Summer rec programs not ‘very affordable’

Sharon Campos wrote a letter [Aug. 4 edition of the Bulletin] about the fee increases for Brick Township’s recreation camps. She wants everyone to know that they are “very affordable.” That is nice, since it is coming from a woman who doesn’t have children who are attending the camp.

Ms. Campos also uses a lot of numbers in her letter: the $70 fee increase divided by 17 [years without a fee increase]; $4.12 [increase per child] a year; $11.67 a week [if you divide the $70 increase by 6 weeks, the length of the camp]. The only numbers Ms. Campos and the residents of Brick Township need to know are $30 and $100. These two numbers represent what it used to cost a family per child and what it now costs. It is easy for Ms. Campos to say this increase is affordable — the increase doesn’t affect her because she has only grown children.

Ms. Campos also credits the Republicans, and apparently herself, with giving residents “a little more money in your pocket to do things and buy items for your families.” Well, little is the operative word. As Mayor Scarpelli pointed out [in an opinion piece] a short time ago, it only cost every home in Brick Township $2.50 a year to make recreational programs, not just the camp, affordable. That means, for the families who want to use the camp program, they have to spend an extra $70 to get that $2.50 savings. What a bargain.

Susan Kizmann

Brick