If you want to support fiscal responsiblity in Middletown then you need to vote Scharfenberger and Senttembrio out of office in November. Over the last three years,the Republican Party running municipal governemnt has taken over $1,000,000 dollars from the Middletown Sewerage Authority, plus over $1,000,000 from public library funds to help balance the township budget. A finance committee would be a big step towards the fiscal responsibility you call for. By-the-way what does Washington D.C. have to do with the fiscal mismanagement in Middletown, unless the connection here is the phrase "fiscal mismanagement"?

Sounds to me like Pilgrim has lost a few elections recently to Fiore and company. How many times have you lost now there Pilgrim???

Bob, hold on while i take a shoe off---i ran out of fingers...............

For years the Republican Township Committee has been spending money the Township doesn't have. The issue isn't about more branches within the Township it is about maintaining the branches that already exist. And the larger issue is about municipal mismanagement and the need to take money from other sources to cover-up this fiscal mismanagement. The good of the main branch was sacrificed when Fiore appointed Senttembrino to the Library Board and then followed that appointment with others that he, Fiore and crew, could manipulate so that there would be no resistence when it came time to leech money from the library budget to cover shortfalls in municipal revenue.

ok pilgrim, we get it, you don't like Republicans. So, can we take anything you say about the library seriously? I bet that if the Republicans supported keeping the branches open, you'd be screaming how the branches should be closed because they are a waste of money. How about this. You put as much effort in stopping Obama from destroying my country and my kids future as you do trying to keep three library branches open that hardly anyone uses.

The buildings are not going to be sold. Although, the Bayshore building will be the future home of the Recreation Department and other municipal services presently being housed at Croydon Hall.

I can answer your question in one word. UNIONS.

But how many really use them? If you want to use them then pay for them yourselves. Just like you pay to use recreation, little league or the YMCA.

Those that want to keep these useless entities should pay the ENTIRE cost of them. You can have exclusive membership provided you foot the bill-----it's called personal responsibility----something that cause Dims to break out in hives.....................

For which year(s) did you check the budget and financial operations: before or after the Township Committee NEEDED to take $350,000 three years in a row from the Sewerage Authority; before or after the Township Committee NEEDED to take over $1,000,000 from the Library budget; before or after the Township NEEDS to contribute $200,000 a year in operating expenses to run heat and air conditioning at the same time to keep the floors from warping at the Arts Center?
Your attempted comparison with how other towns operate has nothing to do with how Middletown operates. Trying to blame this on the unions is just plain stupid -- it sounds like Scharfenberger a few years ago when he tried to use the teachers union as a smoke screen for his financial mismanagement and inability to provide the leadership required to run a town the size of Middletown. The problem lies with the fiscal mismanagement provided by the all Republican Middletown Township Committee. Maybe a campaign should be started to close the Arts Center that sucks taxpayer dollars out of the budget year after year? I wonder if the $280,000 that the Township plans to get from the private school that will be installed in the Recreation building at Croydon Hall will be used to cover operating expenses for the Arts Center building?

I do pay for all aspects of the public library system with my property taxes. The organization that took over the Swim Club was found by the Swim Club, not the Township Committee -- so no "brilliant move on the part of the town council" (committee). By-the-way, there is no committment for the INDEPENDENT non-profit organization that now has the deed to the former Swim Club to provide what used to be Swim Club activities/membership in the future.

Hate to break it to you, but I sat in on those meetings and some of the swift ideas the Swim Club members came up with to solve the financial shortfall of the club were to hold a bake sale and make people wear wrist bands. The town contacted us and informed us of the pending deal with the Ice World people. You don't do your democrat party any favors by posting things that are so blatantly false.

The municipal government, including its boards and authorities and extensions, does need to control spending. Unfortunately, the Township Committee's approach is to take money from other non-traditional sources to cover-up years (decades) of financial mismanagement. While the primary issue is closing library branches, what is being ignored is what has put the Library Board in the situation of having to make the decision to close branches, which will happen. The Township Committee has been financially irresponsible for years and from year-to-year has found ways to hide its mismanagement. When the economy went south it became much harder to hide this mismanagement. When the Christie administration instituted a 2% tax levy cap it became even more difficult for the Township Committee to raise revenue and stay within this cap and to keep its financial mismanagement cloaked. This led to taking money from the Township Sewerage Authority, which was easy because the Committee controlled the Authority with patronage appointments. When the taking of dollars from the Authority wasn't enough, Fiore, Mayor at the time, appointed Senttembrino the the Public Library Board to spearhead the effort to go after funds that the library held in surplus for planned future use. When the Township Committee had difficulty doing this they passed an ordinance and packed the Library Board with members that would do as told by the Committee. The branches will be closed -- all of them.

FYI---these "progressive" patches are extensions of the dim website----look at their "authors"---greenies, ms lbgtvlmnop and lead commentator pogrom is a many time electoral loser---they compete as to who can yell fire the loudest........

RIFFAXE, do you see a need for a Cultural Arts Center; do you see the need for public schools? Do you think students can use technology so they all can be schooled from home? Do you think all sports and after school activities should go to an on-line environment?

(shorter version of pogroms response) SQUIRREL

Riffaxe you are right. Don't waste your time on a poster who is just here as a political operative. Any person really interested in the issue cannot defend keeping open libraries that hardly anyone uses especially at a time when libraries are fast being rendered obsolete by technology. You make many good points, school libraries and the internet give users so many other options.

Aren't there libraries in each school? Aren't so many school libraries and 4 town libraries a little redundant?

i get it Jesse, you want the town to pour money into libraries that no one uses because you want it, but you want to close the arts center that tens of thousands of people use because YOU don't want it. How selfish. I have two children, one in middle school and elementary school. They spend a ton of time at the arts center in a wide range of activities. I pay more in fees for these programs in a week than people pay at the library in a lifetime. The programs are great and they are always packed. The library has a budget of over $4 million an outrageous sum to pay for union librarians. Not every kid is into sports - why don't you complain about all of the fields the town has? I think the fields are important, but so are other areas of activity. Plus, it is a great selling point for the town. My sister-in-law is in real estate and always talks up the arts center to prospetive buyers.

I get it, libraries are essential because you use it, but the arts center and athletic fields are not because you don't. How selfish of you. And btw, the library is not closing, just the branches that very few people use.

FLAG ON THE PLAY-----Joe, everyone knows it Unsportsmanlike Conduct to introduce facts into an argument with a dim-----how are they ever going to win if you use the standard of truth..............................

The Township took money from TOMSA. They could of taken more if they didn't have to pay for the free health care benefits that they get for doing a part time job. 20 hours a month gets you thousand of dollars in free health care. BTW, not a dem. I am a taxpayer. Do you think they deserve free Health Care.

TOMSA has everything to do with the Township budget: the Sewerage Authority fees come from Middletown taxpayers, the same people that support the budget with property taxes -- all part of the cost of running the Township. And, over the last three years TOMSA fees, over $1,000,000, have been transfered to the Township Committee to plug holes in the budget. The Township Committee's financial mismangement of our property taxeswas is so extensive that the money from TOMSA wasn't enough. So, they Committee went after the Public Library surplus, which has placed the library in the dire financial situation it is in today.

The TOMSA board is appointed by the Township Committee that keeps reappointing board members that are eligible for healthcare and pensions -- Tom Stokes, who lives in Florida six months a year, is entitled to healthcare and a pension. The same is true for former mayors Pat Parkinson and Joan Smith. Doing away with the Sewerage Authority doesn't do away with the sewerage operation, nor the revenue received from fees. Making it part of the Public Works department would eliminate the costs associated with the Sewerage Authority board. By-the-way,our fees are low because the population that uses the sewerage operation is large; the numbers would be even lower if the gross fee dollars were not paying for unnecessaary Authority healthcare and pensions. The local Republican pledge: "taxpayer dollars for Party patronage, we promise never to end it".

LOL--and humor too---careful their little heads don't explode............