Middletown Committee to bond $4M to dredge Shadow Lake

The Middletown Township Committee intends on introducing a measure on Monday, bonding $4 million to dredge Shadow Lake. It can be argued that this is a transparent attempt to buy the votes of seniors at Shadow Lake Village. Whatever the merits of dredging the lake, this is another log on the pile of unnecessary debt and added taxation.

At a time when taxpayers and voters are seeking tax relief -- which means lowering taxes -- the Middletown Committee again proves it is possible to create debt for its own sake, for the political 'necessity' of grubbing for a vote.

Middletown Township is not accessible to young homeowners. It is not a place where a resident can retire to. It is a place strapped with debt, where Big Government is open for business and it is wrong. The pandering that is going on to special interests, the Monmouth County GOP Machine, and the profiteering by members of the Middletown Republican Party is absolutely unparalleled by any municipality in Monmouth County. It is time for changing this nonsense and it has been time.

To borrow (bond) $4 million to dredge a lake, instead of seeking and obtaining federal or state grants to do this, is absolutely unsound. Mayor Gerry Scharfenberger has made a great deal about his 'reforms.' On the heels of constructing an $8 million monstrosity, in the Banfield Cultural Arts Center (which is planned to never earn back the bond that created it) the notion that this dredging project is anything other than a boondoggle that is intended to purchase votes is absurd.

Government is at a crossroad in New Jersey: There is a tipping point of taxes beyond which government must grow up and start behaving as a rational creature, reversing the ravages it has put upon residents' wallets. The Middletown Republican Party, which is the dominant party in Middletown, is not, in my opinion, dedicated to being a rational creature that will bring actual tax relief.

No candidate should be elected in this race who advocates for one cent of new taxation, from any party. It is the spend-thrift politicians who share blame about why this state has become a national joke.

Far from this dredging project being any cause to re-elect Mr. Scharfenberger, this project should be the most compelling immediate reason to send him from government and beyond the ability to tax Middletown's residents. For any politician in this race to advocate for unnecessary spending in the midst of a political campaign where providing tax relief is central is absolute hubris, and there has been quite enough of that in government.