In my mailbox Friday, August 5 was a tax bill due Monday August 1.
This is why the Council was forced to pass a resolution at yesterday’s special meeting granting a 30 day grace period.
Included in the mailing was this Doherty campaign letter.
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88 Comments
BTW, one factor pointed to in that Moody’s report is that property owners here have money and so we are likely to be able to pay these big debts. That may be good news for our creditors but what’s in it for us?
Dirty illegal Hudson county tactics, from a little man from Edison.
Why do residents care if the beachfront and marina are busier than ever? Does this benefit residents and us 2nd home owners? We want a home at the shore,not a home at Grand Central Station!
Belmar mayor Matt Doherty’s values are not in alignment with those of the homeowners.
I hate going to the beach now. The overcrowding has never been this bad. Thanks, Tourism Commission!
Campaigning on our dime!
Th funniest part is the last line “I am always happy to hear from our Residents!” What a jerk, that is not demonstrated as true at all.
He meant to say “I am always happy to hear praise from our residents!”
Ps the marina building has blocked the entire view of the marina! Thanks Matt!
#5, I found that somewhat hysterical, myself (although very sad).
Does it matter that the letter is dated July 30th 2015?? Was this letter sent last year too?
Actually, the marina is not that busy. At least over 20% of the boat slips are empty. The slips just appear full because the wooden dock tenants are scattered throughout the marina. Also, the 9th Avenue Pier hasn’t been as busy as in the past, which is why they have been advertising that they are open during construction.
The freeholder candidate failed to mention that Monmouth County taxes were reduced.
No praise – No Matt. Ouch!
You can “run” but you can’t hide.
I wonder how many people know about the impending revaluations, the delay of which have kept away changes in taxes.
You buy a pig in a poke… you get a pig
#9. Good catch!! It is the same letter!! Word for word I think. I have to dig up my one from last year! What a joke.
Can’t blame the delay on using the 2015 letter.
Just to clarify the taxes from Belmar Elementary…The following is from the Budget Hearing for 2015-16:
“The tax rate in 2015 was lower due to an increase in rateables in the Borough. Based on 2014 valuations, the increase would have been 2.2 cents per $100. of assessed value.
The Board could have increased the tax levy by an additional $255,860, due to the allowable cap and waivers, but decided not to use these allowable adjustments.”
So, when you get a letter saying Unfortunately the Mayor and Council have no control over school spending/school taxes, please know that 1. school spending is capped, and 2. In the interest of taxpayers, Belmar Elementary doesn’t take full advantage of tax revenue.
Also, the Mayor and Council (and all Belmar citizens) do have some control over spending. Come on down to a Board meeting Matt.
I do not like the high debt Belmar has accrued, it does need to be paid down. But the Mayor and council has no control over the Board of Education, they are two separate governing bodies. Both the Board and Council need to reduce spending and raise taxes to reduce Belmar debut.
Thank you for that very poignant explanation Aileen. Matt Doherty would like each resident and taxpayer to think everything is fantastic in Belmar. People, things are terrible in Belmar. Do you really think a 0% tax increase for 6 years is a good thing ? It would be if this egomaniac of a mayor would cut spending- he has not. We are in deep trouble.
#16 – I despise that filthy “school.” It’s about two thirds children of illegal aliens stealing our tax money.
Think about it, We have 2 new police captains and a retired chief of police we can hardly make all these payments. I heard one patrolman made 300k with overtime.
#19 Goof-Off, I despise your statement. I would rather deport you and all the other people with hatred in this country.
#19….. what you said is right on…. we need to start deporting….
Our children, humanity, is our future. If they are not prepared, you are in big trouble. Assimilation is desired by most educated people in the USA.
I agree childern are the future and should be properly educated…. But I only want to pay for legal citizens that are in the US legally….. Not anchor babies….. They are stealing from hard working AMERICANS….
#21 – Sorry about that, but I tell it like it is.
#22 – They’d better start soon.
#23 – These Mexican children are doing extremely badly in school but the people running the school won’t let the public at large know it. They think (rightly) the people might not like it so much paying for these kids to fail.
#24 – bingo, it’s known as theft of services, not to mention the free fedgov breakfasts and lunches these illegal alien children eat every day of school.
It’s over Johnny!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What grants have the Board of Ed applied for. I know there are plenty of grants available for the asking, they have to apply for them. Are they also incompetent or just lazy?
many of the above raised issues are federal and not Belmar alone …. being the beneficiary of some public education, I gladly pay school taxes …. so others have the same life opportunities as I did ….
Actually, the biggest threat to Belmar public education is the regime’s Redevelopment Plans …. with payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements. All the Belmar PILOT agreements shortchange Belmar public education…
Look at Seacoast Commons @ 800 Main Street, with 30+ housing units …. they pay only about $6K Belmar school district tax …. not enough for 1 student.
But the condo owners pay regular property tax on their condos, right?
#25 – Who is your source of information to make such a statement about how the “Mexican” children are doing? I beg to differ.
Blame the Mexicans.. immigrants.. “omg – we are feeding human children.. I am so angry that we are feeding children”.. wow! but we have an inundation of 20-30 something mostly white males from 100 mile radius disturbing the peace in town while hunting for pokemon.. the towns reaction? “they could be doing heroin” the world is a mess..
Only Irish should live in Belmar. Then the public school would be an award winning, 5 star gem. Sponsor lots of fundraisers and scone and soda bread bake sales to supplement funding. The marching band would be bagpipe and drum only. Mr. Brennan, start taking lessons. (bad joke, I know.)
The Romanians will protest, of course.
#29 …. just checked Monmouth County Taxation website:
Block 85, Lot 9 800 Main Street
Land & Improvement assessment = $1,731,000.
using the .812 per $100 assessed value for school tax = $14K
sorry!
Mr. “Goofinoff”
1. The equation is actually 50%.
2. The school is always applying for (and often obtaining) grants.
3. The test scores are available on the school website. If you want a demographic breakdown you can easily obtain it. The school isn’t and couldn’t hide anything. Particularly interesting is the comparison to schools with the same demographics. Low test scores and economically disadvantaged kids go hand in hand. We are doing quite well considering.
4. As for illegal aliens. That’s up to the government to police. Public schools are not permitted to investigate whether residents are legal citizens of our country. It’s the law. Belmar school is not recruiting illegal aliens. If you want to crack down on your neighbors, contact your government. It has nothing to do with the school.
#30 – You can “beg to differ” all you want but they’re doing badly and that nest of liars, the so-called “teachers” and administrator know it.
#34 – I was born in the evening, but not yesterday evening…
The Belmar school scores are deplorable when compared to other NJ districts.. The school is clearly in the bottom half of tbe state…. Fix the schools its the # 1 factor in property values… Belmar does benefit from being an ocean community, If you relied on the schools to maintain property values we would be in trouble….
# 26….. Its not over sir…. They started it…..
# 34….. The state gives grants base on minority demographics of a school system….. That is not a good thing for a town, especially if the minorities are here illegally….
If you want to fix the schools. First place to start would be to enforce the over crowding of the houses of these students
That would require full time code enforcement and behavioral knowledge
In order to obtain a rental CO, the renter should be required to prove they are legal US citizens….. Heavy fines for landlords that dont comply…..
I agree #41. Again, leaning on the town may help. The school can’t police what absentee landlords and the town allow. Grants don’t go to minorities. They go to the poor. Many happen to be minorities. If you don’t want illegals here, get to work on that. As far as state aid, we don’t receive nearly as much state aid as we used to get. If you’re against any state or federal aid, take it up with the government. The school’s job is to educate children with the best we have.
# 42….. Belmar School District 454 out of 610, read it and weep, see link: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/NJ/districtrank.aspx I love educators, the ones from affluent towns with high test scores tell us how great they are,and ones from average towns with low test score blame it on everything but poor teacher performance….. Can you please tell me which statement is correct….. I do know for a fact that both Newark and Paterson get more grants and spend more money per student than any town in NJ…. Test scores in those towns are even worst than Belmar…. So money is not the answer…. It is a discussion Americans are fearful of having because they would be frowned upon…….
You have to look at SGO scores (student growth) and lots of other factors that are not given in these overall 0-10 scores. Rich towns have students with mostly 2, college educated parents, 1 that stays home and helps with homework every night. In Avon for instance, they take tuition kids, but only those that test within the top 25%. That boosts their overall score even more. It’s not always the teachers.
If you want to fix the schools
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One way to “fix” this particular “school” is to shut it down and let the town and surrounding firemen fight controlled fires in it.
It goes back to what I stated in my first post. It’s not the schools job to fix poverty. Poverty is the ONLY thing that corresponds with low test scores. We are here to educate best we can. Newark squandered Zucherberg’s money on consultants, and there’s lots of waste in schools like Asbury. The problem is not the teachers.
#44…. Numbers dont lie they are absolute by nature,….. The point is the demographics as you described in affluent towns is what allows school systems to thrive…. Why would Federal, State and Municipal dollars be wasted on a group that cant thrive…. As much as I dislike Christie, I agree with his proposal of equal state funding for each student in NJ…. The manner it is currently funded is discriminatory….. Also my children attend private school, the teachers union is a major issue with NJ education….. How can you work a job for 3 years then never be terminated???
I hear you – it’s a problem. Just saying BES is doing a pretty good job considering we have some challenges. Tenure laws changed. You have to work 4 years now, and you don’t automatically get tenure after that. Also, teachers can now be terminated if they’re doing a bad job. The school just has to document it well. It takes a little time but it’s doable. The ongoing training these teachers need coupled with the mandated scrutiny makes even lazy teachers step up. My kids would have been out of there long ago if it wasn’t a good place for them. My oldest is in honors classes at RBR – a school she had to test into. I’m not a tiger mom. She got her knowledge and skills from Belmar school.
#46…. If a teacher takes a job, they are responsible for the test scores, its called accountability….. In private industry if you take a job and a pay check you are accountable for results…. Poor results YOU’RE FIRED… Public Educators are great at passing the buck….
School website….. Approximately 13 million operating budget, 575 students…. Thats 22k per year each stundent…. That is a very high number…. Result 454 out of 610, like I said, numbers dont lie….. DEPLORABLE RESULTS…..
Belmar superintendent 135k per, that is more than the Spring Lake super earns…. I won’t waste my time looking up the test scores for SL to compare to Belmar, because we all know the answer…. The local government is an issue, but the school system is as well…. They also get a much larger percentage of our tax dollars to spend….
Does that include high school students? We pay for them too. ( I think it might be included). Tuition for Special Ed students is more expensive too.
Also busing to your kid’s private school. Taxes pay for that – not cool.
#48 – Don’t you know what they’re doing? They’re running a segregated school within a school. Your child doesn’t go to class with the Mexicans. Thus they’re able to show that your student is doing well. But overall, the illegals are doing exceedingly badly (not to mention theft of services). Which is what Summer Time is talking about. All the teachers and administrators know this and are part of the swindle of us taxpayers. This all goes far beyond the tricks the mayor is up to.
#53…. I provide transportation to school for my childern….. I dont believe in entitlements…..
#52…. Shouldn’t you know those numbers by memory?????
No, I shouldn’t know how many kids were in the school as of last year by memory. I knew it was in the mid-high 500’s. Next year it will be lower but I don’t know the number exactly. I guess I should give up huh. And my kids are friends with the Hispanics who sit next to them in class. My oldest daughter is in RBR with one who graduated in top 1% of their class.
Ms Fahy, There are always a small number of illegal children who will do well in school, but that doesn’t disprove the point that the vast majority of illegal Mexican children are below-par intellectually. Just look at the overall scores that Summer Time has shown you.
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Also, that isn’t really the point. The point is we’re being robbed by people who are here illegally and with your rhetoric Ms Fahy, you seem to support their theft of our money.
The point I was trying to make is as follows….. The Mayor and council never know the cost of anything when an inquiry is made at town meetings…. I thru a number at you for cost per stundent per year to educate a child, you did not respond that number is right or wrong, just that the number of students was in question…. A Board member should have that cost etched in there mind because they approved that budget…. By not knowing this cost proves to me there is out of control spending in the Belmar school system at the same level as the mayor and council……
#54 JOE – The Mexican students are separated from the other students in our Belmar School? How is this done?
It’s easily done. All any person of normal intelligence has to do is look at them. Then they put them in the Spanish speaking classes. I suppose like Ms Fahy points out (one of her daughters classmates was a Mexican girl), when they spot one of them who shows a little bit of intelligence, they’ll put him/her in an Anglo class. But that isn’t the norm of course. Also, it’s not the point of this discussion either. Robbery is the point. We’re being robbed.
I have seen many bigoted statements on this site in recent weeks. Let’s just stop it. You can’t complain on one hand about the things you believe Matt is doing that are wrong/bad and then turn to the other side and be a bigot on different matters. Wrong is wrong. Let’s be consistently good people and decent people.
I do know (without checking) that the cost of each student is around $14,000. Special Ed students costs are higher. The operation budget that you got from the website isn’t just divided by the number of students. All businesses have a cushion for, a say facility breakdown (just one example). MY original point was to the tax letter Matt sent which basically stated – don’t blame me for your taxes, blame the school. My point was that BES doesn’t create the education tax law, nor does even it take full advantage of the law. We could max our tax benefits but, in the interest of Belmar residents, we don’t. The conversation about Mexicans was brought on by you two and I simply answered your comments about them. Come to a meeting and tell us how we should change our school for the better.
Most of this thread in my opinion is just racist. The expense of educating and giving the poor whether Hispanic or any other child whether a legal or illegal a bagel and OJ pales in comparison to all the favors in politics from municipality, state or federal government in contracts, attorney fees, consultant fees, etc. etc. and pure waste probably amounting to trillions of dollars. So build your wall, kick out all religions except yours, and keep that extra few dollars in your wallet and buy your bratty kids another electronic device.
Don’t take the bait! …. the mayor’s letter is an attempt to demonize the BOE for political reasons.
He’s just putting out chum bait. In fact a marketing chump is probably the author of the discriminating post(s) against recent immigrant children.
However, remember in the USA MEANS BORN IN THE USA. What class of people did your ancestors hail from? Was it the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia or Asia Minor?. How were each one of those groups treatex initially economically or how did each group assimilate into neighborhoods?
Divide and conquer is asinine.
Thank you Eugene and Anonymous!
Joe Goofinoff and Sumer Timer must be American Indians 😉
Times have changed and the US is suffering, we cant afford to take on outsiders, its is out of control…. National debt 19 trillion, State debt high and unfunded pensions and Belmar 40 million debut….. If we don’t start having discussion about the issues stated above there will be nothing left for our children….. If a child is purple I don’t care, as long as the child is a US citizen. The rule of law must be maintained…. There was only one councilman to stand-up against the empire and he was called negative and call other vile crap, but he was right, decisions must be challenged because that is how the best solution are found….. Wake up both branches of Belmar government are out of control……
#62 – There’s nothing wrong with bigotry against being robbed by illegal aliens
#63 – Once again Ms Fahy, it’s not about how much we’re being robbed of (cost per student). It’s about the whole idea of being robbed in the first place.
#64 – Never fails, when people have no response, pull out the R card – malarky.
#65 – Matt doesn’t have to demonize that den of vipers for me to despise them. I did long before he said a word about them.
#66 – gettagriponyourself (I mean that only in the best way)…
#67 –
#63….. You stated 14k per student, I will give you that number but it is grossly incorrect, being much higher…. Why is St. Rose only 12k per year tuition, I bet they have better scores than Belmar schools…. Like I keep saying numbers don’t lie people do….
12K is for St Rose High School. The grammar school is less than half of that.
#71…. Right on…. We are getting hammered by a wasteful system…. With incompetent government leadership, we have all read the resumes of the mayor and council, none are qualified to manage a business… I would like to see the resumes of the school board of education, that would be interesting…
I defend no one in particular. Where do the Romany (Gypsy) children go to school? Rhetorical question.
Remember that a very large section of what is now the U.S.A. belonged to Mexico, including the proud Lone Star State and quixotic California. Cowboy hats originated south of the border.
Don’t become sidetracked. Eliminate the Mayor and Council members by election. Please.
Mayor and council are living on a credit card and the Board of Education spends like drunken sailors with no tangible results…… We are in a loss loss situation……
As a former school teacher, where is Claire when you need her? LOL..
All public schools do this accounting trick, not just Belmar…. Follow this creative math….. It is stated that 14k per year to educate a student, there are approximately 575 students, thats about 8 million dollars…. The operating budget is about 12.5 million, where did 4.5 million go??????
And the Grander Picture….. The slow erosion of the STANDARDS OF LIVING for most Americans….. with help from the handful of powerful media moguls who keep us blind to the destruction.
SOROS (name changed to assimilate). Driving the American way of life into tuin.
#76 – I still think my idea of using the BES building as a site for our own and surrounding fire companies to practice fighting fires in is the best.
wow, this topic certainly stirred up some emotional responses. Joe and summertimer- Getting angry at the school for it’s undocumented immigrant population is like getting mad at a hospital for the type of people that go to it’s emergency room.It is not the schools fault. As long as there are employers that employ them and landlords that rent to them, there will always be illegal immigrants. Period. As for the budget of the public school- there is undoubtedly some bureaucratic fat that could be cut. There are probably some teachers that are overpaid and ineffective. And getting upset at the state of the educational system in this country is totally understandable. However, comparing a public school that has economically disadvantaged kids as well as special needs and english as second language kids to a private school is a bit unfair. The diocese also pays into the catholic schools and most are struggling financially. They do not have special needs children (by far the most expensive to educate) nor do that have to meet the onerous (and yes, often counter productive) state and federal education mandates. Let’s not lose sight of the real problem here. A mayor and rubberstamp council that is playing a political shell game with our tax dollars. Aileen Fahy is a life long Belmar resident who loves this town and defends it vigorously. She worked hard getting signatures for the ‘matts law’ petition and deserves respect. Having a great public school in an inherently transient town like Belmar aint easy, but it is worthy goal.
That is a response I expect from a liberal bureaucrat….. Has the BOE engaged the mayor and council on this issue????? Tbey are two separate branches of local government which need to work together to solve any and all issues….. Its called accountability to the tax payers…..
#81 It’s my goal. Real last weeks Coast Star where I say that. Ah nevermind, I guess you don’t want anything to cloud your rants here.
As Mr Cramer says…stop taking the bait! This is exactly what the mayor wants! All of you to argue of over the school and it’s debts! Your responses are exactly what he was looking for with his repeated letter. I understand your frustration…but eye on the prize!
#82 The elementary school will never improve as long as you have a narcissistic Mayor encouraged by his wife to do things ie events and focus on the beach, bars, and restaurants as that is where the money is.Every contact that Matt has good or bad is a potential lead for Kivit to make money. They could care less about making Belmar a blue ribbon school. If they did care along with the kool aid drinking council they would get the Best superintendent,he or she would implement standards and ways to get the kids motivated and increase their progress to higher education.
#80 – Sir, once again the point is missed. The point is two thirds of the children are the children of illegal aliens who through their presence in our school are robbing our tax money.
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#84 – Sir, as long as the low intellect children of the illegal aliens remain in the school, no “standards” can be put into effect to improve the school. That may not be politically correct to say, but I assure you sir, it’s quite accurate.
Aileen…….. I did not want to come off as a personal attack on you, sorry if I offended you. Here is what we should work towards
a) please try and control the costs b) please try and get all the test scores higher for all the children c) challenge the town on over crowded housing and none US citizens taking advantage of our school systems, you have the power, please use it…
#84…. The mayor and council and the BOE are two separate governing bodies…. The BOE hires the superintendent……What are you talking about????
Summer Timer I am talking about a Mayor and BOE that cares about the results of the School The Mayor can certainly give input. It is all about pride in the result, not making excuses ie there are too many “illegal” students. Stop making excuses and do things that bring results. Newark for example you have a poorly run school system and your have St. Benedict’s Prep, look at the results. By managing municipal and boe budgets and having a grant writer that knows what they are doing it can be done.
Don’t forget how much your tax extension and campaign letter cost you.
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