Has Mike Vernotico ever seen a tax increase he doesn't like? It is precisely because of the actions of the council over the last several years (thoughtless and wasteful spending and never saying no to the Police or Fire Departments and all of which he has supported) we are in the position we are in. I know he may not like the residents who shop a Walmart, but the reality Mike Vernotico needs to understand is that we are fed up with excessive taxation and excessive spending and we aren't going to take it anymore. We've been hungry for the leadership Bomgaars, Dickson, Getzendanner and Madden are demonstrating. Has Mike Vernotico become fiscal liberal or has the 2011 Mayor's race already begun? At least Jordan Glatt has been consistent with his thinking - I may not agree with him on many issues but I respect him because he's sincere. Why Vernotico is now trying to jump on his bandwagon, after attacking him for this very thing in the 2007 Mayor's race, is beyond me.

Thank You Mayor Glatt, Councilman Murphy & Councilman Vernotico for supporting our Police and Fire Depts. No budget, City, County, State or Federal should be balanced on the backs of Public Safety. For as long as I have been a proud employee of the Fire Dept. and the City of Summit, we have always been conservative in our spending. No Summit Fire Chief, all who worked responsibly with City Administrators, excessively spent or wasted taxpayer money in the Fire Dept. The reality is it does take money to buy, maintain equipment and train Firefighters to respond with the equipment needed to get the job done and to do it safely. The reality is takes Firefighters to put out fires, minimize hazards at auto accidents, pump basements, assist residents with questions, odors, investigations, First Responder (medical) calls, building inspections or anything else the Citizens call us for. Our FMBA worked with the City to help support the budget, we didn't have our hand out, we gave back. This whole economic mess was caused by irresponsible Politicians and irresponsible financial decisions made by them- NOT Firemen or Policemen. Summit is and hopefully will continue to be a great place to live, I will not and hope others will not support Politicians who don't support us, expect no support from me on Primary Day Tues. June 8th. It's time for angry taxpayers, like myself, to go after the real spending waste in Government that's in County, State & Federal budgets.
Joseph Wurtzbacher

Well put Joseph. Sounds like a plan we can all agree on. If our county, state and federal governments didn't tax us and spend so irresponsibly, the local budget debates wouldn't be so contentious. Unfortunately, high taxes are hurting all of us so much so that it has become a locally contentious issue. So what works locally, may not work at the county state and federal levels. But, at any level, no budget funded by taxpayer dollars should ever be taken for granted and every expense, most especially administrative expenses that do not directly support the mission, should be carefully scrutinized. And we have to ask ourselves would politicians who support high spending and taxes at the local level actually oppose high spending and taxes at the county, state and federal levels? From what I’ve seen they don’t. Maybe that’s the problem. Whatever the answer is, we better figure it out soon because if we don’t the fabric of our community will soon be changed, in a bad way, forever.

I praise Mayor Glatt and Councilman Vernotico for their thoughtful and detailed comments. They have valid concerns. We have all been impacted and bothered by our increasing property taxes. However, I believe strongly that the problem is not solved by cutting police and fire personnel: departments which have been shrinking for years while Summit has been growing. Comparisons to similar towns show Summit's P&F departments operating with fewer staff per capaita. Summit should actually require greater capabilities for numerous reasons:
(police) situated between major highways - an easy getaway for crooks; (fire) Overlook Hospital, Merck and Celgene require sophisticated fire capabilities. Presently both departments are already operating at sub-optimal levels; slowing response times and increasing overtime costs. Quick response times typically maximizes the probability of our safety. Councilman Vernotico outlines clear arguments and shows how the numbers simply do not add up. No one needs to be a math wiz to understand that if you cut personnel than overtime increases and is thus MORE costly. To assume both a cut in staff AND a decrease in overtime is disingenuous and absurd. The police and fire unions have voluntarily offered to break their contracts. They have not been given enough credit for such sacrifice. Mr. Hurley focused his attack on Mr. Vernotico's character, probably because he did not have a counter-argument to Mr. Vernotico's well thought out points.

What specifically are the increased threats presented by Celegene and Merck? Biohazards? High rise buildings? What are the gaps in Summit's capability? Do they present a class of fire we do not currently have the ability to deal with? Do they need additional equipment to safely fight these fires? Has the chief publicly stated this? You see, Mr. Haselmann justifies budget increases with scare tactics founded on generalities; we must do this or our families won't be safe or a whole lot of other bad things will happen and, if you question that, we're accused of not having a "counter-argument." If we demand our schools cut bloated administrative expenses, we're accused of being against our children and our education. This isn't going to work anymore with the taxpayers of Summit. My "attack" was on Mr. Vernotico's record, and only his character to the extent he professes to be a fiscal conservative but proves to be anything but while justifying his votes on the fact Summit residents don't (or in his mind shouldn't) shop at Walmart. Did the police need the new police cars Mr. Vernotico voted for last year? Did we need the $150,000 fence he wanted to buy earlier this year? I'll be more than happy to support a budget that gives the police and fire departments everything they need while also ensuring they are compensated fairly but I expect my elected officials to hold the leadership of both departments accountable for every dime.