New Jersey Requires a Tax Freeze For The Next Few Years
New Jersey Requires a Tax Freeze For The Next Few YearsI am not going to go into detail about all of the soap operas going on to address New Jersey high taxes and tax shortage that still exist. New Jersey passed the sales tax increase from 6% to 7% already effective July 15, 2006.
For the most part our counties, towns, and schools have been spending taxpayer money beyond the rate of inflation. As a home owner for about 30 years, I don't remember not having a tax increase every year from the county, town, and school board.
New Jersey has school and university administrators being paid double and triple the salary and benefits of the Governor of New Jersey. And there are many others on state, county, and municipal, and school organizations that are also paid excessively.
New Jersey has double dippers with more than one government job. How can they do one job adequately, if they have to take time away from the first job to do the second job? Many are paid government salary and retirement benefits beyond $300,000 per year such as Sharpe James who is also way beyond normal retirement age of 65. While he is no longer mayor of Newark, he is still in the state legislature and has an excessively high paying job with Essex County College. Mr. James did a lot of good things, but now maybe he should just keep his state job and enjoy the rest of his life. This man bicycles, has many friends, and goes often to the islands. I hope I can be as active as him when I reach his age.
New Jersey has been funding social costs of more than a billion dollars recently for illegal aliens and their children which must either be reimbursed by the federal government (don't hold your breath) or stopped. It is too difficult to provide for our legal citizens and immigrants, let alone felons and children of felons. If they wait their turn for legal immigration, then it would be better for everyone.
My school system can no longer justify the increased number of administrators when there were fewer administrators and many more students in the same schools when I attended them years ago.
The student-teacher ratios in most schools can be increased a little so that we can obtain some productivity in the classroom.
The majority of the government workers seem to be placing face time on the job when I go to their offices. Face time is when you have nothing to do but you have to sit at your desk until quitting time. They are all friendly and eager to assist you and I like them, but maybe they can reduce headcount by one or two in each office anyway due to someone leaving to change jobs or retire. Beyond that, there are many that you can never catch in the office because they did not show up or left early. And these are people that do not have to be out of the office for official purposes. If some of the administrative jobs are not really full time then they should be consolidated. In the private sector it seems that if the job does not require 150% effort it cannot be justified.
I don't think I can count the cars that the state, county, towns, and school boards buy, lease, insure, maintain, and fuel each year. Fully half of the cars should be sold or returned if leased. If you see the fleets of police cars for the state, counties, and towns that has to excessive also and should be reduced at least 5%, maybe up to 10%.
Maybe each county can use county honor prisoners to clean the parks of garbage and debris. I think it would be a win-win for the tax payers and prisoners, who would be able to go beyond the walls of jail even for a few hours.
Put monitors on non-violent offenders instead of sending them to jail and let them be monitored at their homes at their expense instead of at taxpayer expense.
Has any state, county, municipal, or school really thoroughly audited their organizations? It used to be called zero-based budgeting. This includes staffing and salary levels. What is the cost of benefits to each client of the services of that organization?
The pensions funds for these workers have to be examined and have to be adequately funded to pay them when they retire. Audits must be accomplished to see whether pension promises are all viable. If an organization that does not have the funding to provide for what they promised their workers the promise must be adjusted.
The State of New Jersey pays pensions to mayors, police, teachers, legislatures, governors, office workers, maintenance workers, you name it at the state, county, and municipal levels. Most workers receive a pension from their one any only government job. But many others receive a bunch of pensions for each job like mayor, member of some agency, teaching, legislature, elected office, and such. These are the double dippers and triple dippers. And I am sure some people receive more pensions than that. Many receive more money retired or semi-retired than when they were working full time. No-one should receive a state pension more than the most money they ever EARNED in one year from government while up to age 65.
There are also Port Authority of New York and New Jersey retirees that are paid excessive pensions when they retire because their retirement is based on the maximum pay they receive for any year they worked for the agency. What has been happening for decades is that the pay is inflated sometimes as much as three times due to overtime. These people make much more in retirement than they ever did working. Even in the private sector, pensions are usually limited by the straight time salary of the worker less social security benefits. This should stop yesterday, but do the governors of New York and New Jersey have the guts to do it? Most private sector corporations have dropped defined pension benefits. Think about Enron employees and most of those in the steel industry that have lost all of their pension?
I have many more ideas on how to save millions of dollars in New Jersey taxpayer money, and maybe I can add them to the blog at a later date.
New Jersey Requires a Tax Freeze For The Next Few Years, because the taxes are already excessive. Many citizens are fleeing the state's high taxes. Many have to choose whether to pay all of the taxes or for health, food, energy, shelter, or other necessities. New Jersey is loosng good paying jobs to more affordable states.
If things remain constant, the population of the United States will rise another 100 million people within 33 more years. And I am sure New Jersey will get its fair share. If we cannot handle the burden of tax increaes now, how are we going to handle them as the population continues upward and the needs also increase proportionately or even more with future necessary replacement of infrastructure?
What do you think? Have you written to your federal, state, and local representatives?
posted by God Bless America - Bob @ 5:31 PM
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