HAMMONTON FIRST FINALLY FILES FINAL ELECTION REPORTS REQUIRED BY LAW. REPORTS WERE DUE 11/27/06, HAMMONTON FIRST FILED THEIR REPORT ON 1/29/07. BELOW ARE THE FINAL AMOUNTS SPENT BY PARTY FROM HIGHEST TO LOWEST.
HAMMONTON FIRST - $47,825.40 DEMOCRATS - $14,659.48 REPUBLICANS - $13,534.11
If you look on the Democrats website, they list the largest contributors to each campaign. Take notice that the Donio family contributed almost $18,000.00 to the Hammonton First campaign. That accounts for over 37% of the total campaign spending for Hammonton First.
The Hammonton News is a rag. Now they have even bashed the Church!
It is time for the Hammonton News to apologize and learn some journalistic integrity!
The Diocese of Camden wrote the following in a Letter to the Editor:
The Jan. 24 edition of The Hammonton News misleads readers about the school and parish planning process now under way in the Diocese of Camden.
Above the January 24 Hammonton News masthead on Page 1 is a banner preview for articles inside the paper. It states, "Diocese plans consolidation, but Hammonton schools, parishes aren't on list." Inside the paper, a headline states: "Diocese cutback plan to focus on Egg Harbor City, Mays Landing, Vineland parishes and schools."
Needless to say, the diocese does not have a "cutback plan" nor has it focused on or targeted any particular parish, school or area of the diocese. In fact, the diocese does not itself have a plan, a list or know the outcome of planning. What the diocese has established is a process for planning. It is a grass-roots process whereby parish and school planning teams will develop planning recommendations for submission to the diocese.
While this may include consolidation, there may be other outcomes, as well, and we will not know until our parish and school planning teams have had an opportunity to submit their recommendations. Once recommendations are submitted (in May for parishes, this month for four clusters of schools and in June for the others), Bishop Galante will review the recommendations and consult with his advisers before a final decision is made.
In addition, it must be emphasized that every parish and every school will be involved in the planning process, including the Hammonton schools and parishes. The planning process is designed to have parishes and schools plan not in isolation, but in groups, to arrive at the best ways to strengthen Catholic school education and parish life within those areas of the diocese.
While the process may result in difficult decisions, these decisions, made in consultation with the people of the Diocese, will result in more vibrant parishes, even stronger Catholic schools, and a more dynamic Church that is ready and able to serve the people of South Jersey and to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
It's a shame Hammonton First is against the good values of Hammonton. If they cared, they would fix the Catholic schools too, just like they fixed the public school, the hospital, the fire department and our roads........wait......Hammonton First didn't fix our hospital. The public school is worse off now because of that screwey land deal. The fire department sought, wrote, and aquired their own grant. And the county fixed the roads. Darn.
The Gazette has turned on Hammonton First! Did anyone read this week's editorial comparing Hammonton's road construction to the "Big Dig" in Boston?
It's hard to believe, but the Gazette has finally seen the light and called out Hammonton First for the horrific, bloated job they've done on roads and construction!
For those of you who are not familiar with the term "Big Dig," just read the wikipedia entry on it:
The Big Dig is the most expensive highway project in America. [1] Although the project was estimated at $2.8 billion in 1985, over $14.6 billion had been spent in federal and state tax dollars as of 2006. [2] The project has incurred criminal arrests, escalating costs, leaks, poor execution and use of substandard materials. The Massachusetts Attorney General is demanding contractors refund taxpayers $108 million for "shoddy work." [3] The final ramp opened 13 January 2006.
The Big Dig was featured in the first season of the U.S. television program Extreme Engineering.
I wonder what they did to piss of Gabe at The Gazette that he's finally turned a new leaf and called out the cronies at Hammonton First!
I look at all the posts the other people put above and I can list the following in answer to your questons:
1. Large tax increases every year since the school went up. 2. Leasing of old buses 3. Leasing of old textbooks 4. Leasing of what the BOE refered to as "miscellaneous" items 5. Statements made by the current superintendent and BOE members
Whenever you complete a project, you have a list of what you spent. That is how you know if you are over or under budget. Where is the list for the school which allows people to say it was "on budget."
I don't know why I waste my time responding to you, you are just like a local publication that just listens to what they want to hear and ignores what they don't want to hear. Why do you do that, are you desperate to sell papers too? 1. Large tax increases every year since the school went up. Taxes going up have NOTHING to do with the building project, If you read the article in the Press that I referenced earlier(sorry no pictures so it might be hard for you to understand) we are one of the districts in the state that have been hurt the most by the state ignoring their own law and not funding schools properly. Here is what I posted: What Hammontonians are paying for is the lack of State funding over the last five years. Read the following Press story to see for yourself. N.J. schools lost $846M. in state aid
By DIANE D’AMICO Education Writer, (609) 272-7241 (Published: January 20, 2007) NEWARK — All of New Jersey’s schools have suffered, but poor, nonurban school districts have suffered the most under the state’s five-year freeze on state school aid, according to a report issued Friday.
School districts statewide would have received an additional $846 million in 2005-06 had the state provided aid based on the school funding law, according to the report prepared by Ernest C. Reock Jr., of the Rutgers University Institute on Education Law and Policy, on the estimated financial impact of the five-year state aid freeze.
Poor school districts like Buena Regional, Egg Harbor City, Hammonton and Woodbine were underfunded by an average of $1,627 per student last year, more than double the impact on suburban districts.
The end result was that local taxpayers were asked to pick up the difference.
The New Jersey School Boards Association issued a statement Friday saying the report made it clear that chronic flat funding of schools has been a major reason for local property tax hikes.
“New Jersey’s high property taxes are a factor of the state’s consistent underfunding of public education,” NJSBA Executive Director Edwina Lea said.
Buena Regional Superintendent Diane DeGiacomo said her district would have received more than $4 million in additional state aid last year. That amounts to about 48 cents on the local tax rate.
“There is no question we have suffered,” DeGiacomo said. “When the money is not provided by the state we must rely on taxpayers, and they can’t always handle the burden.”
Taxpayers have rejected the last several school budgets, and the district has had to cut staff and programs to compensate.
The shortfall of state aid among the middle or “suburban” districts was $758 per student, while the state’s wealthiest districts lost about $386 per child. The 31 urban, special-needs “Abbott” districts lost only $188 per student because they did receive extra state aid as a result of the Abbott v. Burke Supreme Court decision.
The report said property taxes in the poor districts would have dropped 20 percent had the additional state aid been used just to reduce local school taxes. The middle, suburban districts would have seen an almost 9 percent property tax reduction, the Abbotts’ would have dropped 5.7 percent and the wealthiest districts’ would have been cut 3.5 percent.
Reock notes in the report that the impact of the state aid freeze has been substantial, and that while the state is developing a new school-funding formula it might want to consider at least funding schools according to the existing funding law.
State legislators have been grappling for months with how to both cut property taxes and fund schools while dealing with an ongoing state budget crisis.
Reock noted that while the state aid formula was ignored, the state did implement some other aid programs during the past five years, and those aid amounts were included in his calculations. He specifically cited parity aid given to the 31 urban Abbott districts, and noted that had the state just followed the funding formula, far less parity aid would have been needed.
Seventeen poor, rural school districts, most in southern New Jersey, filed a lawsuit in 1997 to get more state aid. Both an administrative law judge and the state Board of Education have ruled that those districts need more state assistance, but their status has been in limbo while the state develops a new funding formula.
DeGiacomo, who is retiring, said she is very frustrated that report after report reinforces their need but nothing has been done to get them more money.
“We have demonstrated the problem,” she said. “What we need is a solution.”
For the school year 2005-2006 this meant 50 cents on our taxes for just that year, and remember, the school taxes increased way less than 50 cents. Just imagine what we could do with the tax rate if the state followed it’s own laws. And that doesn’t take into account the other 4 years.
It’s way past time to stop bashing and bringing up the past. We need to concentrate on our problems today and work together to solve them. R/D/HF all together for the same goals. Are you willing?
2. Leasing of old buses Common practice when money is tight. Absolutely every project HF has claimed credit for this year has been bonded which is the same thing under a different name. I know most people finance their homes and cars, are they bad people?? 3. Leasing of old textbooks That was done by the current board, not the one I served on. 4. Leasing of what the BOE refered to as "miscellaneous" items Don't know what items you are speaking about, but may have the same answer as #2. 5. Statements made by the current superintendent and BOE members I know some Board members and the superintendent have made some statements, I know not all the board members are of the same opinion. And I believe it is just more of the same finger pointing like you do, rather than accepting the situation and working to solve it. They haven't been able to back any of their statements either. Just generalities trying to divert attention from their own problems.
Anonymous wrote: The Hammonton News is a rag. Now they have even bashed the Church!
It is time for the Hammonton News to apologize and learn some journalistic integrity!
The Diocese of Camden wrote the following in a Letter to the Editor:
The Jan. 24 edition of The Hammonton News misleads readers about the school and parish planning process now under way in the Diocese of Camden.
Above the January 24 Hammonton News masthead on Page 1 is a banner preview for articles inside the paper. It states, "Diocese plans consolidation, but Hammonton schools, parishes aren't on list." Inside the paper, a headline states: "Diocese cutback plan to focus on Egg Harbor City, Mays Landing, Vineland parishes and schools."
Needless to say, the diocese does not have a "cutback plan" nor has it focused on or targeted any particular parish, school or area of the diocese. In fact, the diocese does not itself have a plan, a list or know the outcome of planning. What the diocese has established is a process for planning. It is a grass-roots process whereby parish and school planning teams will develop planning recommendations for submission to the diocese.
While this may include consolidation, there may be other outcomes, as well, and we will not know until our parish and school planning teams have had an opportunity to submit their recommendations. Once recommendations are submitted (in May for parishes, this month for four clusters of schools and in June for the others), Bishop Galante will review the recommendations and consult with his advisers before a final decision is made.
In addition, it must be emphasized that every parish and every school will be involved in the planning process, including the Hammonton schools and parishes. The planning process is designed to have parishes and schools plan not in isolation, but in groups, to arrive at the best ways to strengthen Catholic school education and parish life within those areas of the diocese.
While the process may result in difficult decisions, these decisions, made in consultation with the people of the Diocese, will result in more vibrant parishes, even stronger Catholic schools, and a more dynamic Church that is ready and able to serve the people of South Jersey and to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
Andrew Walton
Director of Communications
Diocese of Camden
It is horrible that the Hammonton News consistently has to be chasitized for bad reporting.
Boy, you are really sheading a lot of light in this blog. I also had no idea that this had anything to do with Hammonton First filing their election reports late.
I am so glad that there are people like you around to inform all us clueless residents about factual events and facts.
It's no wonder why you are now banned from MyHammonton.com
Anonymous wrote: The Hammonton News is a rag. Now they have even bashed the Church!
It is time for the Hammonton News to apologize and learn some journalistic integrity!
The Diocese of Camden wrote the following in a Letter to the Editor:
The Jan. 24 edition of The Hammonton News misleads readers about the school and parish planning process now under way in the Diocese of Camden.
Above the January 24 Hammonton News masthead on Page 1 is a banner preview for articles inside the paper. It states, "Diocese plans consolidation, but Hammonton schools, parishes aren't on list." Inside the paper, a headline states: "Diocese cutback plan to focus on Egg Harbor City, Mays Landing, Vineland parishes and schools."
Needless to say, the diocese does not have a "cutback plan" nor has it focused on or targeted any particular parish, school or area of the diocese. In fact, the diocese does not itself have a plan, a list or know the outcome of planning. What the diocese has established is a process for planning. It is a grass-roots process whereby parish and school planning teams will develop planning recommendations for submission to the diocese.
While this may include consolidation, there may be other outcomes, as well, and we will not know until our parish and school planning teams have had an opportunity to submit their recommendations. Once recommendations are submitted (in May for parishes, this month for four clusters of schools and in June for the others), Bishop Galante will review the recommendations and consult with his advisers before a final decision is made.
In addition, it must be emphasized that every parish and every school will be involved in the planning process, including the Hammonton schools and parishes. The planning process is designed to have parishes and schools plan not in isolation, but in groups, to arrive at the best ways to strengthen Catholic school education and parish life within those areas of the diocese.
While the process may result in difficult decisions, these decisions, made in consultation with the people of the Diocese, will result in more vibrant parishes, even stronger Catholic schools, and a more dynamic Church that is ready and able to serve the people of South Jersey and to meet the challenges that lie ahead.
