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Freeholders Approve 2007 County Budget, But Not Without Criticism
By Bill McLaughlin
It's one thing to be criticized as a profligate spender, but when you're also called a miser in the next breath, what can you say?
The Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders had just heard a recapitulation last Wednesday of the $344 million budget by Freeholder John Bartlett, who described a further reduction in the tax rate from 2.7 cents to 2.55 cents of equalized assessed valuation. The tax rate is now 50 percent below that of 2001.
Bartlett explained the county's continued growth - equivalent to approximately the yearround population of Long Beach Island moving here annually - plus the low inflation rate has kept the county taxes relatively in check.
"Stability is important to every member of the board," he told the audience at the public meeting on the budget last Wednesday. He added that about half of the county's $54.9 million surplus will be used for capital expenditures in the new budget.
Debt of about $4 million - the difference between $34 million in capital expenses and $30 million in borrowed funds - represents one-half of one percent of the value of the county, Bartlett told the crowd.
Freeholder John P. Kelly called the budget, "the work of many hands, of (chief financial officer) Julie Tarrant and (county administrator) Alan Avery but the board relies on John Bartlett."
Bartlett, in response to a taxpayer's question, explained that 76.6 percent of the budget comes from local property taxes. Then the first critic stood.
"I'm both pleased and disappointed by this budget," said George Neville of Mantoloking. Neville said the decrease in tax rate isn't as important as the tax levy. "You're taking in 15 percent more in tax dollars this year," Neville said.
Mary Ann Clemente of Barnegat made the same point: tax rate down, but levy up.
A.J. Walton said the board should use of the surplus money to save the planetarium.
Then things turned ugly.
Bob Haelig, a persistent critic of the all- Republican board, charged, "This budget is reflective of the worst excessive spending I've seen in 40 years."
Haelig, who publishes partisan broadsheets harpooning the party in power, recapped the budget in this manner: "You are the beneficiary of huge tax windfalls from excessive development in many towns in the past several years. In my opinion, (that's) a bad thing. One day you'll pay the piper because of the excessive spending in all your budgets. You have way too many employees."
Haelig then vented on what he considers political plums awarded to the party faithful at the expense of the taxpayers.
When he paused, Bartlett leaped.
"I have been waiting for many years for
you to come before us in a public forum,"
the longest-tenured current freeholder said. "I take personal offense at your charges."
Bartlett then explained one case, that of Toms River council member Michael Fiure, that he had been involved in personally. Bartlett said he interviewed Fiure and marked him as someone with a substantial future in government.
"Your allegations border on libel. You've been making it up as you go along, as you have your whole career," Bartlett fumed.
Then Haelig turned his attention to the Ocean County Fire and First Aid Training Center in Waretown. He repeated charges dating back two years or more that Harold Morris, then mayor of Beachwood, got a high-paying job as the assistant at the Waretown site and, quid pro quo, Freeholder James Lacey was hired as the administrator in Beachwood, a new position.
Bartlett said Morris was hired as a replacement for Kenneth G. "Gerry" Holman, the former Eagleswood mayor, who was planning his retirement as the first director of the center.
Lacey cited his degrees in recycling and business management as qualifications for the administrator's job and his experience in that position for many years in Point Pleasant.
The critic did not relent.
"You need to cut budget, you need to cut it substantially," Haelig said. "Get rid of the people who are there for their political connections."
When told his charges were scurrilous and
defamatory, the Lavallette resident replied, "It's a free country."
"You're not free to make up facts," Bartlett replied.
Bob Whelan, a former county jail guard, also knocked the budget: "Get ride of the dead wood," he demanded.
After more than one hour of testimony, the board voted unanimously to approve the budget.
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