A Fresh Breeze? Imagine Saving on School Elections

In the world of money, $26,000 is a mere drop in the bucket, a pittance. It won’t buy a fancy car or house in Stone Harbor, but to many Cape May County residents, such a sum represents more than a year’s wages. To those folks $26,000 is a whopping amount, a princely sum, but to government, well, it’s chump change.
However, like that first whiff of smoke that portends a house fire, there is a proposal before each of Cape May County’s school superintendents and business administrators that would, if they agree, save nearly $26,000 — countywide — a year spent on school elections.
We ought to collectively tip our hats (that was an ancient custom done as a mark of respect) to Michael Kennedy, registrar of the Cape May County Board of Elections.
Kennedy, who has watched many an election in his time with the board, hatched a nifty notion to save taxpayers money. But Kennedy cannot save the cash on his own, now it’s up to school officials, and, dare I say; it’s up to you. You ought to rattle your swords in your local school board offices, and demand they get on board with this idea, and get an answer to County Clerk Rita Fulginiti by Dec. 31.
Agreed, the amount is miniscule, but so was collecting soda bottles when we were kids for two cents each (five cents for the big bottles). Twenty five empty bottles of Coca Cola or Hires Root Beer, and there was a 50-cent piece in your hot little hand, which bought a lot of candy, but forget that for a minute.
We all beef about paying too much in taxes, and school taxes gobble up way more than local cops and trash pickup, so we ought to hop right onto this bandwagon and start dictating to the suits who call the shots on school boards.
School elections, while so important in the budget picture, attract an average of 12 percent of registered voters, according to Fulginiti, who sent out Kennedy’s proposal in a Nov. 4 memo to school bigwigs countywide.
In short, Kennedy’s proposal would trim the number of voting machines (and therefore poll workers) in school elections. It would pay each worker the same, $90 ($12.86 an hour) for six hours work from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the date of school elections. The plan would consolidate districts served in the same polling place with voters of two or more districts voting on the same machine.
Because there is a patchwork of polling times, pity the voter used to general elections when polls open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Some districts start early, others later. To standardize times would be a blessing. Also, by offering the same amount to work the polls (a boring job at best), it would be easier to get poll workers, since the Board of Elections has a tough time recruiting candidates to be school election poll workers.
Would it save everyone in the county? Nope. It would cost taxpayers in Wildwood Crest, West Wildwood and Cape May Point less than $100 more, since the unified change would bring them to a consistent level with everyone else.
Here’s a “for instance” of projected savings, if adopted:
Avalon would save $721, dropping from three to one voting machine.
Lower Township would save $2,492, dropping from 28 to eight machines. Middle Township would drop to eight machines from 18, and save $2,328.
Ocean City would save $6,008, and drop from 20 machines to eight. Upper Township would drop to five from 15 machines, and Woodbine would save $903, going from two to one machine.
There was a spreadsheet sent to each district detailing, down to the penny, what would be saved from fewer poll books (those ledger-like volumes voters sign) to machine costs, $140 each.
What are the chances Kennedy’s proposal will find widespread acceptance? Excellent should taxpayers get behind the proposal and force the issue. Slim to none if they decide to stay home, watch mindless reality shows, and beef at the bar about school taxes forever skyward bound. It’s your choice. Save it or spend it, it’s your money we’re talking about.
We want more responsive government, well, before us is a baby step toward that goal. A government worker saw a way to shave a few pennies here and there, and he’s to be commended big time.
Who knows what might follow if this proposal wins favor? Perhaps next would be fire district elections, (held in townships where fire districts levy taxes on residents). They are the poorest stepchildren in the electoral process, drawing a woeful turnout of souls on the third Saturday in February from 2 to 9 p.m. at firehouses. Those elections get less recognition than prison guards.
If this proposal wins favor, other savings might take flight. In time, with enough bugs worked out, who knows what the future might hold for subjects such as central emergency dispatching and unified municipal services?
For such topics to be addressed frankly in the public forum, we must be willing to loose our grip on tightly held home rule. That’s why there are so many school boards in the first place. We New Jerseyans cannot countenance someone from outside our border controlling our schools, teachers and related matters. Thus we duplicate and pay dearly for the service.
Finally, Mike, a tip o’ the hat to ye! We’ll be watching how that idea runs its course, and see just how serious we are about cutting school taxes.