Letters
Resident questions town’s spending practices

During one of his political ego rushes following the president’s second term victory, George W. Bush re-marked, “I’ve gained political capital and I intend to spend it.” Marlboro Mayor Robert Klein-berg certainly agrees with this philosophy.

The mayor’s winning election for the Township Council and his mayoral victory could designate him a George W. “political capital partner.” While controversies run wild concerning the Con-gressional “pork” distributed by regimes reigning in Washington, D.C., Mayor Kleinberg also spends “gained political capital” by refurbishing, at a considerable expense to township taxpayers, our administrative facilities, offices and the complex’s building.

Marlboro’s “Municipal Com-plex Kleinberg Shrine” enhancement has occurred during the same time the need for township citizenry services has reached startling proportions.

With property taxes at an all-time high and a budget shortfall approaching a half-million dollars, the mayor has found the need for an ego transfusion as he pays personal tribute to the deficit spending policies of Congressional Republicans, joined by Marlboro cronies who likewise hold strategic posts on his anointed “Kleinberg Team.”

Herbert Resnick

Marlboro

Howell residents deserve to have a say on important local issues

I take exception to the editorial, “Don’t Let the Public Decide” (News Transcript, Jan. 4), in which you state that our elected officials are entrusted to make tough decisions and the public doesn’t need to vote on major capital expenditures.

Our officials were elected to act on our behalf in the case of policy and oversight of the township manager.

However, when it comes to the replacement of the town hall or other major capital outlay, such as bonding millions for questionable land acquisition and a recreational center, it’s quite a different story. Their name on a bronze plaque at the cost of bankrupting the taxpayer was not part of the deal.

It wasn’t too long ago that a former administration cried that town hall was an environmental horror and needed to be replaced. It proved at the time that only our elected officials needed replacement.

I also recall when Howell officials wanted to build a multimillion dollar water tower because of low water pressure in the township water supply. They claimed that life and property was in jeopardy.

After several meetings during which I questioned the engineering and necessity of such a structure, the engineering firm at the time could not substantiate the need for the project. It appeared that the administration was pushing for the water tower suggesting that pay-to-play was the real underlying factor.

Guess what? Years later there is still no need for that water tower and there is no threat to life safety in Howell. Your conclusion that taxpayers will “choose to tell their elected officials to put off the inevitable” suggests that we really need to replace town hall, which as I have pointed out, may not be the case.

With all of the ethical lapses that have been revealed in Monmouth County and all of the bribes and kickbacks related to pay-to-play last year, it behooves the taxpayer to demand that they be included and vote on all major capital expenditures that affect our pockets and our children’s future.

As much as I don’t want the mayor and Township Council to pass the buck, I have seen firsthand that things aren’t always what they seem to be when it comes to a government controlled by power brokers behind the scenes.

When over $100,000 of pay-to-play money determines who our mayor will be, the taxpayer must be included in the process. Your statement that “the council is privy to details not known to the general public...” is all the more reason all major issues should be on the ballot.

Steven Morlino

Howell