to do with anything??? Just more lies . This man is good at lies!!
anon 10:29, your thin defense of Scharfenberger is based on a distortion of the facts which this reader has heard over and over again.
The Mayor and TC all voted for COAH because they were mandated by law. The planning board (all republicans) chose the particular sites. Steve Massell was on the planning board and was involved in choosing those sites. Lets hope Sen. Lezniaks's(DEM) bipartisan bill gets signed by Christie and COAH will no longer be the albatros around our neck.
The turf field project was also voted on by all committee members. The Mayor was hoping this would be his baby and help him get re elected.Once the word got out that it had morphed into a multi sports complex for Pop Warner, the residents and PW opposed it and forced the mayor to cancel citing the economic conditions we're in.
The Mayor standing up to the unions in the press hasn't helped one iota. All it does is stir peoples' anger. You stand up to the unions at the negotiating table not in the press.
He couldn't negotiate his way out of a paper bag.
Fighting illegal aliens is a new one for me. That's not high on the list of concerns of Middletown residents.
Don't know what tree cutting you're referring to, but again a non issue.
We're more concerned about the 14% TAX INCREASE!!!
Hmmmm.....that's funny I saw that the property tax bill will increase by 2.8%. I did the calculation and if my taxes go up $17 per month, that's around 2.7% of what I pay now. I also read, right here on Art's blog that Middletown's tax rate is at least 10 cents lower than most in the region. I also read that the township was able to get a 0% increase from all of the unions this year - that's pretty good negotiating, wouldn't you say?
As for the turf fields - I have two kids in soccer and think that this is needed. I get not doing it now, but it's still a good idea. I agree with Mr. Byrnnes that West Front Street was the best location for it. You sound frustrated that our town was named one of the top 100 places to live and that the mayor was named public official of the year. You should be happy instead of bitter. How many towns can make such a claim?
anon12:08
Thank you for explaining what will be the likely Republican spin for the next few months. COAH,unions...so transparent.
Let's see the Mayor try and spin his way out of the outrageous tax increase he's supporting.
This is a complete dereliction of his duty. If he worked for a corporation he would be fired and the company would be out of business.
hmmmm anon1:32
You're confusing your total tax levy with your municipal tax increase of 14%. $5.5 mil this year to be exact. That's more than $4.5 mil than the school tax increase. Still trying to spin that one?
The police had no increase in 2010 but through arbitration recieved an 8% increase for 2008 & 2009.
That's some negotiating!!!
As far as our being in the top 100....look at the criteria dearie.
Location, schools, volunteering. Nothing about taxes or cost of living. Have no fear...most of us will have to relocate, because we won't be able to afford the taxes after retiring.
Who cares if Burns voted for the turf fields at WF, they all did. Turf field maybe, but a stupid place for a sports complex for PW if you ask me. That was Gerry's,
Pam's and Tony's bright idea. Why do you think the Pop Warner organization is so ticked off at them? They didn't want to go there.
anon 1:32
You want to bring up the turf again? Well let me tell you...The turf fields were supposed to be for Charger field and Croydon Hall, NOT West Front St. The Mayor and Pammy screwed Pop Warner big time and we won't forget it.
Hey Dems (GOP+7), nationally.
NOVEMBER'S COMING!!
Anonymous 10:29 and 1:32-----
Question: Are you on Scharfenberger's payroll or is your reward another story??
Thought public relations was Cindy's job !!
Estimated TAX bills today....overall increase so far in EXCESS of .0556 percent on overall total bill if the 4th quarter remains the same Preliminary bill did not give a breakdown of three categories --municipal,school or county. The LIARS ARE STILL FIGURING !!!!!!! !!!The school tax increase and the county increase,if any, are expected to be small so when you see how much the municipal increase is of the TOTAL tax bill you can see how the LIARS have LIED !!!! and they are still fudging numbers!!!
In 2009 --the county tax was .253
---school tax was !.085
---open space .020 (municipal)
---open space .017 (county)
garbage .066 in the garbage district
total rate per $100....$1.791
No wonder we're in the mess we're in. The Mayor and the Republicans either don't understand math or just lie. Either way boot em out and get a finance committee.
This is becoming ridiculous.
Forgot to include last year's municipal tax rate of .350
per hundred...apologize for the omission but you can see the relevance of the figures and that .045 cents increase is a .13864% increase at .395 tax rate in 2010. for municipal tax portion of your bill.. Pray it's only that everyone...nothing is fixed in stone as figures don't lie,but liars keep on playing with the numbers!!
All you Scharfy fans out there. How do ya like your new tax bill?
Not 2.8% is it?
Now lets see... How much to send out the preliminary tax bill? We'll get another in Nov. right before the election with Scharfy doing some magic to get it lowered so he looks like some kind of hero. What will that cost?
These guys cease to amaze me with their arrogance. Incompetence reigns supreme in Middletown.
Unmitigated gall and incompetence of a manipulative,conniving flop !!
What say you now,all you Sharfey lovers,now that your "estimated" (subject to change) tax bill has arrived ??
Never have seen such incompetence in government and absolutely no honest effort to represent the people. There is one word for this administration and that is DISGUSTING ARROGANCE!!!
There are many heads that should roll...Scharfenbergerr, Brightbill and Fiore should resign and Merchantante should be toast also ASAP.
Not even a shred of evidence of any leadership capability in any of them. Politics is their only priority !
The tax increases,mismanagement and the defiance of this crowd is deplorable !
Hey stupid 1:32 p.m....that's an increase of only the municipal part of your tax bill. The increase in that portion is nearly 14%.
Couple that with the other increases and you're looking at around a 6% overall increase. On a total tax bill of $9,000 dollars,that's another $540 dollars more a year or $45 more a month.
Conned again by this bunch of liars ! Figures don't lie but liars figure !
Neither Christie nor Scharfenberger and Co. have done anything positive for the residents of this township .
Art, the answer to your question about a better run town in New Jersey is: Rumson and Fair Haven. What about Millburn-Short Hills, Bedminister and Mendam? Also, Scharfenberger noted that it is currently illegal to use solar energy off the site that generates the energy. This is the same Scharfenberger that has critized Byrnes (in the past Short) for making budget cost saving and revenue generating suggestions that, according to Gerry, are illegal. I am still waiting to hear what those illegal suggestions are and who rendered the legal opinion. Gerry has been touting solar and other green initiatives for years but has failed to attach and revenue or cost saving numbers. Finally, why didn't you ask Gerry about the cell tower lease sale that filled a $850,000 budget hole for one year, left that hole to be filled for each successive budget year, and wiped out a $92,000 revenue stream in the process. I can understand Anna Little being one of your two favorite Republicans, but claiming Gerry as number two really damages your credibility.
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