Independent study needed on finances

Independent study
needed on finances

Manalapan resident Bruce Brickman, in a letter to the editor published below this editorial, makes a suggestion whose time has come.

Brickman recommends, and we agree with him, that the Manalapan Township Committee should appoint an independent panel to review the township’s budget and the criteria used to manage Manalapan’s revenues.

The review should cover at least the last six municipal budgets (1999 to 2004) so that trends in expenditures, the use of surplus funds, the deferral of school taxes, and the accumulation of debt can be carefully examined.

There has been significant turnover in the township’s administration over that period of time, and a thorough review could go a long way toward settling some of the claims that have been aired in recent weeks.

Two Republicans are challenging a pair of Democratic incumbents for three-year terms on the governing body in the November election.

The News Transcript has recently published letters to the editor from people who have claimed that Manalapan’s financial security is at risk.

Those letters have been followed by responses from people who claim there are no problems with the township’s financial security. We do not know if either side is correct in its position.

None of the four candidates has written a letter to the editor on this topic. To this point, their minions have done all the talking.

The longstanding policy of the News Transcript when it comes to publishing a letter to the editor is to check the facts that are stated in a letter to the best of our ability.

That process may include speaking with the author of the letter or checking documents that purport to substantiate what is being stated.

We do not judge or censor the opinions expressed in a letter or the conclusions a writer draws from his or her own examination of the facts.

In the present case of Manal-apan’s municipal finances, we have neither the financial expertise nor the resources to audit every figure that has been presented in the recent letters discussing Manalapan’s budget, financial practices or stability.

We do not know which side is correct, and neither do residents.

The suggestion for an independent panel is one the Town-ship Committee should seriously consider if it hopes to conclusively answer what will surely be an issue in the coming campaign.