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Too Much County, Too Many Taxes
By Ambrose Bierce, Editor in Chief
In the nearby Township of Milburn, residents are seriously considering seceding from their county of Essex, claiming that they have been dumped on by county officials for far too long.
Taxes in Millburn, specifically county taxes, keep going up. Their neighbors here in Union County have the same complaint. In fact, the city of Summit in the western part of our county is contemplating seceding from the rest of us.
Union County taxes are unfair and discriminatory. A recent town-by-town analysis revealed that towns that tend to vote Republican are hit with the largest taxes. This comes as no surprise considering that the entire vindictive Freeholder board is all-Democratic.
Hillside, which tends to blindly vote for the Democratic organization's handpicked Freeholder candidates, also pays its lion's share of county taxes.
Last year alone, Hillside homeowners contributed over $5 million in property taxes to the County. That total is more than the combined amounts cut from the Hillside school board's budget for the past three to four years.
The $5 million is an 11 per cent increase from the previous year's levy, which was another 5 per cent increase over the previous two years.
Why do county taxes keep rising? And what is Hillside getting from it?
The Hillside Council and Mayor enjoy bragging about how the County will "award" Hillside from time to time with grant monies that can be used for improvements. But the County wouldn't have to award anything if they hadn't taken any money to begin with.
Many argue that County government should be minimal. After all, each municipality has its own strong government that raises its own revenues through taxes. How much more should the county do?
The Union County budget is almost $200 Million and has increased over 22 per cent over the last four years. At the same time, the salaries that the Freeholder's receive for their "part-time" position has increased, as well the salaries of the County Manager and other county patronage positions. Many Hillside officials and politicians have a job at the county and generally receive generous pay raises each year.
Hillside taxpayers also pay for many perks that County officials entitle themselves to: personal automobiles, for instance, trips and dinners, and even reimbursements for alcoholic beverages.
The Freeholders are tops when it comes to feel-good projects. They waste money on building a children's museum that nobody wanted and dish out public cash for "Senior Citizen Proms". Is this why homeowners pay taxes?
The state legislature, at the urging of Sen. Tom Kean, Jr, (R-Union), will be investigating the usefulness, or uselessness, of county government. Union County may be a perfect example of why we should do away with the so-called "invisible layer" of local government.
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