Newton Township Cuts Services to Save Money
Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 3:03 pmLast Monday, Newton Township performed its annual window dressing ritual and approved the 2014 budget. With their smoke and mirrors trick, the township ended 2013 with extra cash. But the leftover cash was a result of services not performed.
Taxpayers need to get hip to their tricks. After all, if they have this boatload of money why don’t they pay the loan off and save money on interest, put some money into police and fire services and get out there and fix the roads?
In early 2013, Newton Twp. Chairman, Ron Koldjeski, suggested setting aside money on road paving to do it next year, but he gave no reason why and now it is obvious.
Koldjeski term is up next month and at Monday night’s ritual, he took credit and boasted about the cash that the township had on hand and the rest of the crew joined in congratulating themselves. So, he skipped maintenance just so he could say that when he left, the township had a pile of cash?
The problem is that the cash on hand is not even remotely enough to do any meaningful maintenance or necessary road paving and the situation gets worse. Basic services have been cut for years, but not on pet projects.
Taxpayers pay 10 mills. 2 mills or 20% goes to the so-called Rec Center not counting other perks it gets and a big Rec Center loan that the township is on the hook for. But only 1 mill goes to fire and ambulance. That shows where the priorities are.
Each month a $2,510.97 loan payment shows up as a bill to be paid but the liability for the debt never shows up on the monthly balance sheet.
We had three cops and we are down to one and in May we will have zero cops. Are we moving forward or backwards?
When we had cops on duty, they responded to calls. If a fire truck or ambulance takes a while to get to the scene, a trained officer can make the difference between life and death.
The Township’s Fire Company is struggling and ambulance service has a serious problem with the average non response rate over 50%. In some months, seven out of ten calls receive no response. (Source (The Fire Company) Maybe a little money might help. What are the township’s priorities?
When there is no response, an ambulance further away has to respond but that is only after precious time is wasted waiting for the Newton-Ransom ambulance.
The supervisors have to stop trying to make themselves look pretty and stop bragging about money in a checking account when basic services are lacking and roads are falling apart.
Taxpayers need to get hip to their tricks. After all, if they have this boatload of money why don’t they pay the loan off and save money on interest, put some money into police and fire services and get out there and fix the roads?
In early 2013, Newton Twp. Chairman, Ron Koldjeski, suggested setting aside money on road paving to do it next year, but he gave no reason why and now it is obvious.
Koldjeski term is up next month and at Monday night’s ritual, he took credit and boasted about the cash that the township had on hand and the rest of the crew joined in congratulating themselves. So, he skipped maintenance just so he could say that when he left, the township had a pile of cash?
The problem is that the cash on hand is not even remotely enough to do any meaningful maintenance or necessary road paving and the situation gets worse. Basic services have been cut for years, but not on pet projects.
Taxpayers pay 10 mills. 2 mills or 20% goes to the so-called Rec Center not counting other perks it gets and a big Rec Center loan that the township is on the hook for. But only 1 mill goes to fire and ambulance. That shows where the priorities are.
Each month a $2,510.97 loan payment shows up as a bill to be paid but the liability for the debt never shows up on the monthly balance sheet.
We had three cops and we are down to one and in May we will have zero cops. Are we moving forward or backwards?
When we had cops on duty, they responded to calls. If a fire truck or ambulance takes a while to get to the scene, a trained officer can make the difference between life and death.
The Township’s Fire Company is struggling and ambulance service has a serious problem with the average non response rate over 50%. In some months, seven out of ten calls receive no response. (Source (The Fire Company) Maybe a little money might help. What are the township’s priorities?
When there is no response, an ambulance further away has to respond but that is only after precious time is wasted waiting for the Newton-Ransom ambulance.
The supervisors have to stop trying to make themselves look pretty and stop bragging about money in a checking account when basic services are lacking and roads are falling apart.