L.B. city hall driving middle class out of town

At a recent city council hearing on this year's tax increase, Adam Schneider said that compared to other towns, Long Branch is "in better shape." I think most taxpayers would dispute that statement, since for almost 20 years straight this mayor has boosted our taxes virtually every year.H

ere in Long Branch we pay some of the highest taxes in Monmouth County, with a tax increase levied on property owners 15 out of the last 16 years. The only year we didn't was a critical election year when it went down one cent.

Spending cuts are easily targeted. Lawyer fees are killing us — they want over $500,000 from the city this year — a big increase for the firms that have led us into an eminent domain debacle that could have been settled two or three years ago. These are the same "pay-toplay" lawyers that control politics here and all over New Jersey. We should fire them, not give them a raise.

Plus just wait for the lawyer invoices we will get for the Schneider team's current mistakes in Beachfront North and Beachfront South (eminent domain). I believe every taxpayer in the city will have to pay a big increase in their taxes next year from the developer and homeowner lawsuits we are fighting now and about to get hit with.

The city's bonding debt was $15 million 12 years ago. Now it's $47 million, with payments to service the debt from tax collections at $3 million a year. The city has also deferred pension obligations to city employees this year of $1.4 million, pushed it off a few years into the future in order to look good — at 8.5 percent interest. This is the out-ofcontrol tax-and-spend style of governing we have to live with in Long Branch, at least for now. It has to stop. City hall is driving the middle class out of this city. It is time to change these outrageous tax and spend practices.
Bill McLaughlin
Long Branch