ASSIGNMENT 1

Assignment 1

Assignment 1

As Eric prepares for a meeting to discuss a budget that raises property taxes following the loss of $306,000 in state aid, a township man wants to know if more could have been done to reverse Expatriate's decision and save local taxpayers some money. Sean Eric said he was acting only as a private citizen when he voiced his concerns earlier this spring during a Township Committee meeting, and also before then when he filed an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request to find out what steps township officials had taken to try to recoup the lost funds. Mr. Eric serves by appointment on the Planning Board and the Open Space Committee.

Two years ago, when Eric lost a significant amount of aid, then-officials mounted a letter-writing campaign to state leaders, held meetings to garner public support and invited county and state officials to attend. The campaign resulted in the township's receiving more aid than it had in the prior year.

The township contends much of the lost funds are actually franchise taxes rightfully due the township. That was the successful argument the township employed two years ago. This year, there was no letter-writing campaign and no reinstatement of funds. ”Nobody's asked the public to get involved,” Mr. Eric said. “If you told people, I have no doubt you could get many people to come to a meeting and sign letters as they did two years ago. Nobody's asked them.” In 2008, then-Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow and other officials told Eric their letters made a difference, that the people in charge in Expatriate measured letters by a yardstick. In other words, a flood of letters would accomplish what one or two or a handful would not.

”We're being told now the cost-cutting and the hardship is because we didn't get $300,000 from ...