Garwood Democrats Need to Stop Smearing the BOE

As a member of the Garwood Board of Education, listening and seeing the divisive, angry and outright false rhetoric by council members Marc Lazarow, Jen Blumenstock and Russ Graham has been extremely disheartening, not just as an elected official, but as a father of small children in our small town. The Democratic council members seem to be grasping at straws to distract from their records using a smear campaign against the BOE and anyone that brings the facts to the table while offering no solutions to the mess they have caused. For instance, the statement made by these democrats on their Facebook page, which has since been deleted, that the Board of Ed raised taxes 4% is categorically false. I actually voted no on any tax increase stating I believed it was not necessary and the numbers were wrong from day one and not one member of the BOE voted for what they claim, not one. The fact is that the BOE taxes were front loaded so a larger percentage appears on your tax bill over the first six months, that decision was made by the Democrats on Council, not the BOE. It is truly amazing to me that the Democrats on Council don’t understand how the budget works even after being on finance for their full term. Unlike council, the Board of Ed does not borrow or bond money to fund down taxes to create the illusion that taxes are low. In other words, the Democrats are using your properties as their credit card to pay for project not budgeted for which is why our municipal debt has gone up 60% in the last 3 years. The BOE doesn’t do that. The BOE also has to react to the poor decisions made by council, like overdevelopment which has a direct impact on our future. If Garwood gets an influx of 100 students in the 497 apartments the Democrats forced in, that’s a minimum increase of $1.5 million in annual school taxes. Sure, the council can say they did not raise taxes during any given year after that occurs but it is their poor, disastrous decision to jam all these apartments in that will cause the increase. Lazarow, Blumenstock and Graham don’t seem to understand that they are responsible for a lot more in taxes than their singular budget increase which will see compounded interest over the next few years thanks to the increase of 60% in debt. In addition, when the Democrats take county grant money that residents are double taxed on, by the county, the council Democrats are responsible for the county tax increase. When the park came in over budget, the Democrats told the Board of Ed they should pay for it. The reply, as stated by the democrats at the council meeting on Oct 11, was the Board could not legally do so. It was a legal matter! Yet at that council meeting when the town attorney stated that PILOT money can be shared with the BOE, the democrats replied “the Board of Ed did not help us with Hartman park, we will keep that in the back of our minds”. This vengeful attack on our school is uncalled for. We need responsible adults, not smear campaigns blaming the volunteers on the Board of Ed for their poor decisions. Their Facebook page and pilings of paper at our doorsteps are nothing more than undocumented propaganda and spin. I am glad there are three candidates from the Republican side out talking about solutions, staying positive and citing all of their sources. Facts do matter, so does the future of Garwood, so does the Board of Ed and as a Board of Ed member, speaking for myself, I don’t see how anyone can support the Democrats in their re-election campaign.

Sal Piarulli

Garwood, NJ