You know what they say, that and a $1.50 (it used it be a quarter, but this is 2011) gets you a cup of coffee. I started blogging (www.letstalkbarnegat.com) as an outlet of my frustration with local, state and federal government. Mostly local, because Barnegat is my home town and I've been following our elected officials for years. I've seen our government change from democrat to republican and back and forth. But one thing remains constant, the taxes keep rising. This is not a local Barnegat problem, this is a NJ problem. So I'll keep writing how I feel, and try to back it up with facts.
For instance, at last night's committee meeting (which I could not attend for personal reasons), it was reported by the Patch that the town renegotiated three-year contracts, and the employees will defer scheduled raises until December of 2011 and switch to the state’s health care plan. Employees will receive 2 percent raises each year, offset by their 1.5 percent health care contributions. Now please make sure that I understand this correctly, very bad economy, so we ask our employees to give back a little, namely 1.5% paid to their healthcare, but I guess our committee feels that that will be a hardship to them so we give them a 2% raise to offset the 1.5%. So in essence they got a .5% raise. Is this correct? How about this for an idea, economy stinks, you pay 1.5% for your healthcare, you get no raise and you thank your lucky stars that you are still working! And I will say this, this deal was struck between a union rep and the committee lawyers, and I will guarantee you that if you gave our municipal workers and police the choice between taking the 1.5% healthcare contribution increase and no raise, or no job, everyone would agree to stay employed. Now this is not anti worker or police talk, this is "the taxpayers can't take it anymore, we are broke" talk. So spending for the next budget has been increased, is that a good way to start?
How about that for a first post, but that's why I blog – I just write what most people think.
