Morris County Budget Input Wanted at Public Meeting
Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders invites residents to speak their minds to committee members.
The Morris County Board of Chosen Freeholders is asking for the public's input on the 2013 county budget currently being drafted and has invited members of the public and municipal leaders to share their opinions with the Budget Subcommittee.
The subcommittee will be hosting a budget session on Feb. 13 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Knox Room, fifth floor, of the county Administration and Records Building on Court Street in Morristown.
"The freeholder’s budget committee has been meeting on a regular basis for nearly a year and is now in the process of formulating the final spending plan for introduction in the next few weeks," according to a press release sent by Joe Garifo, public information officer for the freeholders.
Additionally, Budget Subcommittee Chair Freeholder Hank Lyon, Freeholder Director Thomas Mastrangelo and committee member Freeholder John Krickus will be available prior to the regular public freeholder meeting on that day to talk to county residents or elected officials about their ideas or concerns regarding county spending.
“We think it’s important that citizens have a better understanding of the county’s budget process,” Lyon said. “The freeholders once again are wrestling with some very difficult budget decisions. We continue to thoroughly examine all county government programs, and we welcome any thoughts the public and municipal officials may have about county spending.”
Anyone who would like to have their input included but is unable to attend the budget session can write to the freeholders and send letters to the Morris County Administrator's Office, P.O. Box 900, Morristown, NJ, 07963 or email jgarifo@co.morris.nj.us.
The Stig
3:25 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
What Budget? Shouldn't they post a first draft if they want people to comment??!!
Thomas Lotito
11:04 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
The right people are in place and it's time to make a flat budget.The public has been given the opportunity to put their two cents in, your influence counts, use it!
The Stig
9:49 am on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
The Freeholders haven't said they are delivering a "flat" budget, just one without a tax levy increase. There's a difference. Since they haven't posted a first draft, there's no way of telling how much they plan to increase the budget, and that is a critical issue.
alan rosenbaltt
5:42 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
did u say free loaders as what they are
Chris
11:06 am on Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Alan,
with a comment like that you come across very ignorant. Grow up and leave a comment that the rest of the readers want to read. Not ignorant comments.
Not Domino
10:00 am on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Approximately how many line items are there in the budget? The meeting is 60 minutes long, so if you divide 60 by the total number of line items, that will give the average number of minutes available to discuss each line item.
For example, if there are only 30 items, then each item could be discussed for a mere 2 minutes, on average. What will more likely be the case is that one or two items will be probably discussed for the entire duration of the meeting.
The public MUST have a chance to review the budget themselves a few days before the meeting, or else it is unreasonable to expect that there can be very much meaningful discussion.
Isn't this important enough to not have to rush through it?
Linda Gaffney
10:32 am on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
I agree, these people need to disclose the budget including everything (benefits and pensions for Freeholders) and allow time for the public to have before the meeting and don't limit the meeting time so that they can hear from the taxpayers.
Linda Gaffney
10:32 am on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
I agree, these people need to disclose the budget including everything (benefits and pensions for Freeholders) and allow time for the public to have before the meeting and don't limit the meeting time so that they can hear from the taxpayers.
Kevin Nedd
12:33 am on Friday, February 8, 2013
Lol! We have been trying to explain the difference between a "flat budget" and a "flat tax levy increase" to Tom for years. Clearly it's a cause that will never be met.
Thomas Lotito
9:11 am on Friday, February 8, 2013
LOL, this from a guy, who's only claim to fame is that he wouldn't support anything above a 2% tax increase, while he spent down the surplus. Get a grip!
Kevin Nedd
10:22 am on Friday, February 8, 2013
Tom,
We have gone over this a hundred times. Telling a lie over and over again doesn't make it true.
1. I never claimed I "wouldn't support anything above a 2% tax increase". I pledged not to vote for a budget that led to a tax increase exceeding the SSA COLA for that year. A pledge i maintained throughout my tenure. There is a difference that to this day obviously escapes you.
2. When I assumed office the surplus was $4 million. When I left it was $2.6 million. Using $1.4 million of revenue already collected from taxpayers was a good thing that protected taxpayers from potentially higher taxes needed to pay for the GOP's increased spending, for which I voted against in 2006.
3. Since you open the door on taxes, please answer this simple question: does the amount of property taxes YOU pay come anywhere close to the cost of educating any children you have in our public schools? Does it also cover anywhere near what the town and county spends on your behalf to ensure the overall WELFARE of you and your family?
Kevin Nedd
10:29 am on Friday, February 8, 2013
Tom,
Forgot to ask you another simple question: do you support Mayor Short who in 2005 imposed a budget containing a whopping 11.1% tax increase, the LARGEST ever in Washington Township?
Thomas Lotito
11:33 am on Friday, February 8, 2013
Kevin, did Obama say: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.”
Kevin Nedd
11:39 am on Friday, February 8, 2013
So you are admitting you and your family depend on hardworking taxpayers? You don't have the "ability" to support yourself and your family?
BillBalls
12:51 pm on Friday, February 8, 2013
Keven – You were just played for the fool, and a fool you did made of yourself. Apparently you didn’t pay much attention in you history or social studies classes, and maybe not even your economic classes, because it you had you would have bumped into that famous phrase, and who said it.
Kevin Nedd
3:03 pm on Friday, February 8, 2013
I know it wasn't the President who said it. I simply didn't want to give Tom the satisfaction of acknowledging he was attempting to link the President to Marx, an avowed socialist.
The Stig
3:22 pm on Friday, February 8, 2013
Not a dime's worth of difference between Karl and Barack, both are class warriors and redistributors of the wealth.
His Plan A, B and C for everything is to make the rich pay more and more and more . . . .
The mobile rich will get richer, and the rest will just carry the 47% - http://www.cnbc.com/id/100446634
Kevin Nedd
3:29 am on Monday, February 11, 2013
Huge difference as Marx is a socialist and the President has presided over a country where a capitalist market has achieved record highs during his term in office.
Get over it...the guy you said would win lost in a landslide.
The Stig
9:03 am on Monday, February 11, 2013
You artfully avoided calling Obama a Capitalist because you know he isn't one.
America used to be about making sure all had an Equal Opportunity. The rest was up to You. Obama is all about making everyone's bank accounts Equal through government redistribution of the wealth. That's the definition of Socialism.
Sir
11:16 am on Friday, February 8, 2013
Tax the rich, give to the poor so they remain dependent.
BillBalls
12:53 pm on Friday, February 8, 2013
No, it is tax the rich, give to the poor, so the poor continue to vote democratic.
BillBalls
1:01 pm on Friday, February 8, 2013
Question – since Morristown receives a health sum of “State Aid,” and as such is able to offset its costs and therefore build and maintain covered parking garages, and since I here in Jersey, pay a heck of a lot in sales and income tax to the State, why should their parking garages be freely opened only to residents during the storm? In fact I would hazard a guess that those parking garages are mostly paid for by out of town residents, yet Morristown itself enjoys the revenue they generates. I wonder too, why the government is involved in what should only be that of private affairs
Doug
5:44 pm on Monday, May 20, 2013
Haha dumb back n forth