To the editor: 

A few days ago, the Freehold Borough Town Council voted unanimously to bar taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits for all Council members. This was a courageous action. It cost each Council member a considerable sum of money.

Unemployment, decreased property values and everything else that puts pressure on some Barnegat residents inflicts the same cumbersome burdens on people who call Freehold Borough home. There are numerous homes for sale there just like there are here. And, just like in Barnegat, many of those homes have been abandoned by people who saw the American dream segue into the American nightmare through no fault of their own.

“Change” and “reform” are oft-spoken words whenever an election rolls around. Whether you allege to be a “tax buster” or you claim to be “doing more with less,” rarely can those claims be proven without the hocus pocus of creative mathematics. All the taxpayer knows is that they are paying and paying and paying – more and more and more. Tax increases, multi-million dollar bonding and the like are all too common.

Freehold’s governing body proved that honor in the ranks of municipal government is not dead in their piece of the Garden State. Sympathy and empathy to and with the plight of their constituency is important, if not critical. Or, as Councilman George Schnurr so brilliantly put it:

“Real reform is only reform when it applies to you, too.”

Councilman Schnurr’s simple-but-salient rallying cry motivated the local governing body of Freehold Borough to lead by example – to remove themselves from the pedestal and do the right thing sending a message to their neighbors that a true commonality can still exist between government and members of the public.

Taxpayer-funded health benefits were a subject of debate here in Barnegat during the last election. Considering the number of residents out of work and on the verge of losing everything they have, it is an outrage to think that the gainfully employed and Medicare-eligible members of the Barnegat committee or any governing body can shelve their consciences vis-à-vis publically-funded health benefits. I emailed a copy of the relevant newspaper article to each member of the Barnegat Township Committee in the hope that the plight of some of their neighbors might cause them to do what is right and put an end to the paid health benefit bonanza.

When the number of township committee meetings were cut by 50% the “on-duty” hours of committee members were reduced. Our Board of Education does not get a money payment, healthcare benefit or pension (after a mere ten years of service). Members of the various Boards and Commissions on local levels are not, in any way, compensated. What gives the township committee a special entitlement?

At the candidates’ debate before this year’s election, I cited one incumbent’s published statement that his income had gone done by some 30 percent. I told him of one of my neighbors who has a wife and two children. Both my neighbor and his wife were put out of work due to the pitiful state of the economy. Their income dropped by 100 percent. Their unemployment insurance has since run out and they cannot afford COBRA medical coverage any longer. I am certain there are many families in Barnegat who find themselves in identical dire straits. Frightening, isn’t it?

I have heard and considered the arguments that committee members are, at a minimum, part-time township employees. I have also heard no response from the committee when asked to produce certified time records. Besides, I have never heard of anyone who works under a full-time, 40-hour work week being eligible for a benefit package. Especially a benefit package that is paid for in full by the public.

I have also read and heard comments that a committee member’s benefits costs each taxpayer a minimal amount of money. The true cost, per committee member, should be posted on the township website in a manifestation of transparency and integrity. It is left to the committee to do that so all speculation as to the true cost per member is set aside and the facts become known.

But cost is not the theme of this letter. The integrity and civic responsibility of Barnegat’s elected leadership is the focal point herein. The statesmanship and courage of Freehold Borough Councilman George Schnurr is exemplary. It is a civics lesson that should be taught to every student proactively and every incumbent political remedially.

The five members of the Barnegat Township Committee can rise to this standard.

And it is their choice to so do. 

- Fred Rubenstein

Mr. Rubenstein has also asked that we run the following letter, which he sent to Freehold Borough Council president George Schnurr:

Honorable Sir, 

I write to salute you and your colleagues on your courageous action of enacting legislation barring Freehold Borough’s Mayor and Council members from receiving taxpayer-funded health benefits. Rarely, does one see such an objective manifestation of meaningful reform such as that which you and your colleagues have accomplished.

Taxpayer-funded health benefits were a major subject of debate here in Barnegat during the last election. Considering the number of residents out of work and on the verge of losing everything they have, it is an outrage to think that the gainfully employed and Medicare-eligible members of the Barnegat committee or any governing body can shelve their consciences vis-à-vis publically-funded health benefits. I emailed a copy of the Asbury Park Press article to each member of the Barnegat Township Committee. Hopefully, your leadership will motivate them to do what is just.

Last, may your inspirational statement that “real reform is only reform when it applies to you too” echo throughout New Jersey. In fact, the men and women of the Congress could take lessons from you.

Thank you for being who you are, Mr. Schnurr. Thank you for giving us all a civics lesson no textbook on earth can teach.

A very Merry Christmas and Happy 2012 to you and your family.