Letters
School officials need creative budgeting ideas

I agree with Marlboro school officials that S-1701 was not well thought out by our legislators in Trenton, and that it has forced school districts like Marlboro to take extraordinary measures to deal with the rising cost of fuel.

Although in the law’s first year, homeowners received property tax relief; since then, residents in these districts have experienced significant tax increases because the districts have had to raise additional monies just to provide the same level of services that they provided in the first year of S-1701.

However, it is interesting to note that the most vocal Marlboro school officials speaking against S-1701 are the same who, in the years prior to the passage of the law, consistently lobbied the Marlboro Board of Education to reduce surplus to the minimum required by state law, then 3 percent, to fund recurring operating expenses.

As a member of the board during many of those years, I consistently expressed my opposition to that approach, noting that there would come a time when the district would be faced with unexpected costs but would have insufficient surplus from which to draw. Typically, the response from school officials was that they would continue to be creative in the way they craft the budget.

Marlboro’s business administrator is quoted in the Jan. 4 News Transcript as saying that “we had no crystal ball to know that these costs were going to go off the map.”

That’s not an acceptable response from the chief financial officer of our school district. During my board tenure, Marl-boro school officials were re-minded year after year that contingency plans for dealing with unanticipated expenses were needed.

While no one could have anticipated the foolhardy actions of the Legislature in forcing school districts to arbitrarily reduce reserves to 2 percent, without regard to such things as increasing enrollment and the spiraling costs of educating special needs children that Marlboro and other districts are experiencing, school officials knew that the day of reckoning was coming, and should have been prepared to deal with it.

It’s time for these vocal Marlboro school officials to bring creative approaches to the table to ensure that our children will continue to receive the same high quality level of education in a comfortable learning environment that they received in less financially stressful times.

Mark Orenzow

Marlboro

Caregivers of N.J. stands ready to lend a hand

The baby boomer generation is coming of age. In 2006, the leading edge of the nation’s 78 million baby boomers will begin to turn 60. This is a generation of people of whom many serve as caregivers to an elderly parent, spouse or child who is chronically ill or has a disability or mental health issue.

Many work full time, and the demands eventually take their toll. Most, at some point, will experience “burnout.” Many often don’t know where to turn for support or relief.

In New Jersey there are more than 832,000 caregivers who provide an average of 891 hours of care each year. Clearly, there is a large number of our population in dire need of assistance whether it’s information, support, advocacy or education.

The newly formed Caregivers of New Jersey can help. The organization was established to streamline and centralize information on a number of issues and resources related to care-giving.

We are pleased to collaborate with other Family Resource Network affiliates, including Autism Family Services of New Jersey, Epilepsy Foundation of New Jersey, and Family Support Center of New Jersey, on such an important issue.

Caregivers of New Jersey offers both caregivers and health care professionals a variety of free services through its Web site, www.njcaregivers.org. The site contains referrals, links to resources, even chat rooms for support and input. For more information call (800) FSC-NJ10 (372-6510).

Jacqui Moskowitz

executive director

Family Support Center

of New Jersey

Manasquan

Supporters of passenger rail service wait for yet another study

This is my manifesto on passenger rail for central New Jersey. What has been accomplished in the last 25 years? Nothing much since George Buckwald and Frank Pallone, who fired us up to the concept of bringing back passenger rail to central New Jersey. They did have the foresight to see that central New Jersey will become the great boom area, and a high population explosion.

So where are we now? Back to square one. Over the years we who have been in the front line trenches, cajoling, talking, meeting with all people, politicians, agencies, and giving all our time and effort to bring this project to a fair completion. There is one thing we did learn over the years – when road blocks are thrown into your path at every turn it makes it a very hard fight to win your case.

Yes, we have seen millions of taxpayers’ money used up needlessly over the years by studies, reports, restudies of the report, and now we are awaiting a new report, which was due in the spring of 2005. This, of course, puts NJ Transit in a very good position, always saying we cannot do or say anything until the report is forthcoming. Even though they know, as we of the Central Jersey Rail Coalition have been aware of for years, as to what is the best and cheapest route to develop for revitalizing passenger rail service in central New Jersey.

What are the problems and road blocks? Put in simple terms, stubborn positioning, county power plays, and selfish desires.

Now we can see the problems that we have encountered over the years.

Middlesex County has used its strong political power to fight the MOM (Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex) proposal.

Monmouth County has been fighting hard for only the MOM line as it is the only thing it wants.

All that means is that Ocean County is locked in. It has no say and is kept at the mercy of the M&M counties.

What is my conclusion? To all the thousands of people whose desire it is to see the return of passenger rail service in our area and to the many thousands who have signed petitions to government agencies, who also have come out at our call, to join together and to hear many politicos extol the great need for the revival of passenger rail, we in the trenches do salute you and thank you.

To the politicos who honestly want to see it come to pass, you must double your time and effort to see it come to life. By the way, the military, although they are staying on the sidelines, have for quite a few logical reasons desired to see passenger rail come to Lakehurst.

My thinking, after we read the latest report when it finally will come to pass ... we hope to see a solution and the first step for implementing passenger rail. We in the trenches do have our opinion as to where and how to go, but we feel courtesy asks us to wait for the final study report.

Milton Itell

Lakewood

Spirit of the holidays is alive and well in Freehold Twp.

’Twas two days before Christmas/ In my office I sat/As years past putting on my Santa’s hat.

I sat in amazement at the toys and clothing on my shelves

And thought how grateful I was to all my Freehold Township elves.

For keeping the spirit of this holiday is clear

It’s all about giving, love and good will

It brought tears to my eyes and gave me a chill.

So as the Girl Scouts laugh and have fun and begin to wrap

Please put your hands together in one big clap

Applaud yourselves for a job well done.

The children will wake up Christmas morning with a smile on their face

For that, there isn’t a word you can put in its place.

So as I sign off with a great big cheer

I want to wish you all the happiest of holidays and a Happy New Year!

Special thanks to Freehold Township employees, East Freehold Fire Co., the Gardner family, the Aurilia family, the Coopersmith family, attorney Ira J. Metrick, senior center red hats/scarlet rouses, Cooper Electric, and my special little elves Girl Scout Troop 194.

Roseann P. Polo

director of public assistance

Freehold Township

Secret Santa makes Christmas bright for local families

The main focus of Freehold Area Open Door is as a food pantry, but so many of our families struggle to provide the basics such as food, heat and shelter that toys are a luxury many cannot afford. Over the past nine years, Open Door has provided gifts to many families in the Freehold area.

Our Christmas program has outgrown the confines of our small pantry, and for the third year the Reformed Church on Main Street in Freehold has generously allowed us to use their church as our distribution site. All our gifts are donated from local businesses, schools and churches.

But this year we received gifts from a Secret Santa. More than 50 large black garbage bags filled with toys were left overnight during the week of Dec. 12. We have been unable to identify our benefactor, so we would like to use the media to say thank you for your kindness and absolutely incredible generosity.

Freehold Area Open Door was able to supply Christmas gifts and books to more than 270 children in over 130 families who are clients of Open Door. In addition, we were able to supply toys to the Missionaries of Charity in Asbury Park and to the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots program.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, and God bless.

Jeanne Yaecker

director

Maureen Kurowski

Christmas program

Freehold Area Open Door

Freehold Borough