| Author | Message | ||
     Johnjdel |
so, I started this thread because a lot of interesting points are being made, but they're scattered all over the place. To summarize, yesterday, in a few discussions the local GOP was mentioned. In the discussion about the State Budget Review, I made the point that the Republicans pointed out two years ago that Maplewood was headed for financial trouble, specifically warning against a hasty revaluation. I also mentioned that that while Maplewood is infected with political apathy and complacency, the GOP had no one to blame but themselves. Perhaps the GOP candidates were uninspiring, but the fact is that the information was out there and no one heard it. In response, someone (I forget who) mentioned that (I'm paraphrasing) local politics really isn't a Democrat vs. Republican place since we don't tackle the big left/right issues like guns or abortion. Nil also mentioned that of the four Republican candidates that ran, the two females were good, though inexperienced. the two males were literal no-shows. First, for Nil, you're right. I should have said "uninspired" candidates instead of "uninspiring." I still say that the GOP has no one to blame except the GOP. Speaking of the local Republican party, it is small. It has never really recovered from the loss of power suffered over 10 years ago. Its members are generally an older demographic, and are depleting. Meanwhile, the GOP has done a poor job of garnering interest from the younger folks who move into town. Second, I believe there is room for two political parties in Maplewood, especially now. The traditional values of the Republican party concerning fiscal prudence, lower taxes, and less government couldn't be more relevant in our current situation. | ||
| Ffof |
johnj- I don't have any answers here, just some observations. People go to the polls in November usually to vote for something "big" like President, Senator or Representative. If that person is voting primarily democratic (which most are just by looking at the results of the recent presidential election), then that person probably hits the democratic switch for the local guys too. I personally (usually) go for the democrats nationally but the republicans locally probably because the local candidates aren't concerned with the national "hot button" social issues (abortion, church/state, Soc. Sec., armed forces, etc)but have a fiscally prudent outlook. (Thus the feeling that Dem vs Rep isn't applicable locally.) So, bottom line, I guess the local republicans need to make more noise if they want more votes. And as you said, they may well be able to in light of current situations. | ||
| Nilmiester |
Johndel- I found both female candidates inspiring and both male candidates uninspiring in the past two years. Quite frankly I don't think any of the current TC is inspiring at all except for Mr. Ryan at times. Burt surprised me with his commom sense about rent control though I have to say. I liked the Republican web site and their platform, it made sense to me. The Republican Party is labelled in this town and will never win. I think a conservative would be better off running independently. Let's not waste anyone's time or any of the few dollars the Republicans have. | ||
| Nohero |
Fine. Run a candidate who shows up. By the way, you can look at the Republican Web Site from the last election, and find nothing about the revaluation. "Less Government"? On the municipal level? You want fewer snow plows and less leaf pickup? Fewer police officers? Fewer programs for children and adults? I agree, property taxes are really burdensome here, but what significant cuts are going to be made? And now, a non-rhetorical question: Will any of the local republicans come out for reducing the reliance on local property taxes, and for more state funding of essential (and expensive) services such as education? | ||
| Njjoseph |
Nohero, don't expect any answers to your questions, even the middle paragraph. I've asked the same questions twice on this board, and noone has even attempted. Maybe they were thought to be rhetorical, but I'm trying to get a better understanding of what services will be eliminated with tax cuts, and how we can improve others, even with tax cuts. It seems to me that with almost 60% of my tax bill going to the school system, and slightly less than 20% going to the county, and about 20% going to the municipality, that there is little room to cut municipal taxes. Not having a child in the school system, I can elaborate on what's needed and what's not, but I get the feeling from posters on this board that there needs to improvement. Improvements usually have costs associated with them. | ||
| Jfb |
I've asked this question many times, but what does that 20% county tax bill get us? This seems to be something we can live without. Let the towns take over the county roads, and the state can take over major parks (e.g. South Mountain), jails, & county courts. Meanwhile we can probably see a 10% cut in property taxes.. not bad. Connecticut got rid of county goverment with no ill effect.. | ||
| Konigen |
I'm sorry -- having come here from a midwestern state where the taxes are low, I can't imagine why we would need to "cut" any of our services with the exhorbitant amount of property taxes we all pay. Heck, my town had great schools and services. Blows my mind; NJ is existing in a really distorted reality... Apologies again for the interruption...carry on... Konigen | ||
| Ffof |
Jfb- Exactly! Get rid of the County government! How did Conn. go about doing this? Was it a mandate from the governor or the people? If the county governments (actually the people who hold those jobs) are actually getting 20% of budgets all around NJ, I bet it would be a pretty big fight to get rid of them! | ||
| Nilmiester |
Nohero- Forgetting the Republican party in Maplewood, are you comfortable with anyone challenging our existing regime? And show up where? | ||
| Beach |
Njjoseph, how can you be so concerned about your taxes, services, etc, when you weren't even aware of who the candidates were that ran for our TC last election? | ||
| Nohero |
Mr. Nil - By "show up", I meant to show up for debates, or some public event, so that the public could have some idea of who they were being asked to vote for. Mr. Pomasan did not do that. As for "challenging the existing regime" - tell me what the challenging position will be. If it is just "No one-party rule" or "less government", well, I don't know if that really says anything. And sure, we're bound to see a campaign that says "I would have done the revaluation differently". But, again, what of substance is going to be proposed. There may even be someone who campaigns saying that there should not have been any revaluation - but, that would be simply ignoring the reality that a revaluation was overdue. And, there may even be a candidate who tries to claim that the revaluation was a phantom way to raise taxes - that would simply be incorrect, and would also not persuade me to vote for that candidate. | ||
| Ashear |
JFB: Where exactly are the big savings. You still need the same number of people to take care of the roads, parks, courts, etc. Maybe you eliminate an administrator or two but I hardly think that cuts the budget in half. (If 20% of taxes go to the county a 10% reduction in property taxes requires a 50% reduction in the county budget, I think) Konigen: My guess is the cost of living in the midwest is a lot lower. Thus the amount the government spends on everything from employee compensation to supplies and equipment is lower, thus the taxes are lower. | ||
| Njjoseph |
Beach -- I know who ran, but I asked (ON ANOTHER THREAD) who the two WOMEN were that someone else was dissatisfied with. I assume that it was someone in an election prior to 2000, as there was only one women running for TC in the last election. I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion you did, but so be it. In addition, I moved to Maplewood at such a time that I didn't satisfy the 30-day requirement by the deadline to register in Essex County. Therefore, I voted in Bergen. However, that does not mean that I know nothing about what's going on in this town. In fact, I may know more about the current situations than many that are lifers here and have voted in every election. | ||
| Alceste |
Ashear: Actually, taxes in the Midwest are not necessarily lower than they are in NJ (well, sure, they're lower than Maplewood's, but so were the U.S.S.R.'s). Minnesota has some of the highest property taxes in the country, as does the Chicago area. I'm not sure about other places in the region, but a high property tax burden is not just a NE phenomenon. I think what Konigen is trying to say is that we pay more and more in property taxes each year, but paradoxically have less and less to show for it. If I interpret her statement correctly, then agree with her. | ||
| Melidere |
Ummm....i think it does look to be largely a northeast phenomena. And this chart makes it pretty clear that new jersey is clearly number 1. Per Capita Property Taxes by State quick glance reveals minnesota to be 13 and the midwest states seem to have solid hold on the middle ground. | ||
| Mim |
A lot of people thought that Ann Marzano's running mate was a woman. I've forgotten his name, but it did have an oddly feminine ring. (And since he was -sadly- seldom seen, the mistaken impression did not get corrected.) | ||
| Ucnthndlthtruth |
Liv Pomasan | ||
| Njjoseph |
Mim, exactly my point, if Beach and others mention the two women who ran. It's interesting to note that I never saw Liv, nor a picture of him on the website, nor did I know what his platform was. It wasn't until a day or two before the election that someone referred to Liv as 'he' before I learned he wasn't a woman. | ||
| Nilmiester |
Njjoseph- The woman that ran the year before was Christina Lang. Her running mate was Joel Ziegler. She was visible, he wasn't. Same thing happened in 2000. The women were both optimistic and the men knew it was a losing battle. | ||
| Njjoseph |
Thanks, Nil! | ||
| Goodolddays |
Upon digesting all of the entries beginning with Johnjel on 02/28 to the last as displayed above, one burning question remains....what in the world was accomplished by all the combined gibberish? Shouldn't the focus of comments be about what needs to be done? Never mind who didn't show up doing a particular election campaign. Or what the tax rate is in Minnesota. Alceste on 03/01 did hit a nerve....when mentioning Konigen observations of paying more and more property taxes each year...less and less to show for it. We all know where the famous cuts will be made to balance the legendary budgets, just as they have in the past. Services that are tolerated, only because it's nice to have them around will certainly feel more cut backs, just as they have in years gone by. That's why the total number of the rank and file of both uniformed services have stayed pretty much the same as in decades past. Why is that? Does anyone have the answer? | ||
| Joancrystal |
Goodolddays: I'm not too sure what can be done at this point. The municipal portion of our taxes goes for a very steamlined program which has traditionally been supplemented by a large corps of volunteers. As taxes have gone up, more and more households have moved out of town when their children finished school to be replaced by households with young children. The young children require schooling and the school portion of our taxes go up to pay for that. (All this is being discussed on another thread which you should read if you haven't already.) Higher taxes also mean less disposable time to devote to the community. There seems to have been a sharp increase in two wage-earner households (just look at the increased demand for day care and after school programs), people with two or more jobs, people with longer commutes (the train to Manhattan gets more crowded every day) and longer working hours. We have seen the effect of this in the virtual loss of our volunteer first aid squad, which can no longer cover most weekdays during the hours when their membership is at work. That is why the Fire Department has picked up the slack. You want to know how to help reduce taxes? Join the Civic Association. Get involved in the Citizens' Budget Review process. Find a service organization that you like and join it and participate. Volunteer your own time and talents. If enough of us did this we might make a slight dent in our tax problem. But beware, even volunteer programs in our community are facing the axe. Just look at what is happening to the volunteer coordinator position in the school system. Words are great but it is action that counts. | ||
| Alidah |
Maybe it would be helpful if the town televised or published or hosted a fair that described all of the volunteer opportunities in the town, and what they require of participants. Sometimes people don't do volunteer work because they are afraid that it would require too much time, that they wouldn't be welcomed by a tight circle of old-timers, or that volunteering their few precious hours would in the end be futile. I have had some unsuccessful efforts at volunteering in other arenas for the above reasons, and I know there are many others out there like me. Everyone has a responsibility and a right to discuss budgets and the workings of their town even if they're not volunteering or actively participating. My motivation for volunteering in my community would not be to reduce my taxes. | ||
| Joancrystal |
Does the town still hold Welcome to Maplewood nights? If so, that would be a good place to start in your quest for volunteer activities. There are also listings of community organizations available. Alidah: Most people become active in a community based organizations or activities do so for other reasons than reducing tax dollars. That's what makes it so win/win. Some activities require a regular commitment others may only take a few hours when you feel like it. Find something you would like to do and ask around. Start a post on the board and someone will help direct you. The advantages are many: a sense of accomplishment, making friends in the community, doing something you enjoy, spending your time productively, helping someone else and yourself at the same time, etc. | ||
| Goodolddays |
Joancrystal, How refreshing to read your thoughts. As a volunteer minded individual all my years in town, I understand exactly where your coming from and couldn't agree more.Having had the honor of living (and working) in Maplewood for almost 40 years, reading your thoughts was refreshing. However, I must restrict myself in expressing true feelings, since my wife & I have recently moved, starting our lives again in another New Jersey community. We still look back..remembering. |
