High Taxes and Cost of Living Top Public Input on Issues Needing Action Solutions

Compiled by Fred Coldren, Cape May; Tom Flud, North Wildwood; Bob Jackson, Lower Township; Bob Grace, Dennisville; John McCann, Sea Isle City; Art Hall, publisher; and Herald Staff.
Public input from dozens of Cape May County Herald readers to our June 18 invitation to help identify specific ‘Cape Issues in Need of Solutions’ has focused on the impact of high taxes on the cost of living here on the Jersey Cape.
Received via Letters to the Editor, Spout Off submissions, phone calls, and personal interaction with our ‘Cape Issues’ team of advisors, public suggestions for topics needing action solutions covered a wide range of topics, but more than 65 percent want action to address high taxes and the cost of living that is dramatically reshaping the demographics of our county.
We met and conferred to review public input so far, study the list of issues identified, and begin the next steps to plan a path to solutions.
First and always, continued public input is invited, welcome and essential to building consensus for solutions and action. So we urge readers and friends to continue to submit letters and emails on ‘Cape Issues’, and by going to Spout Off to submit ideas and solutions with or without your name on the Herald Web site at www.CapeMayCountyHerald.com or by phone to 886-8600, Ext. 50.
Second and for as long as it takes, now is the time to begin to focus on solutions through fact-finding and sharing through public dialogue on the issues, and by involving as many of our fellow citizens as possible to begin to advocate and insist on action in our own communities and areas of influence.
During our initial month of collecting public input on priorities for ‘Cape Issues,’ there was an overwhelming positive response to the plan. We all received favorable comments and encouragement to continue to mobilize public input and cooperation to identify and then develop solutions to the problems that we can all agree need action.
Many citizens and leaders are already focusing on the need for consolidation of public services, elimination of duplication, waste, unnecessary bureaucracy, and mismanagement wherever it can be found. These are obvious and necessary solutions that will require the best efforts of every elected official, every citizen, and everyone who still believes that ‘we the people’ can build sufficient support to achieve needed change locally, in our county, state and nation.
While continuing to welcome public input from individual readers and citizens, we are initiating an outreach effort to all elected and appointed leaders of every municipality, every school, and every other public-financed agency to help identify specific solutions that we can support and help implement. What tax-supported services or expenses can be consolidated or eliminated in the 2009 budgets or sooner? If you have a plan, no matter how big or small, that can be justified to make a difference, please identify it and ask for support.
We are in need of assistance with research and gathering facts on these issues to present to the public to build support for solutions to address the problem of high taxes that affect our cost of living. For instance, clear fact-based tables and charts showing the growing budgets and tax rates of our municipalities, schools, and county agencies, are needed and will be considered for publication.
If there is evidence that any of our governments or agencies have consolidated or reduced bureaucracy or unnecessary spending to make a real difference in overall total taxes or costs, then let’s report the facts and honor those efforts and the people who actually made them happen. Such success stories could be a model for other needed improvements.
So the ‘Cape Issues’ effort announced June 18 is making progress, and we welcome everyone’s continued contributions and support. To read the original announcement and invitation, click on www.capemaycountyherald. com/ article / 30248-cape-issues-need-solutions.
We wish to thank everyone for participating in this grassroots citizen effort so far. The first written submission came from our County Surrogate Robert Hentges who expressed his concern for scams affecting our senior citizens. His letter was published in the Herald on the editorial pages June 25th, and can be read anytime on the internet at www.capemaycountyherald.com/article/30572-surrogate-hentges-lists-first-cape-issue.
We can’t list here every contributor or repeat the substance of every “Cape Issue” already identified during the past seven weeks, but here’s a quick summary of one-liners to help show the general scope of input received, in no particular order of importance or priority at this point: separate small schools waste tax money by duplication of facilities and services that could be consolidated; high taxes due to so many public employees are making it too expensive to maintain our homes; people on fixed incomes are finding it more and more difficult to afford to live here; and waste, duplication, mismanagement and bureaucracy are crushing our taxpaying citizens.
Other topics raised, again randomly listed, include: need for affordable housing, lack of viable employment opportunities, changing demographics where only the wealthy can afford to live here, need for school and government mergers, illegal or undocumented workers, need for citizenship education, support for building tourism to help the economy, and code enforcement for property maintenance to maintain home values.
Environmental and cultural issues arrived in this process as well, including: need for historic natural resource preservation, too many skunks and feral cats, and a final comment from Seven Mile Beach that “Everything is for the birds, but they don’t pay taxes!”
When six of us gathered months ago to start the “Cape Issues” effort for public involvement to achieve solutions, we brought our own ideas of priorities and issues with us, but agreed to ground rules including to have “no pre-conceived agenda” and to rely on public input to create it. Some of the issues we thought would be raised have in fact come to the surface through public input, but several topics we thought would be important haven’t yet been mentioned.
We’re all learning and enjoying this opportunity to work together with all interested fellow citizens to improve our communities. We urge you to help and stay involved.