Former West Wildwood Commissioner Speaks of ‘Trickery’

To the Editor:
As a former elected commissioner for the Borough of West Wildwood, I am appalled at the attempts by Mayor Fox and Commissioners’ Maxwell and Golden to spend taxpayers’ money by approving bond ordinances that allow the Borough to increase property taxes beyond the mandated 2 percent CAP established by the state.
The most recent effort to trick the public into spending their hard-earned tax dollars for frivolous items is outlined in a Borough-mailed postcard to residents. In their postcard titled, “Borough Receives $173,000 Grant,” officials plead to the public to allow a bond ordinance be approved to cover the grant that will be reimbursed to the Borough once roadwork is completed (past attempts by Borough officials to spend moneys using bond ordinances has been challenged by the voters).
What the mayor and commissioners fail to tell the public in their postcard is that they had already approved a bond ordinance asking to spend $603,600 ($430,600 more than necessary to cover the $173,000 grant to do roadwork on the 500 block of West Poplar Avenue).
The $430,600 that is additional in the ordinance will have to be paid by the taxpayers over the next 20 years with interest for Fox and friends to buy items that the voting public has challenged in prior bond ordinances.
I find this to be trickery, untruthful and indeed appalling!
I believe that Fox and his commissioners should void the ordinance and bond only for the cost of $173,000 to cover the grant costs for roadwork that the state will reimburse the Borough for the $173,000 in full, thus paying off the bond and being of no cost to the taxpayers.