HAMMONTON BLOG

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Only five school districts of our type spend less than Hammonton

Date: 12:42 AM Mar 25, 2009

Jim,

You seem very upset that our school district is spending less than other districts.

Can you advise where our tests scores are lower than other districts so we can see where we can utilize the additional $3,600,000 in additional state aid we need. The state is having a small budget problem this year but if you clearly investigate where our test scores are below average, we can build good argument to ask for more funding this school year.

Thanks for the information.

Date: 10:02 AM Mar 25, 2009

JIm I am glad to see that you admit to being a spender. You want to spend more, afterall you did give us the highest tax increases ever whenyou where and your cronies ran the school. Vote for the dems the highest taxes ever.

Date: 10:24 AM Mar 25, 2009

Jim:
Congratulations....it seems that the Hammonton First Republicans and the Regular Republicans are worried. They have started to smear you.

I am just wondering who Jim Curcio is endorsing this year: Hammonton First or the Regular Republicans.

Date: 10:39 AM Mar 25, 2009

I am a Republican and I am extemely worried.

The federal government is printing money and proposing trillions in defecit spending on top of the huge spending hole left by Bush.

The state government is in such a hole that Jon Corzine is proposing to not fund the pension fund of state and public workers in addition to being 7 billion in the red.

Date: 12:05 PM Mar 25, 2009

Then you should support the Sam Mento for Freeholder and the rest of the Hammonton Democrats. Jim Curcio and his friends at Hammonton First have spent away our futures at the County and in Town hall. Meanwhile, jimmy Bertino and the Hammonton GOP nodded their heads in agreement out of fear of losing votes.

The Hammonton Dems did the unpopular thing...they told the truth about this reckless spending. Any fiscally responsible Republican should cross party lines and support the Hammonton Dems.

Date: 01:31 PM Mar 25, 2009

Maybe the local Democrats, under their new spokesman and vocal advocate, Rich Jocobus can prove their worth by challenging Obama's proposed federal budget that will increase each citizen of Hammonton taxes an average of $670.00 per month in interest payments.

They can then call Jon Corzine's office in Trenton which has NJ right behind California in digging a state budget deficit of over 7 billion this year on a 28.9 billion dollar budget. Another $230.00 per month per citizen in the town of Hammonton.

We have a local Democratic leader, Jim McClane insisting town residents call his own party's governor, Jon Corzine to allocate another 3 million dollars to our school district which must be underfunded because we are under the average that the state educators recommend.

The county and local budgets after many years of low or no tax increases may have raise addtional tax money.......I am beside myself!!!!!

I still feel that local Repbulicans will keep taxes lower than the Democrats because of what Obama and Corzine are doing at the federal and stae levels.

Admin · Status: Offline

Nowhere did I say to call our Governor to give us an additional $3 million, what I said was that according to the NJ State Department of Education figures and funding formula, our school district is still short $3 million in what we are supposed to be receiving from the state. The figures below come directly from the State DOE website and show the budget difference for our district. I also understand that in these tough economic times the tough decisions have to be made and that is why we still lag behind where we should be in funding. It is a little unfair because most school districts throughout the state are receiving full funding, but as we recover from this financial crisis both as a state and a nation we will hopefully receive the proper funding to ease the tax burden on the Hammonton property owners.

District: HAMMONTON TOWN

County: ATLANTICState Aid 2008-09: $12,684,967

Equalization Aid: $11,168,234
Education Adequacy Aid: $0
Choice Aid: $0
Transportation Aid: $566,247
Special Education Categorical Aid: $1,188,674
Security Aid: $396,060
Adjustment Aid: $0

Total State Aid 2009-10: $13,319,215

Aid Difference: $634,248
Percentage Aid Change: 5%
Aid Per Pupil: $5,839
District Spending for Cap Determination 2008-09: $27,819,353
Adequacy Budget for Cap Determination 2009-10: $30,697,959
Budget Difference: $2,878,606

Date: 06:22 PM Mar 25, 2009

Anonymous wrote:

Then you should support the Sam Mento for Freeholder and the rest of the Hammonton Democrats. Jim Curcio and his friends at Hammonton First have spent away our futures at the County and in Town hall. Meanwhile, jimmy Bertino and the Hammonton GOP nodded their heads in agreement out of fear of losing votes.

The Hammonton Dems did the unpopular thing...they told the truth about this reckless spending. Any fiscally responsible Republican should cross party lines and support the Hammonton Dems.

Will the Hammonton Democrats also stand up to the reckless excessive spending in the budget proposed by Obama at the federal level? Will the Hammonton Democrats come out against the reckless spending and deficit spending by Jon Corzine at the state level?

Bashing Jim Bertino and Jim Curcio for being too generous with spending tax money at the local and county levels is ridiculous. I am much more comfortable with Bertino and Curcio being fiscally conservative than any of the Democrats because the leaders in the Democrats at the federal and state levels always seem to increase taxes.

Hammonton First may have cut the local taxes too much the last couple of years and the will have to increase taxes.

Date: 09:06 PM Mar 25, 2009

Anonymous wrote:

Will the Hammonton Democrats also stand up to the reckless excessive spending in the budget proposed by Obama at the federal level? Will the Hammonton Democrats come out against the reckless spending and deficit spending by Jon Corzine at the state level?

Bashing Jim Bertino and Jim Curcio for being too generous with spending tax money at the local and county levels is ridiculous. I am much more comfortable with Bertino and Curcio being fiscally conservative than any of the Democrats because the leaders in the Democrats at the federal and state levels always seem to increase taxes.

Hammonton First may have cut the local taxes too much the last couple of years and the will have to increase taxes.

Commentary: GOP means 'Got 0 Plans'

By Paul Begala
Special to CNN

Editor's note: Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and CNN political contributor, was a political consultant for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992 and was counselor to Clinton in the White House.

Paul Begala says Americans are looking to President Obama to solve problems left by the Bush administration.

(CNN) -- I love Alex Castellanos. Heck, somebody has to. Truth is, we've been known to break bread after our CNN gigs. He is engaging and amusing and whip-smart.

But when he said Tuesday night on CNN that President Obama is already looking like a one-term president, he's full of more beans than a burrito at Matt's El Rancho back home in Austin, Texas.

Obama inherited an ungodly mess: a $1.2 trillion deficit, an economy that was careening from recession into depression, a collapse in effective demand, the disintegration of the real estate market and a financial meltdown that spanned the globe and brought multibillion-dollar institutions to their knees. That's not to mention Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea and the Mexican drug war.

If this were "Sesame Street," the announcer would be saying, "This program brought to you by the letters G, O and P." None of the crises the president is addressing were of his creation. All of them were created or worsened by the Republicans who ran the House of Representatives, Senate and White House for years.

And so the American people turned to Obama to bring change -- and change he has brought. He's moving on all fronts: addressing the housing foreclosure crisis, the banking crisis, the unemployment crisis. Did I mention that all of these crises were courtesy of the Republicans who ran this country for years? Good.

Now the Republicans have what we Texans call the chutzpah to criticize Obama for doing too much. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have to be fixing so many problems if the Republicans hadn't created so many problems.

The Republicans are like an arsonist who complains that the fire department is wasting water. Obama is trying to handle an immediate crisis while also laying the foundation for long-term growth. The Republicans are doing neither. They have no plan to stop the loss of jobs or to get capital markets functioning properly -- and they certainly have no plans for health care, education or energy, which are the keys to both long-term economic growth and long-term deficit reduction.

All the energy -- indeed all debate -- is on the progressive side of the aisle. The Obama administration's only intellectual challengers are on the left, where economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and others are offering a vigorous critique and proposing alternative solutions. But where are the Republicans? Doing nothing but complaining. Unless and until they do offer an alternative, they really have no right to whine about the president. For now at least, GOP stands for "Got 0 Plans."

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul Begala.

Date: 08:43 AM Mar 26, 2009

That is quite a post but how can going from a 1.4 trillion dollar hole to a 10 trillion hole under the OBAMA budget help? Going into more debt with the federal government will make everyone more dependent on government because we each owe money, like a mortgage, to the government.

What are we getting with the added house payment that we (and our kids and grandchildren) will owe the government. Bush's fiscal policies put us in the hole and Obama's proposed will greatly expand and deepen the hole. I hope the power and money being given to the federal government is a good idea but I am very skeptical.

Date: 08:51 AM Mar 26, 2009

Anonymous wrote:

That is quite a post but how can going from a 1.4 trillion dollar hole to a 10 trillion hole under the OBAMA budget help? Going into more debt with the federal government will make everyone more dependent on government because we each owe money, like a mortgage, to the government.

What are we getting with the added house payment that we (and our kids and grandchildren) will owe the government. Bush's fiscal policies put us in the hole and Obama's proposed will greatly expand and deepen the hole. I hope the power and money being given to the federal government is a good idea but I am very skeptical.

I don't understand. Everyone is bashing Obama and Corzine for putting us deeper into debt to accomplish their goals, and yet our local government is doing the exact same thing and most people in town seem to think it's OK. Our debt is skyrocketing despite the creative accounting done by the Mayor, our surplus is shrinking as proved by the article in today's press, and yet we follow them like sheep and believe the bull they spout instead of believing the facts and figures that are right before our eyes. We will be paying a deep price for these actions and so will our kids and grandkids. Maybe we will finally understand it now that we see the results at the national and state level. We're next!!!

Date: 11:40 AM Mar 26, 2009

I agree completely with the last post. I do not like when politicans spend money they do not have and mortgage the future generations money. All levels of government: federal, state, county and local should not mortgage away the future generations money because eventually it will come back to haunt you.

Jim Bertino at the local level, Jim Curcio at the county level have been very consistent about keeping taxes low, avoiding reckless spending and pushing off debt to future generations. Our children do not need an extra $900.00 mortgage payment each month to pay for government debt at all levels.

That being said the town budget does not look too bad but the surplus left behind by previous Republican lead councils is being used up to balance the 2009 budget at the local level.

Date: 11:36 PM Apr 2, 2009

TAXES ARE TOO HIGH AND HERE GO THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS WANTING TO SPEND MORE MONEY. THIS STATE ALREADY HAS TOO HIGH OF TAXES AND HERE THE DEMOCRATS WANT TO TELL SCHOOLS TO SPEND MORE.

Admin · Status: Offline

As usual the "attackers" get it wrong again. The point being made is that Hammonton is still receiving $3 million less in state aid than it should be receiving. If we were to receive the aid the law says we are supposed to receive we might be able to offer more advanced placement courses and other programs to give our kids an extra leg up over the other kids in the state. We need to improve our percentage of college bound students. We need to improve our offerings in non college bound students. We need to improve our test scores. The more we can do for our kids, the more we insure them of a better future. It would seem that you believe every school district in the state should be required to come down to our level of spending, what a narrow view and pessimistic attitude towards our children. The truth should lie somewhere in the middle. We provide a very good edeucation here in Hammonton and do it for a lot less than the rest of the districts in the state, but we can always do better and that would be my hope for our kids.