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Health & Fitness

Gifts for the few, at the expense of the many!

Where does your tax money go? Are municipal governments misusing it?

In the Township of Woodbridge there are three taxing entities.  The largest is the School District, followed by the municipal government and then the nine (9) various Fire Districts.  The School District (1) and the Fire Districts submit their respective budgets to the voters for approval.  The municipal government does not have to get voter approval for its annual budget.  The only voice voters have in controlling their municipal and county tax levies (the county being Operational and Open Space) (see: http://www.nj.com/news/bythenumbers/ ) is by voting for their mayor, nine (9) town council members, seven (7) Chosen Freeholders and their respective District Fire Commissioners.  Obviously, voters who are concerned about their township’s tax levies need to be pro-active in their selection of their township and county leaders.  It is their only recourse when it comes to influencing municipal and county budgets and spending.

While voters have a degree of control over the School District’s budget, that control is far from absolute.  If the voters reject the school budget, the budget is presented to the town council for review. The town council may approve or cut the School district’s budget.  Either way, the budget does not go back to the voters for final approval.  Here again, the importance of electing fiscally conservative town council and BOE members becomes apparent.

Given the growing concerns over the School District’s  annual budget, the  BOE is showing an increased willingness to circumvent the ‘will of the voters’ by accepting gifts from the municipal government.  Gifts such as air condition a school’s auditorium, paving school parking lots, lighting for some school sports fields, etc.  While some, especially the special interest groups, may see this as a good thing, is it really?

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There are good and valid reasons the municipal and the school government bodies are treated as two separate legal entities.  Controlling their respective tax powers may be the most likely reason.  If the lawmakers who created the two distinct entities wanted them to share their respective tax revenues, they wouldn’t have separated them? 

If people want to control how much they are taxed, and how the tax revenues are spend, they need to vote.  They can also put pressure on their elected official to stop wasteful, self-serving spending.

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Paraphrasing a well know TV commercial:  IT”S YOUR MONEY, MAKE THEM SPEND IT THE WAY YOU WANT!

 

(1)    Per Wikipedia, a school district is a legally separate body corporate and politic. School districts are local governments with powers similar to that of a town or a county including taxation and eminent domain, except in Virginia, whose school divisions have no taxing authority and must depend on another local government (county, city, or town) for funding. Its governing body, which is typically elected by direct popular vote but may be appointed by other governmental officials, is called a school board, board of trustees, board of education, school committee, or the like. This body appoints a superintendent, usually an experienced public school administrator, to function as the district's chief executive for carrying out day-to-day decisions and policy implementations. The school board may also exercise a quasi-judicial function in serious employee or student discipline matters.

 

 

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