Just in passing - saw the Sentinel piece on Funding for Edison Schools

Just saw the above-mentioned piece, which you can read here. Not for nothing but what caught my eye was the rhetoric all around these grants. Normally, I wouldn't have said anything about this but we're talking about grants of $64,000 on a budget of some $213 million! Hold the press!!

Really?!?

A $10,000 grant, which will be allocated for staff salaries, for the Italian language program?

Now seriously, I'd be the last one to criticize teaching the Italian language but I always thought the focus and priority should be on helping those kids that really need our help - if the last NJ ASK scores are any indication (you can see what I mean in the December 9 post).

Now, I do see a grant for $52,490 for improving achievement levels in English, language arts and mathematics for students with disabilities. That's good but I hope there's more being done to help all our students who need the help.

"Superintendent of Schools Richard O'Malley said the grant money will be focused on two groups - African-Americans and students with disabilities at John Adams Middle school. The funds will provide professional development for the staff; technology to help student achievement; and a 'period zero' before and after school for areas in which students need assistance."

Really?!? That's good but what about Thomas Jefferson??

Anyhoo, let's hope that this year's scores are better than last year's and all this rhetoric results in some meaningful improvement in this school district for $213 million.

Your CY 2013 Edison Property Tax Change

Here's Your CY 2013 Property Tax Increases (Decreases):

Top 10 'New Rules' (with apologies to Bill Maher) for the Edison Council!

10. No Council Member can vote on an ordinance or resolution in the last year of their term, whether they seek re-election or not. Their votes will be cast by a retired Board of Education member, effective immediately.

9. All new hires can apply for any position in the township without any relevant qualifications or experience, effectively immediately.

8. All introduced council ordinances must be pre-approved by an apolitical person - the EDO Campaign Manager.

7. All Council sub-committees must have at least 1 citizen on it - from Metuchen.

6. Education is a No..No for any position in the township until such time as the Board of Education lets us back in.

5. Any Council Member who abstains on a vote must contribute $1 to Charlie Tomaro's  'I do more than any other Council Member' Abstention Fund.

4. Edison's 'Strong Mayor, Weak Council' form of government will cease to exist as soon as we move the Mayor's office to the basement.

3. All references to the word 'Politics' will be stricken from the EDO's by-laws, effective immediately.

2. All Council Members will now be addressed as Mayoral Members of the Edison Township Council, effective immediately.

1. When describing what happens when abnormal politics becomes the norm in a town, the rest of the state shall cease and desist from laughing and referring to it as 'The Edison Way', effectively immediately.

Edison Council's proposed amendment to police policy changes - looks transparent to me!?!

Saw the piece in the HNT here on the proposed Council amended police policy changes. Looks like it's going to get Council approval at the next meeting in August, so says Councilman Alvaro 'KaraMia" Gomez.

While I appreciate the paper covering the Council's amendment, it's always nice to see what it is they're talking about. So, I went to the town's website and looked at Wednesday's agenda where it was introduced - and this is what I saw:

Doesn't get any more clear than this. Guess it's on a need to see basis and we, the residents,  don't need to see it here in Downtown Edison. 

So, while the Council wants to play Mayor and the Mayor wants to ignore the Council, it's hard not to equate the political silliness going on in this town to this:

'Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." Groucho Marx

But hey, at least we're comforted in the knowledge that the Council is trying to take the 'politics' out of politics.

Oh boy...where hypocrisy rises to arrogance!

Edison Twsp. 2013 Property Tax Bills are Out!

Well, the 2013 Final/2014 Preliminary Tax Bills are out here in Downtown Edison. The total property tax rate for 2013 (includes Muni, County & School taxes) is $4.776 per hundred, which is up 4.7 Cents or 1% over last year's $4.729.

Of that 4.7 Cent increase - 3.6 Cents is due to the School Tax, 1.3 Cents is due to the County Taxes and the Muni had a reduction of 2/10's of a Cent.

So, if you live in that imaginary home assessed at $176,700, then your taxes will go up $83.05 in 2013, which consists of $63.61 for the School Tax, $22.97 for the County Taxes and a reduction of $3.53 for the Muni Taxes.

In other words, 76.6% of your tax increase is due to the School Tax, 27.7% due to the County Taxes and a reduction of 4.3% for the Muni taxes.

If you don't live in that imaginary home assessed at $176,700 - then take you home's assessed value divided by 100 and multiply that by .047 to get your total property tax increase for 2013 and .036, .013 and -.002 to get the portion attributable to the School tax, County Taxes and Muni Taxes, respectively.

Here's the breakdown-a-mundo by taxing entity:

Anyhoo, welcome to another year of Board of Mythomania driven tax increases here in Downtown Edison.

PS - I added a short demo explaining how the change in the tax rate works. You can find it here.

Really Councilman Alvaro 'KaraMia" Gomez - and this is helpful...How!?!

Just saw the piece in the SL - 'Edison councilman accuses mayor of political police promotions' here. Just typical of what goes on here in Downtown Edison.

You know, someone once quipped 'First you fix the problem, then you fix the blame.' Seems Karabinchak's Council side-kick is happy to take his turn at casting stones in this silly season.

Can you believe that one Edison politician is claiming another Edison Politician did something 'Political.' Shocking, isn't it?!?

Here's a couple of random thoughts; (1) someone give Senor Gomez some cheese to go with that Whine and, (2) serious problems need serious people to solve - and he's not on my comfort list of people to do it.

Anyhoo, makes you proud to be a Dem here in Downtown Edison, doesn't it?

Really - Russomanno out front for the Local Dem Party?!?

Just saw the piece in today's Star Ledger 'Campaign manager for Edison Dems questions mayor's ban on police donations.'

Maybe it's me but is Senor Russomanno now the spokesperson for the EDO?

Is his sage advice on the legality of banning police contributions in Downtown Edison really the Local Party's position? If so, where are the party leaders?

Perhaps most concerning is this line - 'It's not the money or the in-kind support a politician receives it's the conduct of those writing and receiving the money or support. No legislation or executive order can bind a person to morality.'

Really, it's not about the money - it's about the morality?!? What town does he live in?

Anyhoo, whether you're for or against this ban, one thing is for sure - hypocrisy knows no limit here in this one-party town.