Middletown BOE Fails Taxpayers Again

The following is about a local education budget. But there is no doubt the name of the town could be anywhere in New Jersey. Boards of education everywhere are no match for the teachers' union, who have huge resources and years of experience in rolling over well-intentioned volunteer citiczens who are no match for them.


Wednesday, 30 April 2008

To the Editor:

Once again the board of education has failed Middletown taxpayers. Once again they have caved in to the teachers’ union. And, once again, they have saddled taxpayers with an above inflation three-year contract.

The three-year contracts commits to increases averaging 4.5%, compounding out to be 14.1%.

Since 1992, inflation has never gotten above 3.39%. It mostly hovered in the twos, sometimes lower. Regardless of such facts, board after board has succumbed to the union, granting above inflation settlements every time.

Exacerbating this unwarranted decision is their failure to take into account skyrocketing health care. It went up 9% last year. There is no reduction in sight. Did the board factor that in when figuring the contract?

Why is the idea of holding the line or belt tightening in hard economic times such a foreign concept? Or are such ideas only good for a laugh at board meetings?

Here is a real world fact: I pay $5,168 (38%) toward health care premiums, while my employer (a Fortune 500 company) pays the rest (62%). My co-pays on top of this add a few thousand dollars more to my annual medical expenses. At retirement, no free health care; I can buy into their health plan.

This is the real world the taxpayer lives in. When are public employees going to be asked to live in the same world along with the rest of us? When is the board of education going to stop capitulating by agreeing to gravy train contracts that drive property taxes ever higher?

This historic ritual of giving away the store is what led to such deterioration of Middletown school facilities that we had to borrow well over $100,000,000 to fix them. Yes, ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS. The reason is obvious: When one part of the budget goes above the State cap then another part must absorb the difference; that is simple math. One wonders if the board ever paid attention in their math class when they attended school. Of course, maybe the fact that they pay no attention to the plight of the taxpayer answers that question.