Home » Letter to the Editor: Hopewell Township Mayor’s Fake Budget Claims

Letter to the Editor: Hopewell Township Mayor’s Fake Budget Claims

by MercerMe Staff

To the Editor:

In his recent letter to the editor,Township Committee Fulfills Promises,” Hopewell Township mayor Kevin Kuchinski pats himself on the back for his ability to ignore the truth about his risky 2017 township budget.

Mayor Kuchinski says that spending is down, if you don’t pay attention to all of the spending that’s in the budget. That’s like saying that up is down, if you don’t pay attention to what direction you are going in. The 2017 budget of almost $23.4 million is close to 6% higher than the 2016 budget of $22 million, over twice the rate of inflation, and there’s nothing fake about that statement.

Mayor Kuchinski says that he saved $2 million in this budget, which is being returned to the taxpayers. When do I receive my check, Mr. Mayor?  But there will be no check, and taxpayers may have to write an extra check someday if we need to tap into our emergency fund, and the money that we need for a rainy day is not there. Four million dollars, over 34% of our entire emergency fund, was spent in this budget to cover 20% of the 2017 spending plan, and there’s nothing fake about that statement.

Mayor Kuchinski says that he’s made inroads on debt, which must surely mean that there was no new debt incurred in this years’ budget or his budget last year, for that matter.  Perhaps, he read the recently published statement of Deputy Mayor Blake, in which she claimed that the 2017 budget goes “forward, instead of borrowing money this year.”  But that would not be true either.  Mayor Kuchinski’s 2017 budget incurs new debt, just as his 2016 budget incurred new debt, and there’s nothing fake about that statement.

Harvey Lester,

Hopewell Township

 

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