To the Editor from Jack Heil…
A recent ad by the Brigantine Republican Club (which can be viewed on their Facebook page) had a picture of three monkeys. There are a lot of people in Brigantine that have minds of their own. They know who has caused all the problems here in Brigantine over the past 24 years that Phil Guenther has been mayor.
In answer to the first question, why the Democrats raised taxes, it was because a year ago the mayor and Andy Simpson wanted to keep the golf course as is. If we had leased it out then, we would not have had to pay any taxes this year to cover the $765,000 that our mayor said would never cost us a single penny. I’m so tired of hearing the mayor blaming everything on Superstorm Sandy. But the Republicans wanted their own way, so we had to pay higher taxes this year.
The second question was getting rid of the public safety director. Our city manager had to hire someone because the Republicans started the rumor that we weren’t safe here in Brigantine because chiefs weren’t in place. While the Republicans were the majority on Council, the mayor had a public safety director. The Republicans wanted a special election which cost the taxpayers $30,000.
The third question claims the Democrats want to give away the golf course. No one wants to give away the golf course; we own it. They just want to lease it out so we don’t have to raise taxes again to cover the cost of lost revenue.
The fourth question about the lack of ice cream vendors – the ice cream vendors did not want to pay the bid amount.
If you want to talk about bringing in revenue, let’s thank Lisa McClay and her team for bringing in the Farmers Market, which has drawn more people together and has brought more revenue to the City of Brigantine than anything has in a long time.
I think that there are a lot of good people in Brigantine that will disagree with the Republican Club’s ad. I happen to know that since the Democrats have been in office they have saved Brigantine a lot of money. It was time for a change, and the Democrats have done it and are working for the people every day. The voters realized it in the last election. The Republicans have not saved the city anything since they were in office. All they know is how to spend and raise taxes.
The Democrats along with Jennifer Blumenthal have saved $600,000 so far since they have been in office. They see, hear, and help the taxpayers all the time. I hope that the people of Brigantine remember this and all the good work that is being done by the Democrats in the November election.
Jack Heil
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