It was with disappointment that I learned that the Hightstown-East Windsor school budget was defeated again this year. Working through this process last year was one of the most challenging and frustrating experiences in my tenure on Borough Council. I was disappointed in myself, that I ultimately voted along with everyone else to support the proposed cuts. Although it would have been at best a token gesture to be the lone dissenting voice, I promised myself that night that I would not be making that mistake again.
Here we are.
Why will I not be supporting any cuts and why will I be aggressively encouraging all of my counterparts to do the same? With all due respect to the comitted voters who came out last Tuesday to make their voices heard, the extent of challenges in our community, state, and nation transcend that of yet another increase in our school taxes. We have allowed ourselves to get into a situation where we live with a punitive and regressive tax system, where local property owners make up for misguided income tax cuts, and generally fiscal irresponsibility, at the State and Federal level.
