You would think he would be all over this discussion with his crying and complaints about Teachers pay, benefits and pensions.
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Where is his vitriolic claim that the “Union Thugs” in the NJEA are destroying the state? Why have we not seen his post on this discussion that because of the NJEA Union Thugs businesses are leaving the N.J. and so are residents!
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And how many times did we hear “N.J. Has the highest Property Taxes in the Country” because of the Public Safety wages and benefits, and lets not forget pensions? Shouldn’t he be here making the same claim about the BOE budget?
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I will tell you why we hear crickets and nothing from him on this discussion, he doesn’t care about the BOE budget. That isn’t important to him. What is important to him is vilifying Public Safety employees, specifically Police and Firefighters. That’s what he is all about, nothing less and nothing more.
Most of the outrage usually includes overpaid teachers.
Teachers deserve respect and professional wages.
One problem is that most non-teachers think that they could walk into a classroom tomorrow and be a successful teachers. Keep dreaming
The second problem is that teaching, especially in the lower grades, is a female profession. And we know that the workplace undervalues women.
I am not a teacher but I am surprised at how they are vilified. Everyone wants great schools but no one wants to pay teachers what they deserve..
Because we care about our children’s education…something that is apparently not needed in order to become a police officer or a fireman.
Yes 12:32, We do care about our children’s education. Shame your parents didn’t care about your education, which is clearly evident by your uneducated comment “education…something that is apparently not needed in order to become a police officer or a fireman.”
Is a four year degree required in order to become a Ridgewood Cop or Fireman?
School budget is about 75% of the property tax bill, and teachers have the summer off, so rightfully so they get noticed when it’s reported they have better health benefits than many of the residents and contribute a minute amount towards them.
Again with the Police Officers & Fire Fighters. Your hatred for these men and women goes beyond normal. You should seriously seek help. This has nothing to do with them or teachers. It has all to do with the out of control spending of the BOED.
You don’t need a four year degree to deal with the entitled taxpayers in Ridgewood and their kids.
See posters what 1:44 and 3:45 did. Change the subject from BOED spending and put it on Police and Fire. Those poster should run for political office.
“Because we care about our children’s education…something that is apparently not needed in order to become a police officer or a fireman.” So your saying the the policeman and fireman don’t care about children just teachers? WOW
To teaches police and fire who read or post on this blog. Don’t let a few malcontents that post here get you down. They are just trying to “Divide and Conquer” your profession by turning you against each other. These malcontent have no conception of what you job entail and what you have to put with. They should walk a mile in your shoes. Then they would be qualified to make comments.They would rather sit in there large house and complain that the taxes are to high and its all your fault. Its easy to scapegoat teachers,police and fire instead of blaming themselves for living above their means.
It’s 64% of our taxes, but agreed with 6:03pm that it should be 75%. We can always reduce retiree and health care benefits or have current employees contribute more towards their own pensions and health care premiums. Better to invest in the quality of K-12 education for the future than pay for the past.
Actually, 7:05, the PD and FD were brought into the discussion by the original post.
Hey 12:47 am if you want so much money spent to educate your child I suggest you move to AValon,N.J. They spend over $43,000.00 dollars per student. I am sure you can afford too live there Mr. Stop trying to take away from government employees so you can line your already full to over flowing pockets.
And Avalon is way way nicer than Ridgewood…and cooler bye the mile.
Seems someone can’t do math which means they probably didn’t earn a Masters or PhD which is required of all new BoE hires. Or they just never read page 11 of this report https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/pdf/NJPHBSC.pdf
If you retire after 25 years at an average age of 52 with an average PFRS pension of $58,000 and live another 30 years, that’s $1.74mn in pension checks. Teachers retire at an average age of 62, and the average NJ TPAF pension is $48,000. Assuming they live to their early 80s as well, the average TPAF retiree will get $960,000 in pension checks, or about half as much as the average PFRS retiree. And those extra ten years of work – even with July and August off – adds up to an extra 100 months of work for a smaller pension.
56% of average per capita income in the US is spent on the elderly, i.e. retirement and healthcare benefits; yet only 7% is spent on children. Why does the US have a child poverty rate of 25% vs. only 9% for the elderly? Because all of the gains for the last 40 years have accrued to the elderly, who have a lifetime to accumulate wealth compared to children who have nothing. It’s generational theft. Thankfully Ridgewood is bucking this national trend, but we have to be vigilant that entitlement spending on the past doesn’t keep taking more and more share away from the future.
410 sounds like a former poster with the initials “LTR”…. however, the deck is stacked against those who did the former American way of socking money in the to bank get your 5 odd percent return… retirees tend to put money in savings accounts, CD’s and bonds…If the poster has a method to deal with those who depend on these entitlements, I’m sure the readers would love to know… we await your reply….
Are you proposing the Japan model Paul? Let’s age gracefully by helping those with fixed incomes by pursuing deflationary economic policies? Japan proved that fails. Eventually you have to hyper-inflate your way out of the mess, or raise taxes on the most productive part of your workforce. Better just to screw retirees and invest in the future. We’ve got it backwards in NJ… heading to 25% of the state budget on pensions and healthcare. Sorry to say, but retirees have had a lifetime to accumulate wealth, so SS should be means tested, COLAs should be stopped, and all entitlements should be frozen. Taxes on carried interest, capital gains and dividend income should all rise to marginal income tax rates to stop the generational theft. I won’t get elected saying this, but unless you want to become Japan, it’s what needs to be done.
Thank god we have more teachers than cops and fire. We’re all seeing the effects of the militarization of our police forces. Driving around in MRAPs with SWAT teams without any national standard on rules of engagement like the military has. Shooting dogs, outright murdering people, above the law. Thank god we still believe in peace and education more than a police state.
Who said anything about hating policemen and fire fighters? You’re missing the point. It’s their excessive and unsustainable wage growth and benefits that are consuming more and more of municipal and state budgets across NJ and the US that is what posters hate. If you cannot understand the difference, you’re part of the problem.
5:08 AM It’s obvious you hate policemen and fire fighters.
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Why, Simple, You’ve never mentioned the BOE and the teachers excessive and unsustainable wage growth and benefits that are consuming more and more of municipal and state budgets across NJ and the US.
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The cost for the BOE salaries, benefits and pensions dwarfs all Police and Firefighters costs yet you never mention these facts.
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Education costs are crushing seniors in their retirement years.
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If you cannot understand the difference and your only focused on Public Safety because of your jealously and hate, you’re part of the problem.
good answer 1140 and you raise legitimate points…means testing is the 3rd rail of politics… flat or uniform tax rates for wages, capital gains and distributions also gets swatted down by those who want to reform the tax structure… the issue will be (different from Japan) that Japanese govt debt (240% GDP and counting) is mostly owned by Japanese investors…. With US debt the biggest issue is not size but who owns it owned by… eventually those offshore investors will have a bigger say…and that is not good news…