It was nice to actually get out and talk to people about what I want to accomplish for our town. It was also good to be on an equal playing field with the other candidates in this election. I was invited to a couple of meet and greets at the two communities on rte 72, Brighton and Pinewood Estates. All of the candidates were given some time to make opening statements.
Maxine talked about what she had accomplished in her tenure as committeewoman, I’ll admit, she has tenacity and has agreed not to take health benefits. Now that says something! I don't hide my feelings in my writing, so if I had to pick a running mate from the other four candidates, it would be her.
Marty talked about his accomplishments, but after the meeting, he and I had a little sidebar discussion about health benefits and the fact that I will not take them. He also had a problem with my proposal to introduce a resolution that would make all committee people log hours with what was done in those hours to have a check and balance on the 35 hour a week law. Now I tried to explain to him that if he worked 35 hours a week doing township work, than this should not be a problem. I told him that this method of logging hours is to weed out the people on the committee that don’t put in the hours, but collect the benefits. My proposal is all about transparency and our commitment to the taxpayer. We are not talking about a little money here, benefits are not cheap, and if the law says you must work to collect, than we must have a way to prove it. The government is not viewed by the people as honest and transparent, but we must make it that way so that there is no question. I'm pretty sure Maxine would be on board with this proposal, the others, I'm not to sure. I can tell that this health benefit issue will be a sticky situation to tackle, I have other ideas to make it work. If the rest of the committee does not want to support a resolution to log hours, then I say, make it a local ballot question for the next election and let the people decide.
After we all made our opening statements, the moderator had a couple questions that the audience wrote down. One in particular had to do with running the towns “checkbook”, like the residents run theirs. They wanted to know why the town runs on anticipated revenue rather than spending only what they have like the rest of us. I know that you can’t run a town like that and you must “anticipate” revenue is necessary, but I thought the question had merit. I had to agree with this question and used an example from our 2010-2011 budget that had to do with our much praised “shared services” agreement with Little Egg Harbor and Waretown. I explained to the crowd how you can over inflate budget revenue with “anticipated” funds. In 2010 we anticipated collecting $150,000 from Little Egg and $25,000 from Waretown in building inspection fees. That was in the 2010 budget, in the 2011 budget the money realized was $0. Now who makes up the difference for the loss of anticipated revenue, the taxpayer, one way or the other.
The most telling issue of the day for me, was when I was approached by three ladies after the meeting. They were very excited to hear that I was proposing to get our meetings televised. That seemed to be a very big issue for them, seeing that some of them don’t drive, or for one reason or the other, can’t make the meetings. These are people who want to see how their money is spent, and how the people who are spending it conduct themselves in public. I told them that this has been in the works for 3 years now, but if they elect me, I will “get it done”. They asked me what was taking so long and I directed them to ask Marty or Lenny, after all they have served for the last 3 years. I’ll be honest that it was a little disheartening watching Lenny tell this woman, “don’t worry, it’s coming”, and when she asked him when, his answer was, “it’s coming”. It’s not an acceptable answer for me and certainly not for her.
Here is a copy of my opening statement to the residents of Pinewood:
I would like to thank the people of Pinewood Estates for inviting us here today. My name is Howard Effron. I have been a Barnegat resident for 21 years. I am married and have one son in Barnegat High School. I am an executive chef and in charge of the kitchen operations of 2 restaurants on Long Beach Island with combined food sales of 2.5 million dollars per year. I believe that our committee is lacking a person with experience in finances. When I sit down to look over my profit and loss (or my budget) every year, I can’t fudge numbers to make things look good. My boss, the owner of the restaurant, can tell how we did that year, all he needs to do is look in his bank account.
I need to talk about our budget. Our committee has voted on, and passed this budget without going over it with a fine tooth comb. That is un-acceptable. I believe that as a committee person, your top priority is to look out for the taxpayers (our boss’s) money. And it all starts with the budget. The committee praises this budget for saving 400,000 dollars. That is easy to do when you under budget items by that same number. They claim to have saved us 2,000,000 dollars on a trash contract. I don’t see it. When I question certain committee people as to the discrepancies in these figures, they tell me “I don’t know, you’re asking the wrong guy”. A committeeman’s job is the liaison between the public and the town. I would expect a committeeman to know the answers to these questions. And if they do not, it means that they themselves do not understand how the finances of our town work. And that is not good for the taxpayer.
For anyone here who is interested, you can see me after the meeting and I will show you what I found. Just for example, our construction code department has operated at a loss for the past 3 years, amounting to a total of over $1,000,000. How can you operate a business like that and expect the taxpayer, to absorb that loss? It should not happen.
3 years ago this committee made a deal with our cable provider Comcast that would allow our town meetings to be televised. I’m sure everyone in this room would like to have the ability to turn on the TV and see what is going on at town hall. But 3 years later, we are still talking about it. I’ll get it done, I’m sure that all of these 4 people sitting here would vote yes for that, after all it’s for the good of the taxpayer to see how your money is being spent.
Our committee gets taxpayer funded health benefits that cost us between 14 - 20,000 per person. They are entitled to them by law, but the law states that they must work at least 35 hours per week. When elected, I will propose that all committee people log hours, it’s not that we don’t trust them, but they should be accountable for their hours just like any other employee of the town that we are paying. I’m sure I would not get any argument from anyone of them about this if proposed, after all, it is for the good of the taxpayer.
You may ask how can one person get these and other things done when you need a vote of three, because my ideas are non partisan and are for the good of the taxpayer first, not for my good as a committeeman, not for the good of the lawyers or engineers or contractors that work for us, not for the good of our employees, because they know, if the town is not financially sound, they won’t have a job. I will guarantee that if you can turn on your TV and the committee knows that the whole town is watching, these ideas that I propose will be passed unanimously. After all, why shouldn’t they, they all look out for taxpayer first, and as a committee person, isn’t that my job. Put a new face up there in November and watch it happen. Thank you.
That was my statement with specific goals set. It was a great experience for me, as I hear the other candidates tell the residents that they are "looking into things" or "government works slowly", I get more infuriated and want to get elected to see for myself. The residents are as tired as I am listening to excuses as to why things can't get done or will get done, at a snail's pace. So give me your vote on November 8th and you will have a friend on the inside. Push button 5C for Effron.
** As a note. Maxine Blumenthal sent me an e-mail that she would like to have posted on this blog. What other candidate would do this, post another candidates opinion or statement on their own blog. Well, as I look at it, she wants to make a statement on here, I guess she reads it, and I'm sure she would believe that alot of my views make sense, common sense. So here is what she sent me word for word. I will just say this about her opinion on the Health Benefits. The problem with this is now, this is a law. This law was put into place to protect the taxpayer from paying part time elected officials from collecting expensive, taxpayer funded health benefits and not earning them. As I explained to Marty at the meeting, this resolution would be put in place to protect the taxpayer from fraud. Let's not be naive Maxine, you might not be able to speak for your fellow committeemen as far as thier 35 hr work week, but you do have a voice for the taxpayer. The more that I hear the committeemen not want to prove to the taxpayer that they work 35 hrs (which I highly doubt that they do consistently, and if I get in, I'll probably be able to prove it), the more I think that they are hiding something. Otherwise, why wouldn't they agree? I'm sure all 5 committeemen or women, could figure out a way to do it.
So here is Maxine's statement:
As a resident of Brighton Mobile Home Park and knowing how often Brighton and Pinewood are forgotten as the "other Barnegat", ( unless I speak up for them publically), it was a pleasure to have all 5 candidates be there to show interest and to allow them to meeet us personally.
Their concerns are unique. It was evident frorm Mr. Morano's tax remarks that even he does not know how they are taxed differently than the rest of Barnegat homeowners. As a former Committeewoman in 04-06, I worked to bring about change in town and posted my photos as evidence of accomplishments. We need more action, results, and fewer words; my mantra! On the medical benefits issue, any candidate doing his or her job easily puts in 35 hours as my diary/calendar form those years can attest. I did not take the full medical benefits; paid my own Part B and BC/BS and will not take these if elected. Each one has to make that decision on his own so can't speak for anyone else. As to getting the job done; yes it takes determination and tenacity to work within the government regulations which is why the employees in 04 began calling me, "THE BULLDOG"! I did and will work with whomever the voters choose to put on the Committee if elected. Maxine "Bulldog" Blumenthal
You may post on your blog.
