Get “The Wrap,” our take on the news of the week, in your inbox every Tuesday. Sign up at: https://capemaycountyherald.com/newsletter-subscription/
Sept. 2 to 8
Trenton and School Consolidation
State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth) is preparing legislation that will seek to force more of the state’s over 600 school districts to consolidate or greatly expand shared services. Gopal, chair of the New Jersey Senate Education Committee, believes the state can no long afford to support so many individual school districts.
Gopal believes that school consolidation can save taxpayers money by lowering administrative costs at school districts and reducing the expense for professional services from lawyers and engineers. Yet incentivizing consolidations has not resulted in school districts taking such moves seriously.
The state is now at the end of a period of seven years of gradual elimination of adjustment aid. School districts, many in Cape May County, have faced significant cuts in state budget support but still resist regionalization. Instead, local taxpayers have seen the burden shifted to them as school districts point to state reductions as the reason for higher taxes.
Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Jacquelyn Suarez is on record in support of regionalization, which she says can “pave the way for new and expanded courses, extracurricular programs and enhanced facilities,” all while resulting in savings for taxpayers.
Comparing state aid for K-12 education in fiscal 2018 to fiscal 2025, Cape May County has lost over $23 million across all of its school districts, with some districts hit much harder than others.
At the state level, school aid still represents the single largest area of expense on the 2025 ledgers, with almost $12 billion in state aid to K-12 education in the state’s $56.7 billion budget. It is a situation that Gopal finds unsustainable.
The details of his plan are as yet unclear. Gopal has not ruled out mandated regionalization, or at least mandates for extensive sharing of services across school districts. He is also considering ballot initiatives that would show voters property tax reductions that could result from mergers.
The proposal will generate opposition, with likely conflict between small, wealthy districts and their less well funded neighboring districts. Attempts to incentivize consolidation through a 2022 state grant program to help districts pay for regionalization studies saw few takers.
This could be the start of some rather acrimonious debate, but it is a debate Gopal feels is long overdue.
Storm Season Confounding Experts
We are moving into mid-September in what was predicted to be an active and threatening hurricane season. Almost uniformly, the standard forecasting organizations had issued their most bullish predictions, with upwards of 20 named storms in the Atlantic Basin. No one should discount the possibility of severe storms yet to come, but the reality to date has confounded many of the meteorological experts.
No named storm has formed in the Atlantic since Ernesto in mid-August. That is a streak scientists say is unmatched in over half a century. For many in the public the question being asked is: Where are the hurricanes? Surely we would rather not have them, but why are the predictions so off so far in 2024?
Scientists say that the conditions that normally drive hurricane development are present, but the storms are not forming in the volume predicted. The predictions appeared to be right on point when we all saw the formation of Beryl, for a time a category 5 hurricane, early in the season.
Storms that form off the African coast and serve as the basis for Atlantic Basin hurricanes have instead moved more to the north and exited Africa into cooler climes. A June study showed that the right conditions in Africa can rob a potential storm system of the fuel it needs for later hurricane development.
The typical peak of the hurricane season is Sept. 10. A peak-of-season quiet period is not what anyone expected when scientists gave the nation their predictions at the start of summer. Some scientist still say the season will end badly, so stay alert. The hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, so much still remains in front of us.
E-Cig Use Drops Sharply for School-Age Users
On Sept. 5 the Centers for Disease Control announced that e-cigarette use has dropped to the lowest level in a decade. According to an agency release, more than over half a million fewer young people reported current e-cigarette use in 2024 compared with 2023.
Brian King of the Federal Drug Administration called the finding “a monumental public health win.”
More worrisome is the CDC press release of the same day showing that “sales of nicotine pouches (small, dissolvable, flavored pouches containing nicotine derived from tobacco that users place in the mouth between the lip and gum) have continued to rise nationally since 2016.” Their use by young people has become what the CDC calls “concerning,” since nicotine can “harm the developing adolescent brain.”
According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey, 6% of middle and high school students reported vaping in the last month, down from 8% last year. Public health officials credit city and state efforts to ban flavored tobacco products, along with strong enforcement of the bans. They also praise public education campaigns that target young people with information on the dangers of vaping. One such effort was an award-winning campaign on YouTube by the FDA.
The positive news about e-cigarette use among middle and high school students was tempered by the results of yet another survey, this one by the National Institutes of Health and the University of Michigan, which showed a persistent use of the products by young adults. The results suggest that many young people who vaped during their school years may just be continuing use as adults. The survey found that as many as 24% of young adults, ages 19 to 26, report use of e-cigarette nicotine products.
Happenings
Cape May County and its towns have united in their opposition to newly proposed state rules on coastal development and are asking Gov. Phil Murphy to slow down on changes. A resolution sent to the governor on behalf of the county and all 16 of its municipalities also asks that the Legislature be engaged in such changes rather than have them become law by executive order.
An audit report on Avalon’s finances at the Aug. 28 council meeting found the borough to be in a strong and enviable position. One indication of that strength is the borough’s AAA rating by Standard and Poor’s, one of only 26 such ratings given by S&P in the state and the only one in Cape May County.
A Wildwood man who was involved in an hours-long standoff with police in February has been charged with attempting to disarm officers who were responding to a domestic violence call at a city motel on Sept. 2.
For residents of Middle Township and Dennis Township, Tuesday, Sept. 17 is a special election day, when they are being asked to approve or deny referendum measures proposed by each of the township school districts.
Just months after it pushed off a stormwater utility study to next year at the earliest, the Stone Harbor Borough Council has reconsidered and is thinking about approving and funding such a study as an immediate need.
Upper Township residents will have a choice among three candidates running for two seats on the Township Committee that are up for election Nov. 5. The three are Zachary Palombo, Samuel Palombo and Anthony Inserra.
Stone Harbor’s new chief financial officer is planning two bond sales to consolidate debt. The plan comes in light of the borough’s persistent problem with the level of its debt and the high percentage of total revenue that goes to debt service.
The Cape May City Council is moving to help the Public Works Department after the department reported it is being overwhelmed by the amount of curbside recycling coming from some commercial establishments.
The Middle Thorofare Bridge suffered only minor damage when it was hit by the 90-foot fishing vessel Jersey Cape, which became disabled Friday, Aug. 30, and was pinned against the bridge due to the wind and an outgoing tide.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew spoke about his views on world, national and Cape May County issues during an expansive interview on his campaign for reelection in the Second Congressional District.
Memorial ceremonies were held in many municipalities in Cape May County to mark the 23rd anniversary of 9/11. Residents remembered the day with a sense of deep loss for those who died suddenly, violently, in an unexpected attack on our nation, and also remembered the first responders and other heroes who tried to save them.
For three days this fall, vintage cars and motorcycles will roar over the sands of Wildwood at The Race of Gentlemen, an event returning to the city after a three-year hiatus.
Spout Off of the Week
I’m ready for this rat race to the white house to be over. Whoever wins people will protest, complain and leave the country. Let’s just be done with it.
Middle Township
