Dem says GOP patronage alive and well in Brick

A letter writer implied that because the local government agencies are all separate entities, that political considerations, patronage and policies are not carried out between them. Let me discuss how several agencies are affecting next year's municipal budget.

The Republican-controlled Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority (BTMUA) has agreed to pay Brick $1 million for garbage collection since the inception (1965) of the BTMUA for next year's budget when Mayor [Steve] Acropolis and three council seats are up for election.

Can you imagine that they are so desperate to hold on to the mayor's spot that they worked on an excuse to transfer $1 million from the BTMUA to the Brick government?

Because they couldn't justify $1 million for one year's garbage pickup, they went back 43 years! It would have been better for the BTMUA ratepayers to receive a $1 million rebate rather than to have the Republican appointees help their political cronies out in an election year. I have just one question. Will Brick Township charge the BTMUA interest for not paying the garbage bill for 43 years?

The Republican-controlled Freeholder board delayed the $1.5 million contribution to Trader's Cove during the Scarpelli and Kelly years and are making it available not for this year's budget but for next year's budget when Mayor Acropolis and the three council seats are up for election.

Again, it would have been better for the Brick taxpayers to receive the $1.5 million when the bond issue was floated several years ago so the taxpayers wouldn't have had to pay that out of their pockets rather than to have the Republican freeholders help out their political cronies in an election year.

As if this wasn't enough, the health care costs increased by $1,342,000 in 2008, which came out to an increase of approximately 15 percent.

What many don't know is that the same broker was used to get the quotes from the various health care companies. This doesn't ensure a competitive rate. When my company requests quotes, we use different brokers to ensure a competitive rate. My company uses Blue Cross as well, yet our increase this year was 6 percent.

Don't be surprised that next year's health insurance rate increase is minimal and this was just another scheme to keep taxes low in an election year. And, again the Brick taxpayers are paying early for the health care increase to subsidize the tax rate in an election year.

Based on these three situations alone, the Brick taxpayers paid approximately $3.2 million, sometimes years earlier than necessary, to make the budget look good next year in the hope that it will make the re-election of Mayor Acropolis easier. It would be nice to get some sanity back in these various government entities to keep our taxes and water rates low.

Joseph Lamb Sr.

Brick