Open Letter to Monmouth County Residents From Independent Freeholder Candidate Tom Markowski
As an Independent Candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder this November, I hope to bring a sense of urgency to the position and take immediate action to help our fellow residents during these difficult economic times. Monmouth County Government has become too expensive.
My platform:
15 objectives for Monmouth County Freeholders in 2012 and beyond
Lower county taxes for Monmouth County residents. Tax increases are unacceptable. Our government has become unaffordable. Sounds obvious, but we need to commit to this objective.
Stop using Monmouth County reserves to balance the budget. Using $43 million of our surplus to balance the 2011 budget was an action of fiscal irresponsibility. We cannot continue to simply hope the economy will turn around. Using our reserves leaves us in a “weakened” position and shows residents that our government is overspending.
Stop hiring people who are already “retired” and receiving government pensions in excess of 60K annually. Many of our residents are are struggling and are looking for work. Monmouth County is experiencing a 9% unemployment rate. Hire our residents who do not have the benefit of a large government pension.
Move to a Higher Moral Ground. Stop nepotism/favoritism in Monmouth County government hiring. Demand accountability at Brookdale and at all our county departments. Change the culture in Monmouth County government to become more responsive to its citizens.
Apologize to the students of Brookdale College for the “planned 2011 tuition” increase, and the unethical practices of its leadership. Continue to examine all areas of spending at the school and hold the Brookdale Board of Trustees accountable. How can we consider raising tuition, when the Brookdale president was given a large salary, SUV, money to send his kids to private college, and a credit card for entertaining? Where was the oversight?
Move to outsourcing services where appropriate. Monmouth County government has become too expensive. Let our private sector handle more government functions. County government should provide essential services directly. Golf courses, nursing homes, marinas, etc. are just some of the areas we need to let our private sector handle.
Cut spending. Cut spending. Cut spending. Do not assume the NJ economy will get better. Because if you are wrong, you will leave Monmouth County with another large budget deficit. Many of our residents are cutting their spending due to economic conditions. Follow their lead. Do not hope for the best, then hit residents with another tax hike. S&P has just placed Monmouth County on credit watch; so the stakes are high.
Bring QUALITY jobs to Monmouth County. Committees, job fairs and “toolkits” are nice ideas, but we need much more that. I am committed to creating jobs and by reaching out to Fortune 1000 firms. Monmouth County is a great place to do business. AT&T, Lucent, BRAC are all gone. Monmouth County has now become our second largest employer. This is a recipe for disaster. Our young people will continue to move out of the county, due to lack of viable career opportunities available.
Make sure the county government does the basic things well and does not make excuses. Plow county roads in a timely manner. Ensure that utilities can provide our residents with reliable electricity. Make county government offices more responsive to its residents. Providing essential services is what residents are paying taxes for.
Make Monmouth County government relevant and more appreciated by its residents. Provide services that benefit most Monmouth County residents, and reduce those, that benefit few. Many of our residents, do not have a clue what their county government does for them. That is not a good sign, given we are spending $500 million annually. We need to take step back and engage with our towns to see how they want their county taxes spent. County government needs to serve its residents in a manner they desire, and not be beholden to special interests.
Reduce government borrowing. The $43 million in surplus the Freeholders used to balance the budget , would have been better spent paying down Monmouth County’s $500 million in debt. Our debt service expense has become a major drag on the budget. Monmouth County’s large debt, combined with struggling state and federal budgets, is a recipe for financial disaster. Our borrowing costs will continue to increase, as S&P has already put us on credit watch. Brookdale University is also on credit watch.
Demand shared sacrifice. We cannot ask taxpayers to continue to bear the brunt of our fiscal shortfall, without asking our employees and service providers to make sacrifices also. We are all in this together, and “all” does not mean just property owners. Rising property taxes are driving both commercial and residential real estate prices lower. We also need to continue to raise revenues from alternative sources, other than property taxes.
Encourage Monmouth towns to embrace shared services; for the benefit of their financial future. We can make a difference for our towns, without threatening their independence. This cannot be a hobby for Freeholders, but a mission. Local expenses continue to rise and with over 50 municipalities in the county, we need to become for efficient.
Set priorities when it comes to spending. Monmouth county’s budget is approximately a half a billion dollars. We need to prioritize each line item in the budget. Areas such has helping disabled children and adults, would be a high priority expense that should be protected. Spending on fringe benefits, like the ones given to Brookdale’s president would be low priority item. It is safe to say there are many areas that will be low on our list, and will be targeted for removal. It’s not the Freeholder’s money. It’s OUR money.
Establish a sense of Urgency, and stop wasting time making public appearances. We need to get to work for the taxpayer. Every day we are not addressing our budget deficit, is moving us closer to financial disaster. Make Monmouth County lead the state in fiscal responsibility and job growth.
In the end, I am sure that many of the candidates support some parts of this platform. The more relevant question is can they execute? Do they have the urgency, the desire and the ability to get the job done. Or are they simply going to hope the economy recovers, and then tell us they need to raise taxes?
This is a detailed platform, that I am putting in writing, so residents understand my objectives. The major parties have endorsed their candidates, and are asking you to trust their choice and wisdom. Much like the Obama administration, there is no plan. With a half a billion dollar budget, Monmouth County residents deserve more than public appearances and Facebook postings. Todays’ hard times, demand action, courage and urgency, not old-time politics.
Regards,
Tom Markowski
More from my site
Monmouth Freeholders Adopt Budget With Small Spending and Tax Increases
The Arnone Report: Fort Monmouth Progress, Monmouth Park needs help
The Arnone Report: Gratitude and Accomplishment
Licitra is running for Monmouth County Freeholder
Clifton To Be Named Monmouth Freeholder Director
Curley will be Deputy Freeholder Director
The Arnone Report: In Monmouth County, We Keep Our Promises
Monmouth Freeholders to strip Curley of most of his duties
Monmouth County Government to Reorganize on Thursday
Fort Monmouth Reopens Between Eatontown and Oceanport
It’s a shame that Mr. Markowski didn’t mention the Monmouth County Jail and just how mismanged that institution is. Overtime is out of control at the jail. There are jail guards in Monmouth County that are making over $200,000 in year. That is more than the Governor is paid. Sadly, the Republican Sheriff and the Republican majority on the Board of Freeholders also have very little to say about this matter. Go figure.
Monmouth County pays nearly $14 million in overtime to employees
The Monmouth County jail is a huge, complete disaster for us MC taxpayers. There are people working there making “wall street” type money and dont have college degrees. I think the freeholders want to keep this quiet. What is wrong with this ? Where is the leadership from the freeholders? Who has the guts and nerve to stand up and defend us taxpayers (who elected you). I am going to guess no one on the freeholder board or the Sheriff will stand up for us. It takes guts and real leadership. I would only guess maybe Curley might have the leadership and guts. Are the freeholders and sherrif going to not rock the boat and ignore the huge outragous salaries of the MC jail ? are they defenders of the status quo ? Are they going to fight for the taxpayers or just worry about getting re elected and attend fundraisers to shake hands every night and act like the jail salary problem is not there. Who will be the leader and who will be the typical politicians that just park and do nothing? Clifton is running on a higher level and will be gone soon; little impact. The Monmouth County jail salaries are higher than the governor that runs the entire state of NJ ! Are you guys gonna ignore this or fix it? Mr. Freeholder and Mr. Sherriff ? Whats the plan ? If you need exact salaries, check out app.com and click data universe, it tells all the public salaries of everyone.
LT. GOV. GUADAGNO ON HOT SEAT AS STATE INVESTIGATES SHERIFFS’ MILLION-DOLLAR DOUBLE-DIPPING SCAMS
Amen to the above!! This has been my message along regarding the waste, management, and corruption at the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Department.
I have spoken out at Freeholder meetings regarding the pension fraud, 287g program, and the ridiculous amounts of overtime used to operate the jail.
Sheriff Golden has got to get off the cocktail circuit–and establish the semblance of overtime management. He has to manage and control the overtime–not the other way around!!!
Sheriff Golden is there, and he has to be held accountable and responsible. I brought up the fact that his Public Information Officer, Ms. Cynthia Scott, has a take-home police vehicle and lives just 4 miles down the road from where she works. This despite the fact the sheriff’s department laid off 10% of its correctional staff. I find this indeed appalling.
The probe into this debacle is still ongoing–despite Senator Beck asserting it’s over. She never once said the fraud that permits double dipping was wrong. The evidence in this matter is overwhelming and compelling.
The only obstacle is that AG Paula Dow is an appointee of the governor; as is the New Jersey Treasury secretary.
Golden ran on a platform of fiscal austerity with Freeholders Arnone and Clifton. It appears that is a falsehood. Golden re-named his former chief of law enforcement to undersheriff, doing the same chores he did before–giving him a raise of $5000.00. This permits his undersheriff to collect both a pension and a salary. I believe the pension fund has taken a hit of about a quarter million dollars on this debacle. Some fiscal austerity
Golden blamed me for paying a large contingent of homeless people to attend his final debate with Democratic rival Brophy–that too was a lie. If he lies about that–what else is he lying about???
Shaun Golden: When you stop lying abut me–I will stop telling the truth about you!!
Jim Sage
reailtyhurts said-There are people working there making “wall street” type money and dont have college degrees
what about the director of public works and engineering earning 160,000 + with out any degree and now is working on Golden to get a badge and gun? why..
Dave,
With all due respect, the correction officers are probably one of the hardest working law enforcement officers in the county. They work in a warehouse of human misery, outnumbered and unarmed. There are short on manpower, and heavily rely on overtime. Many officer’s cant make plans with their families because sometimes they get “stuck” for overtime when manpower from the tour that relieves them is less than adequate to staff the posts. This has to stop by increasing staffing. Sometimes you have to spend a little money in order to save quite a bit.
The jail needs to be privatized. The very last thing Monmouth County needs is more PBA members feeding at the public trough.
Mr Markowski- good job identifying some of the issues facing the freeholder candidates. However, it looks likemjust a bunch of rehashed generalizations. How exactly, if elected, would you propose to get any motion seconded as you will be a distinct minority and will really have no chance to do anything? Also, how exactly “reduce government spending”, “demand shared sacrifice” or “create a sense of urgency”? All those phrases sound nice and I’m sure you mean them, but you lack specificity. That is why you will not win this election.
All of the very specific issues addressed in the comments above have solutions and that is where specificity becomes important. The cronyism and improprieties will continue in county government until someone starts to talk about the solutions to the voters. Until then, the Monmouth GOP will simply drag out their numerical advantage in votes and will likely cruise again this year. It’s not right and not what’s best for taxpayers- it’s just the fact.
I give Art, I whole lot of credit for letting people express their opinion. Makes this site what it is.
Running as Independent in Monmouth County, is a “longshot” at best. But why not? Do we sit here and wait for….. who?
Look at the other candidates, an you will see very little in “specifics”, other than “Monmouth County is a great place to live”.
So I encourage you to ask the other candidates where they stand on the issues listed above. I have yet to see anything of substance.
And God help whoever wins in November, because they will need all the help they can get.
I got tired of posting on blogs, and told my kids we have to at least make an effort. This is my effort.
Thanks Tom. Good luck.
His legacy will be the fraud at the Sheriff’s Department. Tom Markowski has to be more specific, rather than his generic and usual complaints about government . Why not start here Tom??? Call for an investigation–we already have one with the mess at Brookdale.
http://newjersey.watchdog.org/2011/09/22/double-dipper-42-monmouth-undersheriff-robert-dawson/
gosh, here we go again..at some point, we all must get over unrealized expectations and hopes: we must stop the accusations and critiques because we turned out to not get that job we wanted, or be in-charge.. as for the Ind. candidate, I agree that the generalities espoused are not necessarily true in some instances, and absolutely UNtrue in others..if one takes the time to actually attend a few meetings and/ or read the entire county’s website, you will see tons of services and “bang for the county tax buck” people can/do receive,just by living here.. there are a lot of things already outsourced, where it’s been deemed to be a money-saver.. there are also many things where it’s definitely cheaper to handle in-house: a one-size- fits-all, “vanilla” blanket-approach is both short-sighted and overly simplistic,and is a mark of inexperience.. for example, never mind the myriad of laws that must be complied with, the various sources of funding alone, often demand a different approach in delivering the service.. trust me, here in Jersey,it is more complex than one might think..most of us agree it would be great, if all governing bodies lost the mentality that those who spend most govern best, but, the temptation to “buy” votes of special groups is so strong, and the mentality that, if we refuse to take a grant, somebody else will get it, seems to be many peoples’ governing principle.. only the taxpayers hollering “please stop!’ and voting accordingly, will stem that tide..
what exactly would YOU do??..give us your solutions!..who would YOU trust to do a good job, in various positions?.. where would YOU cut?.. how much $ ?.. I will maintain that, out of all 4 levels of government to which we pay taxes for services, the County of Monmouth is the most accountable, transparent, and accessible.. if you don’t get that, you don’t come in, you don’t follow the goings- on, and you don’t really read your COUNTY tax portion of your bill..you got a question or a problem with your county, I would be stunned if you do not get a quick, informed, and helpful answer..the five freeholder aides do that all day long.. if you don’t, come to a mtg. and ask the Director, he will probably let you yammer on for about as long as you want, and you will get an answer.. if it isn’t the exact answer/solution YOU want, you’ll be told why.. that’s just how they roll, and it must work pretty well, there are still tons of people moving here for this quality of life, the numbers are there!..
N0t me. I,m bullet voting for Rich like a shot out of a 50 cal sniper rifle. he is THE MAN and the only candidate who deserves a vote.
Note to all you nut jobs and overzealous law enforcement types. This is not a threat but a clever ( if I do say so myself) analogy.