Letter: Another View

Dear Editor,

This year's River Edge municipal election is not about Democrat vs. Republican ideals. It is really about history and the path forward for our town. One group, happens to be the Democrats, was in control of our council for 10 years up until this January. Under Democrat control the borough spent much more than the revenues it brought in and ultimately wound up in "Dire Straits" as reported in the Town News. The outgoing council left River Edge with the largest municipal tax increase in its history and over a half million dollars in unpaid bills with interest.  

The new council majority, which happens to be Republican, has aggressively cut spending and has taken steps to reduce the hemorrhaging of revenues that the town is losing due to tax appeals. This year's Democrat candidates have run a bold campaign based on:

• fabrications - claiming the Republicans were in charge of the Council in 2010 and were responsible for that year's massive tax increase (the Republicans gained majority control of the council on January 2, 2011); 
• falsehoods - assertion that the 2009 pension deferral could be refinanced at "historically low interest rates", when in fact that expense can not be bonded and any further delay in payment means accruing interest at the extremely high rate of 8.5%;
• misguided ideas - opposing the use of open space funding for DPW salaries (the consequences of their policy would be higher taxes or fewer DPW workers); and 
• ill will - calling this Spring's planned construction at the Huffman Koos site a "fairy tale"; this project will happen with or without the support of the Democrats.

I ran as a Council candidate with Mayor Watkins in 2007 and have seen our Mayor's untiring service to River Edge over the years with all that she does. In 2007, Mayor Watkins put forth a strong case supporting River Edge's position on the River Dell school district at the BCCC referendum meeting and has been River Edge‘s strongest advocate ever since on this issue. While it is encouraging that the Democrat candidates have recently reached the conclusion that the current funding arrangement with Oradell is fair, they were very late to the game on that front in my opinion.

Mayor Watkins and her running mates, Della Carroll and Anthony Cappola, will get my vote on November 8th and they also deserve yours as our town simply can not afford a return to the failed policies of the past.

Sincerely,

James P. Serednicky

River Edge