A Candidate’s Blog: Transcript Two

[Disclosure: This blog is written from my perspective as both a candidate for a seat on Gloucester Township Council and as a concerned citizen of Gloucester Township with questions and concerns about reckless spending and business as usual in Gloucester Township]

A Tale of Two Cities: Washington, D.C. and Gloucester Township…what’s the connection?

The federal debt is fast approaching $17 trillion dollars. Most people do not understand the magnitude of this issue. This kind of debt is what has ruined Greece and Cyprus with other nations following close behind. In answer to its debt issue, the island government of Cyprus recently perpetrated a money grab by helping itself to 40% of any depositor’s account valued over $100,000. The only difference between where Cyprus went and what is going on in the United States is that under the auspices of the Federal Reserve, the U.S. just prints money that it needs and then pays the Fed interest on that printed money.

How will America ultimately deal with her burgeoning debt? Short explanation; hyper-inflation, in other words, devalue all the money out there so that it becomes easier to repay the loan, otherwise known as rampant inflation. Good luck retirees and those on fixed incomes.

So, to the tale of two cities…Washington is awash in debt; debt that has already earned the U.S. a credit downgrade and has the nation teetering on the brink of economic ruin. Mr. Obama created and then got caught in the sequestration game when Congress refused to raise taxes again. So, while Boston burned two weeks ago, Washington fiddled.

And what of Gloucester Township?

We are proudly informed by our Mayor and his administrator that taxes in GT have not increased. I know people who took pay cuts, one couple up to 20% each, 4 years ago, when the economy went south, in order to remain employed. They have only just in these past few months returned to what they were making 4 years ago. Has anything else gone down since then: gas, food, oil, real-estate taxes, anything? Maybe somebody could inform our mayor that we don’t all double-dip and have employers who pay us handsome salaries while we’re working our other full time jobs.

A word to the mayor on behalf of all the families trying to make ends meet in GT:

In this economy, Mr. Mayor, maintaining township taxes at the current level while purchasing quarter-million dollar armored vehicles, $8,000 dollar Segways, and leasing electric cars, i.e., spending more money to supposedly save money, looks like a tax increase to most of us. And when the bonds come due for the debt we have accumulated, what then?

Add to our accumulating debt the empty buildings representing failed businesses throughout Gloucester Township. Given our diminishing tax base, how truthful is it to brag about maintaining tax levels when floating bonds and continually restructuring our debt to live beyond our means? Again, debt does not just go away.

So, Gloucester Township, with $44 million dollars of debt and the Township’s economic ship of state sinking, like that of Washington’s, continues on what seems like an endless spending spree. Little Gloucester Township will soon proudly boast its own armored SWAT vehicle while Camden County’s vehicle sits in a parking lot somewhere in GT. And now GT police are informed they will pursue would-be criminals on Segways.

What our police in Gloucester Township really need, with the threat of our police force being swallowed up in the debacle that is the County Metro Police Force, is job security and for our council to stand up and say, “No,” on the record, to any such suggestion that we join Metro. Keep your eye on the Camden County Metro Force and what ultimately happens to GT’s finest. Many I speak to are concerned that the die is cast and we will be “in” no matter what we are being told now. Let’s hope not.

Finally, what the citizens of Gloucester Township need is the transparency that Mr. Mayer promised and for the voice of the people to be heard above the noise of one-party rule and the resultant partisan politics when it comes to town governance. It is the aim of the “Gloucester Township FIRST” mayoral-council team to make that a priority.

See you in November.