Passaic County Regular Republican Organization 

 DAY OF RECKONING IS DAWNING FOR PASSAIC COUNTY  DEMOCRATS

 PREDICTIONS OF GLOOM ARE  A WAY TO AVOID FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY   WAYNE NJ- Dire predictions of huge county tax increases and massive layoffs are just part of the desperate public relations gambit by Passaic County Democrats as the day of reckoning approaches for the party that has controlled county government for nearly a decade, says Wayne Mayor Scott Rumana.  Rumana and his township council colleagues won a key round last week in their months-long battle to stop the Passaic County Freeholders from selling the county-owned golf course to plug the county government’s  huge budget gap.  State Supreme Court Chief  Justice Stuart Rabner ordered that a bond sale to finance the sale of the golf course to the Passaic County Improvement Authority be stopped. The freeholders are  depending on the proceeds of the sale to fill an $18.5 million budget gap for 2007 and 2008.  Rabners’ ruling set off a string of dire predictions by county officials – everything from massive layoffs to a possible shut down of county government.   Rumana says the outrage from county officials over Rabner’s decision is an orchestrated scare tactic designed to take the focus off the real county problem – the county’s steadily increasing spending and borrowing that now costs taxpayers nearly $47 million in debt payments.  
 “The county’s claims of catastrophe are ridiculous” said Rumana. “First of all there will be no tax increase because they have raised taxes as much as the state will allow. 

 “But more telling, however, is that you will notice nowhere in their statements does anyone in county government utter a sentence about concern for the senior citizens or middle class taxpayers who have been forced to pay the county’s tax hikes and will be stuck with an added $49 million debt to pay off the sale of the golf course.”  Rumana says it is unfathomable that the county didn’t have a contingency plan to cut spending in case the golf course gimmick didn’t work.    “They knew a long time ago there was opposition to this gimmick to sell a county asset to cover government operating expenses. They knew this was a risky proposition at best. Why didn’t they prepare an alternative to the sale of the golf course?” asked Rumana.  Rumana added that opposition to the golf course sale has been consistent since it was first raised more than two years ago. “There is no way the freeholders or their advisors should be surprised by Wayne’s opposition and Judge Rabner’s decision,” said Rumana.  Wayne Councilwoman Anne Mary O’Rourke said no one on the council want to see people laid off, but she says the county’s reckless spending and endless tax increases have to come to an end.  
“If the freeholders get away with another budget gimmick this year, it will lead to more hiring and more spending next year,” said O’Rourke.  “They are only delaying the inevitable if they refuse to deal with fiscal reality.”  Besides, added O’Rourke, “taxpayers have shouldered $110 million in county tax increases since 2000. They need tax relief. They are the ones that the freeholders and their consultants should be worried about.”      Rumana says he has sympathy for those who might be laid off, but he noted that “county government is not an employment agency for the politically connected.” By his calculations, Rumana said the current freeholder administration has increased the county workforce by 350 people.  “Layoffs are not pleasant, but the taxpayers of Wayne, Clifton, Hawthorne and Ringwood didn’t authorize the freeholders to hire all those people to begin with,” said Rumana. “They should not have hired people they knew they could not afford to pay.”     Rumana – a former freeholder -- says that if the freeholders don’t know where to cut the budget – he will be glad to assist them.  “I am sure I can put together a finance  team that will make prudent spending cuts if the freeholders are unable or unwilling to do it.”