Fenton and Jordan Call On County Candidates Brown and Reinhart To Denounce Plan That Cuts Municipal Aid To Towns

            With the State Legislature closing in on a budget vote that will likely kill millions of dollars in State aid to municipalities, three voices have been noticeably silent:  namely, the three Democrats running for County office in Burlington County. “We are calling upon them to speak out against Governor Corzine’s municipal aid cuts,” stated Freeholder Director Aubrey Fenton.

            Democrats Timothy Tyler of Fieldsboro, Maryanne Reinhart of Shamong and Chris Brown of Evesham all sit as members of their local governing bodies.  Yet none has stood up against the Governor’s proposed elimination of millions of dollars in State aid to the towns.

            “This is the Democrats’ version of ‘Where’s Waldo,’” said Aubrey Fenton, who is seeking reelection.  “The Democrats say they have a plan to save millions of dollars in county tax dollars.  But they turn invisible; they don’t even speak out, when the Democrat puppet masters in Trenton are threatening to drive up property taxes in their own towns.”

“Their own party is in total control of the process, so you would think, at least for the sake of their own towns, they would be out in front,” Fenton continued.  “But that hasn’t happened.  That’s a sad commentary on individuals who now want to control the county budget.”

            Fenton, on the other hand, recently joined with the other freeholders and the Burlington County Bridge Commission in sponsoring a study that showed in hard numbers that the County’s 25 smallest towns were being unfairly cut for State aid.  He supplied a copy of that to the County’s legislators who sit on budget committees.

            Fenton noted that he and his running mate, Stacey Jordan, recently adopted a County budget that cut both the tax rate, and the amount of taxes needed to run County government.  They have also eliminated dozens of personnel positions, and appointed a business panel to evaluate other cost savings proposals.

            “We cut county taxes, and we’ve reached out to the towns, and we’ve reached out to the legislators on their behalves,” said Fenton.  “We’ve offered to the towns initiate more tax savings from shared services, and we’ve given them hard numbers that demonstrate that they run efficiently, and deserve a far better deal than they are getting from the Democrats who run Trenton.”

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Contact:        

Jeff Bell

(609) 267-3432