This week, budgets stay on the radar, and we started with a look at seven issues shaping the budget battle that started in Trenton this week on Sherrill’s plan as the legislative branch and public got their first opportunity to talk about how they feel about the Governor’s numbers.
We continue to drill down on our Union County case study on how money, power and politics come together in ways that are easy for residents to lose track in our second entry into the ‘Legal but Opaque’ Series. We also added the issue at the heart of this case study, (The CMS Turf Field/SportsComplex) to ‘What We’re Watching‘
We move to municipal budgets with a hard look at efficiency using the most recent ACFR (2024) in evaluating how seven towns stack up across 17 categories to help residents in becoming more informed as municipal budget meetings continue this week.
These budgets are going to be stress tested as the same issues we wrote about blowing up school benefits costs are going to have a significant impact on municipal balance sheets as well.
The Short Hills Association added to the mix with it’s second contribution in a series intended to help residents understand property taxes using Millburn as a case study.
Moving to the locals.
Berkeley Heights has not provided the public with the school budget after offering to do so using form technicalities as a reason – while shooting out one press release after another about everything else on its outlets. Despite that we provided thorough coverage of the BOE Meeting that surrounded the priciest District on our 7-District Dashboard and published a statement explaining why we haven’t come to any conclusions based on the BHPSNJ marketing of the budget without providing the public any detail. Shauna rounds out the Berkeley Heights coverage with what appears to be a contradiction in how BHPSNJ approaches academic placement.
On the Socials
BHPSNJ Should Release The Full Budget Versus Relying on Top Line Numbers and a Marketing Pitch
Asking for Help In Investigating Cherry Hill School District’s Law Suit Against a Journalist
Top Three Articles for March…
Luxury Living, Boutique Retail and the Quiet Erasure of Working and Middle Class NJ
NJDOE’s Ghost Deliverables: No Evidence for Adaptive Test Accuracy One Year into Rollout
928 Units and a $16.6 Million Bill- Monday’s Berkeley Heights Council Meeting
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