HAMMONTON BLOG

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Mayor DiDonato will not seek re-election

Date: 06:33 PM May 14, 2009

Hmm, Mayor Ed?

Date: 10:58 PM May 14, 2009

Good job john , good luck to you . you brought hammonton back! thank you !

Date: 11:27 PM May 14, 2009

Kudos to John Didonato because he did turn this town around and put it in the right direction. I hope he reconsiders and stays active in the town. No one could have accomplished as much as John Didonato and his team.

Thank you for keeping Hammonton a great town with a lively downtown area.

Date: 09:27 AM May 16, 2009

Anonymous wrote:

Kudos to John Didonato because he did turn this town around and put it in the right direction. I hope he reconsiders and stays active in the town. No one could have accomplished as much as John Didonato and his team.

Thank you for keeping Hammonton a great town with a lively downtown area.

I think he did some good but passing increasing the debt by deferring to our kids will make him look even better because people will just remember the pretty bricks and sidewalks when his successors get stuck paying the bills.

Date: 03:55 PM May 16, 2009

What, debt, the debt went down taxes at zero. higher surpluss , tons of project completed, higher bond rating . John you did a great job. let's hope eddie can keep up the good work.

Date: 05:12 PM May 16, 2009

Anonymous wrote:

What, debt, the debt went down taxes at zero. higher surpluss , tons of project completed, higher bond rating . John you did a great job. let's hope eddie can keep up the good work.

Right!!!!!!! The reason why DiDonato is leaving is because next year. Taxes might have to go up and he can just simply blame on the new guy.

Date: 05:50 PM May 16, 2009

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What, debt, the debt went down taxes at zero. higher surpluss , tons of project completed, higher bond rating . John you did a great job. let's hope eddie can keep up the good work.

Right!!!!!!! The reason why DiDonato is leaving is because next year. Taxes might have to go up and he can just simply blame on the new guy.

I guess the Democrats are going to campaign about a tax incease again. Each year the Dems try that strategy while HF promises zero. And every year it guarantees the Democrats finish last and HF wins!

Date: 09:39 PM May 16, 2009

How true. 4 years no new taxes. Was that ever done before. I have lived in Hammonton for 20 years and i never ever remember one year of zero. So i guess the question is where's the beef! what happened to all the money the reps and dems blew. I am voting HF . Please john stay. rethink it.

Date: 11:00 AM May 17, 2009

It looks like Hammonton First is mounting their anonymous negative campaigning again. They write a post that is negative to themselves and then blame it on the Dems or the Reps. They lie to get elected. Control is their only goal. Let's hope the Hammonton voters are smart enough this year to see through this continued deception.

Date: 05:26 PM May 17, 2009

Yeah 4 years with no tax increase. Just wait for the poop to hit the fan in the next couple of years. No Mr. Ed or Mr. Sons of "Itlee" either. Sheesh, it's Italee dummy.

Date: 07:29 PM May 17, 2009

I wonder who people will vote for this year... HF who delivered four years of no tax increases or Democrats who keep talking about tax increases? The last four years the Dems finished last with this strategy.

Date: 09:23 PM May 17, 2009

yeah 4 years of no tax increase from HF #1 will mean whoever gets in, Rep, Dem, or even HF #2 will have to increase taxes. Or we will have no trash pickup, no bulky pick up or major other cut backs to make up for not raising taxes for 4 years straight. Yep, It (was) All Good - while it lasted.

Date: 08:37 AM May 18, 2009

The reps and dems keep up with the lies lies lies . thanks john for 4 great years.

Date: 09:55 PM May 18, 2009

Anonymous wrote:

The reps and dems keep up with the lies lies lies . thanks john for 4 great years.

Bill will eventually have to be paid and when they do. Taxes will go up if we don't control spending and stop the increased borrowing the last few years.

Date: 10:40 PM May 18, 2009

Keep saying that . increased borrowing. the sky is falling . Then you wonder why you get the least votes. debt went down . that means we borrewed less.

Date: 04:39 PM May 19, 2009

You probably got the most votes because of voter manipulation and lying to people.And let's not forget the last two elections where the unknowns had to pull some paisanos out of their asses and write letters to the editor whereby they gave up their dignity to appeal to some voters and turned off the others. Manipulation again. People are naive and don't realize you cannot run any municipality (especially today) without either a massive drop in services, tax increase or some other cost cutting measure. The problem is most of you don't know what goes on in other towns, counties or the rest of the country. You live in a bubble. Do you read anything other than the two local papers? It's not all good in the real world. Why do you think a lot of business has closed up? Do you think this town is immune?

Date: 05:49 PM May 19, 2009

Anonymous wrote:

You probably got the most votes because of voter manipulation and lying to people.And let's not forget the last two elections where the unknowns had to pull some paisanos out of their asses and write letters to the editor whereby they gave up their dignity to appeal to some voters and turned off the others. Manipulation again. People are naive and don't realize you cannot run any municipality (especially today) without either a massive drop in services, tax increase or some other cost cutting measure. The problem is most of you don't know what goes on in other towns, counties or the rest of the country. You live in a bubble. Do you read anything other than the two local papers? It's not all good in the real world. Why do you think a lot of business has closed up? Do you think this town is immune?

So basically you are pushing for a tax increase? You have to be kidding.

The facts are people can look at their tax bill and see it hasn't gone up in four years. They can see the independent audit report showing lower debt. They can see the Standard and Poor's upgrade of Hammonton's bond rating to AA.

So you want to complain that HF didn't raise taxes? Good luck with that in the election. See how the voters like to vote for a tax increase.

Date: 10:21 PM May 19, 2009

Anonymous wrote:

You probably got the most votes because of voter manipulation and lying to people.And let's not forget the last two elections where the unknowns had to pull some paisanos out of their asses and write letters to the editor whereby they gave up their dignity to appeal to some voters and turned off the others. Manipulation again. People are naive and don't realize you cannot run any municipality (especially today) without either a massive drop in services, tax increase or some other cost cutting measure. The problem is most of you don't know what goes on in other towns, counties or the rest of the country. You live in a bubble. Do you read anything other than the two local papers? It's not all good in the real world. Why do you think a lot of business has closed up? Do you think this town is immune?

What the heck is this person trying to say? Can anyone find a logical theme here or does this person like to go around in circles? Hammonton has done a very good job keeping taxes low and improving infrastructure in the town the last 5 years while holding taxes down. I hope the taxes stay low for the next 5 years, I can live with less police and less services from the town.

Making my rent and putting food on the table is what worries me.

Date: 03:01 PM May 20, 2009

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You probably got the most votes because of voter manipulation and lying to people.And let's not forget the last two elections where the unknowns had to pull some paisanos out of their asses and write letters to the editor whereby they gave up their dignity to appeal to some voters and turned off the others. Manipulation again. People are naive and don't realize you cannot run any municipality (especially today) without either a massive drop in services, tax increase or some other cost cutting measure. The problem is most of you don't know what goes on in other towns, counties or the rest of the country. You live in a bubble. Do you read anything other than the two local papers? It's not all good in the real world. Why do you think a lot of business has closed up? Do you think this town is immune?

So basically you are pushing for a tax increase? You have to be kidding.

The facts are people can look at their tax bill and see it hasn't gone up in four years. They can see the independent audit report showing lower debt. They can see the Standard and Poor's upgrade of Hammonton's bond rating to AA.

So you want to complain that HF didn't raise taxes? Good luck with that in the election. See how the voters like to vote for a tax increase.

I like the idea of no tax increases. I just don't like how this town has grown divided and overpoliticized and we've seen wasteful spending of taxpayer money and grants downtown that could have been better utilized fixing up streets that haven't been worked on in my lifetime. I didn't care where the townhall was built, I was very misled when I was told directly that it would cost $5.9M for the townhall, the downtown community center, and demolition of the town hall and relocation of the historical building. To me our taxes should have gone down, especially with reduction in some services on occassion the last few years.

Date: 09:48 PM May 20, 2009

not raising taxes for 4 years and continuing to spending money foolishly is like using your credit card for 4 years for everything you buy and only paying the minimum payment every month. Result is you will be paying your credit card debit for the rest of your life. The people in Hammonton could care less about the debt incurred, services cut, the deteriorating conditions of our town they just don't want a tax increase but... what are they getting for all the tax dollars that they are already paying? People are penny wise and dollar stupid. Pretty soon we will have to pay for all our services not just fire and rescue squad. Will people care then?

Date: 10:46 PM May 20, 2009

HAHA that's funny The debt went down a lot of smart people said so.

Date: 07:13 AM May 21, 2009

The facts are in. No tax increase for four years at the town. No tax increase at the school for three years... and they had a financial disaster where they raised taxes every year for years.

The debt went down and was fully audited. Standard and Poor's evaluated all the financials and gave the town a AA rating.

The mayor obviously led a good team. Now the real question is who will the people of Hammonton vote to replace him and will that person carry on with keeping taxes down.

If a political party keeps saying taxes have to go up, chances are that party will raise taxes as soon as they get into office.

Date: 09:18 AM May 21, 2009

Well said Thank you ! That might be the best post ever.

Date: 11:06 AM May 21, 2009

Anonymous wrote:

The facts are in. No tax increase for four years at the town. No tax increase at the school for three years... and they had a financial disaster where they raised taxes every year for years.

The debt went down and was fully audited. Standard and Poor's evaluated all the financials and gave the town a AA rating.

The mayor obviously led a good team. Now the real question is who will the people of Hammonton vote to replace him and will that person carry on with keeping taxes down.

If a political party keeps saying taxes have to go up, chances are that party will raise taxes as soon as they get into office.

Are we to believe facts from a party that can't fill out a simple campaign finance report on time twice or flip flop on what they meant by $5.9M. Services have been cut. That's a fact. My tax bill is the same. I'm happy about that. But common sense says that deferring debt when it can be paid off will make us feel happy now but hurt us big later.

Date: 03:31 PM May 21, 2009

Ahh and then you wonder why you loose. the facts are no new taxes lower debt higher surplus . rob sharle said it standard and poors back it up. now what they are wrong you are right . blah blah blah .

Date: 05:06 PM May 21, 2009

It seems the Democrats would be better served to deal with the reality that the town's independent CFO, the independent auditor and Standard and Poor's have all certified. Debt is down.

Rich Jacobus runs his almost weekly letter to the editor trying to convince everyone that the auditors and Standard & Poor's didn't do their job when looking at the town's financials. The real question is if the Democrats really want to run on a tax increase platform.

It would probably make more sense for the Dems to submit a detailed budget showing how much they would increase taxes or if they can hold the line at zero increase. All the town's financial data is public record including the bill payments which are available on the town's website so it can be done by their candidates.