Our week in review arrives a day later than usual given the quantity of what we needed to write about this week.
We’ll start with our coverage of the Union County Hazard Mitigation plan which had its final opportunity for a public meeting this week. Following up on our coverage in connection to the flooding issues plaguing Union County communities last year and their compliance with the plan, we took a broader look at losses, mitigation, the red tape connected to federal support and County accountability.
We continue the series on our favorite accountability tool – the ACFR – and look at how some Districts are blowing up their budgets on questionable security spending while at the same time pleading poverty.
Staying with the ACFR, we use Berkeley Heights, a District that is asking it’s residents to vote on a 50 Million Dollar referendum largely connected to repairs that were to be addressed with the last referendum as a case study on how residents can use the tool to hold their District’s accountable.
Data centers show up again in this week’s review, but this time in our coverage of the legislative calendar and a bill that seeks to impose Tarrifs as a means of ensuring working families and small businesses don’t pay for the energy they will swallow.
Moving on to the locals…
Shauna continues her critical examination of the 50 Million Dollar Referendum through the wider scope of District spending, this time with a close look at increased administrative investments despite declining enrollments.
We witness another New Providence BOE meeting that saw it’s resident get an agenda less than 48 hours prior to the meeting, a Berkeley Heights BOE Agenda that takes a crack at streamlining committees and a BHPSNJ BOE meeting that signaled the same past opaque and evasive practices and narratives in connection to the Budget and ‘it will take years’ in connection to improving proficiency.
Laura starts our coverage with Municipal Government with a Berkeley Height Council Town meeting that filled residents in on muffins and dog poop but no response to resident question on the Connell Density plan that was scrubbed from the Agenda last meeting. Not to fear, the item appears again on this week’s Berkeley Heights agenda with changes on the document and (seemingly) the process surrounding it. This week ends with our coverage of the last Summit Council Meeting and what residents can look for on the agenda during this week’s meeting.
On the Socials….
We highlight an article from Laura Waters (NJ Education Report) that takes a look at the disconnect between Senator Andy Kim’s words and the reality of Education Spending in NJ.
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