Tuesday, Governor Corzine introduced his FY 2009 budget to the legislature and the public. While his underlying thesis is absolutely
correct: State Spending and Budgeting is Broken, his approach to the problem simply carries forward the age-old Trenton practice of blaming the small towns for the ills of big government.

Specifically, he proposes reducing state aid to municipalities with a population of less than 10,000 by half. Preliminary numbers for Fair Haven reveal that our state aid would be reduced in the neighborhood of $150,000.00.

Here in Fair Haven, we were able to reduce the municipal purposes tax rate by one-half cent per $100.00 of assessed valuation. We did that by doing exactly what Governor Corzine says we need to do: we consolidated some services, merged some positions, and reduced wasteful spending.

So, instead of rewarding our efficiency, the new budget punishes us based upon a completely arbitrary number: the size of our population.

Our one-half cent decrease became a 1.5 cent increase in a blink of an eye yesterday.

The truth of the matter is that towns like Fair Haven are efficiently run. We are not extravagant in our lifestyles. Our Borough Hall is nearly 50 years old and we run a skeleton crew, where employees wear multiple hats. We take our obligation to the taxpayers very seriously

Governor Corzine's budget punishes the most efficiently-run local governments the most.