If you were to follow Mayor Doherty’s logic anyway.
From Thursday’s Coast Star:
Mayor Matt Doherty this week defended the borough’s use of beach utility revenues to defray some costs of police and dispatch services, after a predecessor claimed the practice is “unlawful.”…………..
……………..Mayor Doherty responded on Dec. 8, stating that since 2011, the borough has been hiring additional police personnel, between May 15 and Sept. 15, to assist in policing the borough during the busy summer months and the expense is billed to the beach utility fund.
“The reason we need additional police is because people come to Belmar in the summer, the reason they come to Belmar is for the beach,” Mayor Doherty said. “Prior to me, the mayor [Mr. Pringle] used to put the expense on the taxpayers.”…………………..
As Jim pointed out Friday we’ve always had specials. I guess the mayor meant that in the summer seasons since 2011 they’ve been wholly paid by the beach utility instead of being mostly paid by the municipality.
The thing is that Lake Como experiences the same onslaught of summer tourists that we do and has all the same problems policing them that we do. Just like us it’s the proximity to the Belmar beach that draws those crowds. And just like us, Lake Como has to hire special police during the summer months to control the mayhem. Unlike us though, Lake Como pays for their specials out of their municipal budget.
Is that fair? If Doherty is going to claim that all the extra police costs during the summer are because of the beach being there, and therefore those costs can be legitimately shouldered by the beach utility, then Lake Como has just as strong a case to have their specials paid out of our beach utility fund as we do.
Maybe if Lake Como’s special police had been paid since 2011 by the Belmar beach utility Lake Como wouldn’t be in as deep a financial hole as they are presently in. Maybe with some belt tightening measures, and without the burden of paying for specials during the summer, they wouldn’t have found themselves in a situation where they can’t even afford to have a police department.
Mayor Doherty, if your interpretation of the law regarding the public trust is valid, and it’s totally legit to have badge sales cover the high cost of policing the summer crowds because it’s the beach that attracts them here, then Belmar’s beach utility needs to also pay for Lake Como’s summer specials and we should reimburse Lake Como for what they’ve spent on their specials since 2011.
11 Comments
Don’t forget that Lake Como pays Belmar for dispatching also. I believe Doherty pulls dispatching salaries from the beach utility. Therefore, Lake Como can sue Belmar for that money also. Mayor Wilton should seriously take a good look at this.
RecApture companies are going to clean up with all the mismanagement scenarios we are swamped with from 2011 to 2016, at least.
Would you buy a car or well anything from the current mayor?
Big PARTAYYY Belmar come sseee what’s going on – its the best thing going – STATEN SHAOLIN ISLAND mannnnnn!
Paying the specials with beach utility money sounds pretty logical to me.. I agree with Matt on this one.
My decision is to leave. Selling my condo soon and heading for “South Beach”.
#5 you can agree with Matt all you want but the LAW says the charges against the Beach Utility Fund have to be directly related to the beach. The courts have already ruled on this years ago.
The delusion that property taxes will not increase must be maintained at all costs. A thriving Belmar is an illusion. Mr. Mayor must save face, after all.
#5 Have you followed this blog recently? If so you must realize the town can’t do this. O M G Wake up!!!!
There can’t be that much money allocated to the special officers since most of them are paid by Djais anyway.. The only ones that patrol the town at night are the full timers.
You could, of course, OPRA the work schedules if the prosecutors not available. Looking over the scheduler’s shoulders could put pensions in dicey positions, just saying.
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