I saw Julie Acton's speech posted, here is a copy.
I don't have Lee Ware's for majority report.
----
January 2010 Speech by Julie Acton Salem County NJ Freeholder
Good Evening.
I would first like to give thanks to God for all of his blessings. I also thank my supportive husband John and our wonderful sons, Jonathan and Justin, for their encouragement, and a heart felt thanks to my mom for her continuous guidance.
It is my honor, in the spirit of this orderly transition, to present to the residents of Salem County and to the distinguished guests the minority party speech address on behalf of Freeholders Cross, Laury and myself.
We welcome Congressman Frank LoBiondo, New Jersey State Senate President Steve Sweeney, our 3rd District Assembly representatives; John Burzichelli and Celeste Riley. For those recently re-elected and elected, we congratulate you and we thank all of you for supporting the County of Salem during a time when we need you the most.
The following are some examples of how, "when we all work together, we are successful." You stood with us in a bi-partisan fashion in support against the dumping of dredge spoils on our shores, keeping the state Department of Agriculture intact, your continued support of Railroad funding, and securing new Federal Funding for a wide range of other projects.
We congratulate Sherriff Chuck Miller, County Clerk Gilda Gill, Freeholder Beth Timberman on their re-election and welcome Freeholder Ben Laury on this, his inauguration night. I have worked with Beth for the last few years and I look forward to working further with her as we move forward. Ben, "hold on." I welcome you to this team and I know your caring heart and your willingness to serve will guide your leadership.
The following are couple of examples of how this Board of Chosen Freeholders have worked in a bi-partisan fashion; we took a stand against the proposed decision to close Memorial Hospital of Salem County’s maternity ward because it is a wrong decision for the people of Salem County, and for the first time in recent memory a minority party member has been placed on the administrative committee. This is a milestone and goes to show how we work together for the betterment of Salem County.
In 2009, the voters of the State of New Jersey and of Salem County voted in dramatic fashion for a new beginning through new leadership. Their message is loud and clear:
· Put a stop to soaring taxes,
· Put a stop to uncontrolled spending, and
· STOP waste within all the levels of government.
However, what the public really wants are for us to lower taxes.
Last year, the County of Salem made many strong efforts to control taxes. All seven members of the board voted for the budget. Why? Because the budget was a reasonable one.
Are there areas for improvement? Absolutely! Unlike several other Counties, we did not drastically and unrealistically reduce our tax rate; therefore, we are not starting from an insurmountable position for fiscal year 2010.
As a board working in a team environment, we took steps that in the long run will stabilize or reduce the tax burden, such as: The merger of the Vocational Technical School Board with the Special Services School Board to lower administration and operational costs. This action was one of our success stories. As chairperson of this leadership committee, I and the committee worked hard with the County Administrator and other Freeholders to insure that no essential programs were cut, no students would be harmed by this merger, AND tax dollars would be saved this year because of the merger. HOWEVER the most important element is: we were able to open doors for students – DOORS that WERE previously "closed"... truly a "win/win" proposition.
The transfer of the Nursing Home to the Improvement Authority in mid-2008 allowed for an operational savings that was realized in 2009. Unfortunately, employees of the Nursing Home were temporarily affected by this action through the loss of short-term and long-term disability protection plans. As a board, the Freeholders were committed to the employees and planned for a seamless transfer. However, we could not plan for this extremely neglectful oversight by the Improvement Authority board. Although we have no direct control over the Improvement Authority, we will continue monitoring this situation and do our best to ensure patient and employee commitments are met.
During future mergers, we must evaluate every possible impact on employees to prevent similar hardships from occurring. We are committed to deliver quality planning in an effective and efficient approach and delivering accountability to everyone concerned, also, with the books now closed on 2009, the Improvement Authority should present an accounting to the public – in clear language – of what this merger has actually meant to the county’s taxpayers. How much money has been redirected from the landfill operations to support the Nursing Home which was running in a deficit? Remember, we’re still talking about taxpayers’ hard-earned money. Tipping fees paid by our municipalities to dump their garbage at the landfill comes out of the taxpayers’ pocket.
‘
On November 3rd, the voters of Salem County chose to make their Freeholder Board 4 Democrats and 3 Republicans. In my humble opinion, this will make our board: a more responsive, a more responsible, and a more accountable governmental body.
We have substantial work to perform in order to balance our 2010 budget and still maintain the core services that the general public needs and expects.
To quote Sir Winston Churchill, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”.
In that spirit,
· must continue to provide quality education to our young and not so young,
· We must sustain our agricultural programs; while stimulating controlled economic development,
· We must continue to provide transportation to the elderly, and the disabled,
· We must maintain our roads & bridges
· We must continue to provide assistance to veterans
· And, we must continue to provide preventive care programs and public safety for our citizens,
However, we must do this by working smarter, through creating efficiencies where efficiencies are lacking, and through developing a cost-effective approach to government.The result will be a leaner more responsive governing body responding to the needs of Salem County residents. We must do this with care and forethought. We must do this under the principles of the oath that we have all taken to uphold our values as we govern. We must do this with the well-being of our residents in the forefront of our minds.
We, as a Board, have to examine all of the programs currently financed by the taxpayers of Salem County. We have to realistically view the amount of people that it takes to administer these programs and do what we can to control the spending. We have to concentrate on the shared services that we currently have and search for innovative ways to expand this concept.
continued in next post .....
Salem County Freeholders election
