Jack - I am not in favor of not being able to vote since I hold that right very sacred. But the state reps (Dem and Rep) tied the moving of the budget vote and the <=2% - no vote option together - in my opinion they should have been 2 separate bills - that is water under the bridge now. I agree that it is a good idea to watch and hold people accountable but the budget is actually 1.15%. The BOE could have gone for the 2% and didnt and I do think they should get some credit for that. We arent cutting people and we are providing the same services as before. I never like to see my taxes go up and I may not agree with everything, but overall I feel this is a good budget - and in case anyone is wondering I am not on the BOE

CH, Respectfully, you are conflating two different notions. The 2% tax levy cap has nothing to do with total expenses. It only relates to how much money the Board can raise from the local taxpayers. The tax levy is going down about 0.6% compared to an allowable 2% increase. The total budget is going up 1.15%.

The market speculators who are driving the price up and anyone scaring those speculators into driving the price up who talks about bombing Iran immediately.

True point Marty. I also have to hold the sitting President responsible for not doing anything about prices and/or speculators for the past 3 years. When Obama took office prices were $1.80/gal. Now they're $3.80/gal. Energy Secty. Chu admits he wanted higher prices to cut down consumption. The Keystone pipeline was also rejected by the Obama admin. Production is up only because of permits signed by Bush & Clinton 5+ yrs. ago. Obama has halted or snarled most offshore gulf drilling right up until recently.

Jack, (This is all off-topic of the article.)
In a free market economy, speculators bidding up the price of future oil contracts is beyond the ability of anyone to control. U.S. oil production is the highest it has been in many years. U.S. consumption is the lowest it has been in many years (mostly due to the economy). The percentage of foreign oil we are using is the lowest it has been in many years.
One of the issues with Keystone was that there was failure to agree that the oil from Keystone would remain in the U.S. (I'm not saying that's the only issue, but I think it is a big one.)

Marty. I know it's off topic, but I pulled the quote from a BOE member and couldn't resist. We both are saying the same things but either giving the credit or blame based on our respective political biases.

Not that I owe you an explanation, but since you asked, in my humble opinion, my voice was taken away with the 2% cap on the budget. I honestly feel I would be wasting my time and effort. As long as they're under 2%, I'm the Charlie Brown mother saying "Wah, wah, wah" to the status quo machine. I'll just hold my silent vote until November now. That was their choice to change the voting system, not mine.

I would say that in the last twenty years the size of the school district has increased significantly. Two new schools were built to handle the student pouplation. Some of the increase is surely due to the fact that there are significant number of additional students. I have been in town over 20 years and my taxes are a little more than double but not tripled. As far as the municipal budget you also have growth in the number of residents and that causes a need for more police, more garbage pick-up etc so that might account for some of the increases.

Hey Just Me,
I'm with you. I have seen my taxes double in the past 16 years. Being on a fixed income/semi-retirement, I haven't seen any increases in my income. Yet, every year the taxes go up. How many private businesses in South Brunswick spend $138 million dollars a year? The N.Y. Mets baseball team has a lower payroll. The school system is way too big and we simply cannot afford to keep paying for redundant supervisors and administrators. If the state cannot and will not pay what's owed to the township, don't look to residents to make up for the shortfall. If this keeps up, I may soon be joining you out of state.

Winston - you may want to consider the years of service and performance that Marty has provided this town before mud-slinging. You may want to consider some help for the anger you constant display on the blogs - this forum is not about attacking but rather discussion

CH I am considering Marty's years of, proposing bigger spending and higher school taxes, service!

Steve, (I mean Winston)
Here come some more pesky facts at you.
I was the Chair of the citizens' committee that provided financial advice to the District regarding refinancing bonds that saved taxpayers many millions of dollars before I was elected to the Board..
The last three years I was a member of the Board of Education (as President, Vice President, and Chair of the Budget Committee, respectively), the total amount of tax dollars the District requested from taxpayers remained flat.
(I only answer your made up comments because some readers of the Patch may not realize that you make things up.)

Funny thing those were also the years we had the largest increase in students. I am shocked that the need to build schools and hire people to teach the additional students had costs associated with them. The real question is with the need for the additional schools and staff to teach them was the growth managed properly. The answers are pretty obvious. You have a district with a per pupil cost $2K below state average. You have a district that on an equalized tax rate that is third cheapest in the county. Those figures can not be accomplished in one budget year. These results require long term planning. Glad to see you appreciate the guidance provided by Marty over those years.

If the state won't pay its share and you don't want to pay, then we should expect cops, teachers and other town employees to work for free?

LMR..who and what are ranting against?

So what you're saying is because people couldn't or had no intension of making the meeting, they can't post their opinions? Ridiculous! Who died and made you the blogger king? (although "the blogger king" is a cool name).

They took my voice away with this 2% cap scam. I can't even vote on a school budget anymore, so what would be my point? I can read the highlights here, blog my opinion in protest, and not waste my time or effort on the deaf ears of the liberal machine that's running the show. Then I can do my silent voting in November.

Steve,
I think most people realize that if you said one plus one equaled three and I said it equaled two, you'd say, "Thank you for proving my point."

Winston (Steve) All of the years Marty he was on the BOE there was a vote on the budget. Therefore, the argument could be made you "Winston" could not make a persuasive case to convince the public to vote no. You were not able to lay out a plan and show us the way so it is your fault. That is right "Winston is to Blame" he was inept and demonstrating the need for change. I am so disappointed. Winston had so much potential. I really wanted to see Winston in a debate. That would be special for those of you who remember the Honeymooners. Okay Winston the answer to the $64K dollar question is (hum-in-a, hum-in-a, hum- in-a) "Marty Abschutz" No Winston I am sorry but thanks for playing.

Steve,
I think everyone realizes that if you said one plus one equaled three and I said it equaled two, you'd say, "Thank you for proving my point."

Marty I am sure you have heard this numerouse times before....Please take it as constructive feedback...you tend to repeat yourself and you are .....well...very annoying.

Low turnout because they held elections in April, not November. Very slick. Also, the vote on the budget was non-binding, so most people didn't feel the urgency.

That was going to be my point but I see it was already made. My taxes have nearly tripled and I have never even educated one child in the system. Whenever I tell someone I live in South Brunswick they talk about the beautiful high school we have. Ahh yes, we do. And it is every bit as expensive as it looks. This was a vey nice community when we moved here. These politicians would have you believe they've done you a favor by not raising taxes as high as they could have. Unless everyone's forgotten, last year our taxes went up over 7%!!!! To make up for the loss in ratables of course. Please vote these idiots out.

Just Me In New Jersey no matter where you had a home you would have paid property taxes even though you did not educate a child. In middlesex county when you equalize the tax rate there are only three towns that are cheaper from a property tax stand point. The increase in student enrollment is not linear to the increase in taxes. One example would be the cost of building an additional school. I suggest you look and see if the drop in ratables the last two years and see if the BOE had not taken any action to their budget and asked for the exact same dollar amount what would have your taxes gone up, This meeting last evening identified that just from the loss in ratables the tax increase would have been over 7 cents. The increase is 4.9 cents. I suggest you compare how much your home value has increased in twenty years and how much it decreased the last 5 to surrounding towns and then compare your taxes to theirs. This does not change the fact that tax increases suck.

Winston here is a history lesson. You have made a statements on this blog attacking a number of people in public life. That is fair game but when you crossed the line and call into question someones fidelity to their spouse it upset me. When you made that comment you did not show any care or concern for the person's wife. At a minimum you should have considered the age of these folks and shown some restriant. You can hate the public figure and speak about their record all day long. Add to this you refer to some folks as incompotent on here without regard for the fact that they have school aged children again this was a public figure. You have also used slang racial and ethnic terms. What I said to you was a joke. Insinuating that your parents would rather have had a pet instead of you does not attack your family or you, it is just insulting. Now perhaps you know what it feels like. The difference is you put yourself out in the public realm. The persons wife and the children of the other person did not. My advice is find some kleenex because I have not even begun to get going. If you keep your attacks to ideas I won't make jokes about you if you attack people or are insensitive to others I will be here. You are a punk and somebody needs to address that I volunterred. I am the blog anti bullying czar

Left Lane Lou

To put my comments in context. Something Gambatese supporters have difficulty with. Another poster made several comments eluding to the fact that the new admin to the unqualified political boss who is now our town manager is in their words not mine...a "very very close friend" of the mayors. After several posts where they claimed that the admin is a "very close" friend of the mayors...I asked the question. According to the editors not you ....it could be interpreted to be over the line.

I trust the editors and not your politically skewed interpretation.

Winston There is left, right, and there is wrong. you did not stop there you then said girlfriend. I am glad the editors saw it the same way as me. You went over the line that is one thing. Not stopping to consider the other people not in the public realm was the issue. Glad you see the light you went over the line. For the record I am fiscally conserative go see my post opposing millionaires tax, defending a fair flat tax, supporting caps on salaries, shared services etc. However, I do not support and one ideology in its entirity. .

Love the GF reference

Yea but my opinion is so much more important than other peoples...

Just me,
Please clarify what you mean by "... who have taken very good care of themselves ..." since the elected members of the Board of Education are unpaid.

Oh no...the official spokesperson for the BOE, unions and special interest groups has demanded an answer!!

Yawnnnnn....(another nonsensical quote without any context or relevance to the discussion)

Just me you are entitled to your opinion and can cast a vote in the election. Please give me some specifics of what actions have been taken or what actions have not been taken. It would help me understand. I reviewed the budget information the last few years and would like to know what you would do differently.

Actually the last time the budget went down, the council cut a 1 million dollars from the budget.

Just Me some of Christies policies may work but if you are complaining about property tax consider the following two things. First Christie took 6 million dollars from the reserve fund of SB, That is more than the entire ratable decrease this year. Second Christie is pushing an income tax cut instead of property tax relief. He does get credit for having the state discussion revolve around a tax cut. With regards to the BOE budget what are your suggestions where are there savings to be had.

Just me,
Still don't understand how you see Board of Ed members "... have taken very good care of themselves .."
It's not "all the same." A few years ago, the Board reduced expenses by more than $8 million, i.e., more than 5.5%. Taxes have been cut several times during the past 20 years, including for next year. The Board is seeking $600,000 less than it did for the current year. That's a tax cut. That's also not "... spending as much as possible and passing the cost along." Gov Christie would have allowed the District to spend (and tax) an additional $2.6 million. They didn't. The Board is only requesting what it thinks SB needs to spend to provide a thorough and efficient education that the law mandates.
You may not know that Gov Christie calculates that South Brunswick School District is spending $7 million LESS than he thinks a financially well run district should be spending. That fiscal prudence enabled the District to be promised almost $2 million more in State aid, if the Governor's budget passes the legislature. That almost $2 million helped to partially offset the large ratable decline.

One of the ongoing problems, in my opinion, is the fact that property values have not been reassessed in South Brunswick for many years. That has lead to the current environment where property owners successfully appeal their assessed value, pushing more of the tax burden onto property owners who don't appeal and lessening their own burden regardless of any increase in tax rates.

No jest and not Franks water boy either he can defend himself, Review my posts and see for yourself my fiscal leanings are conserative but I also recognize when there are things that have been managed properly. Give me a few specifics of what should be done or what was done wrong with BOE budgets, I believe they have been managed well under Marty's tenure. . Also tell me what needs to go from the municipal budget? Be specific support your suggestions. Even if it will not get done provide your game plan put it up for review and criticism. Let's see what you have to offer.

Just me,
A hefty part of that $6 million was money the Board had saved for capital projects. Another hefty part of the $6 million would have been used to offset potential tax increases in the following year. That following year was the year the Board reduced expenses by about $8 million laying off more than 100 people in the process.

Just Me a property tax rebate would be a check from the state to you not back the municipalities. You are saying you support the average person making 500K or less to get back $250 verses the same people to get $500 to $700. I feel differently but you are entitled to your opinion. I think Marty explained the $6M but to emphasize the point there are 11 school buildings with boilers, roofs etc $6M is not an unreasonable amount of money to set aside for capitial projects.

This page is about the Board of Education adopting its 2012 - 2013 budget. You have not been paying attention if you say that the school portion of your tax bill has not gone down once in 20 years.
Secondly, it's nice to have a modest home assessed at more than $300,000, when the township average is under $190,000. (This might be an artifact of the township not being reassessed in forever - see one of my other posts).
You are mistaken about salary expense going up every year.
As I've stated before, The Board of Education members are unpaid volunteers, so your accusation of "... money in their own pockets" is a baldfaced lie.

Who is talking about township budget? Also thanks for the comment that the person making $500K a year is not avg it is the point of a property tax rebate as opposed to an income tax cut. If you are at $500K or less you will receive very little relief from an income tax cut but the same folks would benefit so much more from a property tax rebate.

The Board is not responsible for township wide salaries. If you look at the year that the Board reduced expenses by $8 million, District salary expense went down. For the record, I don't have cronies who affect the municipal budget.
Can we agree that their should be a township wide property value reassessment? That would provide a stable ratable base so that tax rates don't increase just to replace the ratable loss.
Your thoughts?

Fair question Ray and one you should ask the BOE. Also Joe R I do not see Ray as demonizing the NJEA here I think his concern is more along the lines of is there a conflict of interest. It is an interesting point because where do you draw the line. If you do not allow these people to serve are you infringing on their rights and if you allow them to serve are you creating a potential conflict of interest. Not sure where I stand on that would have to here arguments for and against it before coming to a conclusion.

I think there are rules from the state that require BOE members to recuse themselves in certain situations. Thiese are not options it is defined they must recuse themselves.

Middle,
There are definite rules on conflict of interest, especially as it relates to negotiating a contract with a bargaining unit. When I was on the Board, we consulted authorities a few times regarding this issue. Any affected Board members always abided by the rules.