Does Huisman still work in Lake Como? Here’s a way for them to save money. Give it up! Belmar does everything for them now. Police, fire, first aid, school, recreation, court, street cleaning. I could go on and on. (Sentence deleted by Editor.) Meanwhile Lake Como taxes go down while Belmar’s go up. Time to make it one big Belmar once and for all.
#2 Lake Como is its own town. Its own Mayor and Council, its own BOE, its own borders. It’s own town. It’s own municipality.
We should just merge already. Though I’m not sure the citizens of LC would vote to approve that. Why would they? They get lower taxes, we get to pay. It’s a pretty sweet deal
Does Huisman have the proper credentials to be business administrator such as a degree in business administration? Does he have the proper certifications and credentials to be head of our DPW? (Sentence deleted by Editor.)
You have to remember the history of Lake Como not so long ago to realize why their taxes are lower. When Brian Wilton was Mayor there they got rid of their police department. Some can argue it was a bad idea while other Lake Comoans might argue it was a good move. In the end however, it was done to save the taxpayers in that town a lot of money. Since then Belmar Borough has been paid directly by Lake Como so Lake Como can use Belmar PD as a shared service. This is why the taxes are lower.
I don’t know enough about it to know if it is considered good or bad for even Belmar to agree to this, or worth it to Lake Como to take this step but they did, and they did it to save their taxpayers money. This is a key reason why their tax rate is lower. In essence, they made it happen for those still wondering what happened.
The overlap of shared services is becoming more common amongst municipalities to try to be more frugal as we all know. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean they should merge or be absorbed even when they seem similar in so many ways.
Certainly the one thing Lake Comoans are proud of is the fact that the majority consistently agree that their elected leadership does what the majority of residents generally want them to do. For this reason they run unopposed historically for the most part, while Belmar has been “cowboys and Indians” politically. They even changed their name from South Belmar to try to distance themselves from a town that many of them don’t want to be “little brother” to or a part of. Can you blame ’em? Well, if you know the history, probably not.
I was one of those residents that was opposed to the removal of the Lake Como police department. I would always see LC patrol cars in the neighborhood. Now I can’t tell you the last time that I have seen a Belmar patrol car on my street.
Keep in my mind that the merger of police services was offered, it was offered to Belmar, Spring Lake and Wall. Spring Lake and Wall declined. Belmar jumped on the merger. Belmar residents have no one to blame but their police leaders. If Belmar had refused, there never would have been a merger.
Huisman was hired to keep everything running smooth with belmar. He has a close connection to PD and public works. He can pretty much get whatever he wants from them.
Exactly #11. Belmar and it’s taxpayers will pay the price for Huisman and Lake Como good. I hope the new administration realizes this and puts a stop to it!
#9- Joe, thank you for bringing up the Police merger. Let me add some more info. I’ll mention you later.
#10- You too were bamboozled.
The Police merger was nothing more than a political scheme by Doherty and Wilton (the DUO) to feather their caps in their upcoming quests to further their ambitions. Lake Como made out, Belmar now subsidizes their safety.
Back when talks suddenly immerged about a merger, or take over, Belmar employed 20 full time Officers. Lake Como employed 10. Lake Como decided they were going broke and felt they could disband their Police department and save a ton of money in doing so. They touted saving over a million dollars a year by the merger. Lake Como sent out RFOs to Wall, Spring Lake and Spring Lake Heights. As #10 mentioned, none of them came to the table. Do you blame them. Well, the reason is that a “deal” was already in the works by the DUO.
So the DUO brings in a ********* **** (retired Police Officer) from some division of the State of NJ to sugarcoat a deal that the DUO contrived to speak with residents of both towns. This expert held a meeting, first in Lake Como, then in Belmar to spew out numbers and such. I attended both meetings. Both presentations differed, tailored to each individual town. Both gave numbers that the DUO wanted to portray to the public, that it was a good deal for both. The expert left quickly after giving his second presentation in Belmar before ANY questions could be asked.
So the deal was that Lake Como would pay for 1/4 of the cost of Belmar running their Police Dept. in exchange for police coverage. The plan was to layoff the 10 Lake Como Police officers and Belmar was to hire 4 more Officers. Doherty stated that Huisman, acting Police Chief at the time, requested one additional officer making it a total of 25 Officers. At that point it was a break even, on costs, for Belmar, and a Million dollar a year savings for Lake Como. I haven’t checked but if we are now over 26 officers on the force, we are now paying more here in Belmar than if the deal didn’t go thru.
I attended Belmar council meetings in opposition to the deal and coined the local slogan of Belmar Lives Matter (BLM) knowing full well police coverage in both combined towns was reduced. (Sentence deleted by Editor.)
Subsequently the DUO both ran for Monmouth County Freeholders positions and failed miserably. Along came Uncle Phil and both were rewarded with high paying State of NJ jobs. Both left local politics.
The fact that the tax rate in Lake Como is lower than that of Belmars’ and Lake Como has joyfully announced year after year that their tax rate has gone down while the rate continues to climb in Belmar should make every Belmar taxpayer irate.
I personally would like to sit, along with Joe, on a committee to explore ALL of these shared agreements with these other towns to see whether or not be the taxpayers are being cheated. Perhaps we should be on the other end of these lucrative deals. For instance many, many towns over the past 20 years or so have gone to the Monmouth County dispatch services for Police, fire and first aid. Are all those towns wrong or are we just stuck in trying to be the local town that subsidizes the surrounding towns with our dispatch services. In depth analysis needs to be done. The overall budget is much larger than it needs to be for a one mile square town with the population that it has which is only a red flag for waste.
14 I agree with most everything you said. The Duo duped the citizens of Belmar in an attempt for their own political gain. (Sentences deleted by Editor.)
#18 I can’t speak for everyone else, but I give #14 credibility because everything they said is basically true. This didn’t happen 150 years ago, we were all there.
#17 cry me a river. It was two officers and people in the private sector lose their jobs all the time.
#18- Credibility? Please point out one fact that #14 portrayed that was a falsehood. Review the tapes and do some research first.
Look, common sense can tell you that when you reduce the total amount of officers covering both towns from 30 to 25 you will save money. Common sense can also tell you that when you fire officers making veteran salaries and replace them with starting salaries you will save money. The question is at what expense. Risk/reward. The point is that Belmar did not save any money on this deal, Lake Como reaped it all. And ALL these “shared services” programs need to be looked at.
#22 If memory serves- of the 10 Lake Como police, three found other jobs on different forces prior to the merger, two retired w full bennies. Of the remaining five, three wound up on other forces and two got different civil service jobs. The citizens of Lake Como overwhelmingly voted in favor of the disbandment, remember.
Either way, thousands of private sector jobs are lost and gained everyday. I just happen to disagree that those two policemen were the ones ‘hurt worst’ by the merger. I would give that distinction to any Belmar resident living hand to mouth that had their taxes increase to support the budgetary shell game.
Yes the taxpayers of Lake Como did have a vote. The taxpayers of Belmar were not afforded that opportunity. This horrible deal was just forced down our throats. Taxpayers shelling out more money for less services. This deal along with all need to be looked into. How does a town like Belmar have a higher tax rate that the others that it provides services to. It’s called subsidizing.
#24 Bingo. This incident, among many others, cost Matt and his ilk their political positions (except for Brennan, that guy is like teflon).
Unfortunately, voting out the folks who constructed this deal does nothing to undo it.
Does Huisman still work in Lake Como? Here’s a way for them to save money. Give it up! Belmar does everything for them now. Police, fire, first aid, school, recreation, court, street cleaning. I could go on and on. (Sentence deleted by Editor.) Meanwhile Lake Como taxes go down while Belmar’s go up. Time to make it one big Belmar once and for all.
I thought that we were already one big Belmar. Lake Como is just a section of Belmar.
#1 and 2 you are right. But Higgins will never give up his 2 block fiefdom for the good of the residents.
#2 Lake Como is its own town. Its own Mayor and Council, its own BOE, its own borders. It’s own town. It’s own municipality.
We should just merge already. Though I’m not sure the citizens of LC would vote to approve that. Why would they? They get lower taxes, we get to pay. It’s a pretty sweet deal
Lake Como has been riding on the backs of Belmar taxpayers forever. Time to get on the ship or sail away on your own!! Bye bye
Does Huisman have the proper credentials to be business administrator such as a degree in business administration? Does he have the proper certifications and credentials to be head of our DPW? (Sentence deleted by Editor.)
Lake Como has a public EV charging station … Belmar doesn’t.
#7- Thanks to the gracious taxpayers’ of Belmar, Lake Como has a lower tax rate than does Belmar, hence LC people can afford EVs. I can’t.
You have to remember the history of Lake Como not so long ago to realize why their taxes are lower. When Brian Wilton was Mayor there they got rid of their police department. Some can argue it was a bad idea while other Lake Comoans might argue it was a good move. In the end however, it was done to save the taxpayers in that town a lot of money. Since then Belmar Borough has been paid directly by Lake Como so Lake Como can use Belmar PD as a shared service. This is why the taxes are lower.
I don’t know enough about it to know if it is considered good or bad for even Belmar to agree to this, or worth it to Lake Como to take this step but they did, and they did it to save their taxpayers money. This is a key reason why their tax rate is lower. In essence, they made it happen for those still wondering what happened.
The overlap of shared services is becoming more common amongst municipalities to try to be more frugal as we all know. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean they should merge or be absorbed even when they seem similar in so many ways.
Certainly the one thing Lake Comoans are proud of is the fact that the majority consistently agree that their elected leadership does what the majority of residents generally want them to do. For this reason they run unopposed historically for the most part, while Belmar has been “cowboys and Indians” politically. They even changed their name from South Belmar to try to distance themselves from a town that many of them don’t want to be “little brother” to or a part of. Can you blame ’em? Well, if you know the history, probably not.
I was one of those residents that was opposed to the removal of the Lake Como police department. I would always see LC patrol cars in the neighborhood. Now I can’t tell you the last time that I have seen a Belmar patrol car on my street.
Keep in my mind that the merger of police services was offered, it was offered to Belmar, Spring Lake and Wall. Spring Lake and Wall declined. Belmar jumped on the merger. Belmar residents have no one to blame but their police leaders. If Belmar had refused, there never would have been a merger.
Huisman was hired to keep everything running smooth with belmar. He has a close connection to PD and public works. He can pretty much get whatever he wants from them.
# 10. I guess we can thank Huisman for that too!
Exactly #11. Belmar and it’s taxpayers will pay the price for Huisman and Lake Como good. I hope the new administration realizes this and puts a stop to it!
#9- Joe, thank you for bringing up the Police merger. Let me add some more info. I’ll mention you later.
#10- You too were bamboozled.
The Police merger was nothing more than a political scheme by Doherty and Wilton (the DUO) to feather their caps in their upcoming quests to further their ambitions. Lake Como made out, Belmar now subsidizes their safety.
Back when talks suddenly immerged about a merger, or take over, Belmar employed 20 full time Officers. Lake Como employed 10. Lake Como decided they were going broke and felt they could disband their Police department and save a ton of money in doing so. They touted saving over a million dollars a year by the merger. Lake Como sent out RFOs to Wall, Spring Lake and Spring Lake Heights. As #10 mentioned, none of them came to the table. Do you blame them. Well, the reason is that a “deal” was already in the works by the DUO.
So the DUO brings in a ********* **** (retired Police Officer) from some division of the State of NJ to sugarcoat a deal that the DUO contrived to speak with residents of both towns. This expert held a meeting, first in Lake Como, then in Belmar to spew out numbers and such. I attended both meetings. Both presentations differed, tailored to each individual town. Both gave numbers that the DUO wanted to portray to the public, that it was a good deal for both. The expert left quickly after giving his second presentation in Belmar before ANY questions could be asked.
So the deal was that Lake Como would pay for 1/4 of the cost of Belmar running their Police Dept. in exchange for police coverage. The plan was to layoff the 10 Lake Como Police officers and Belmar was to hire 4 more Officers. Doherty stated that Huisman, acting Police Chief at the time, requested one additional officer making it a total of 25 Officers. At that point it was a break even, on costs, for Belmar, and a Million dollar a year savings for Lake Como. I haven’t checked but if we are now over 26 officers on the force, we are now paying more here in Belmar than if the deal didn’t go thru.
I attended Belmar council meetings in opposition to the deal and coined the local slogan of Belmar Lives Matter (BLM) knowing full well police coverage in both combined towns was reduced. (Sentence deleted by Editor.)
Subsequently the DUO both ran for Monmouth County Freeholders positions and failed miserably. Along came Uncle Phil and both were rewarded with high paying State of NJ jobs. Both left local politics.
The fact that the tax rate in Lake Como is lower than that of Belmars’ and Lake Como has joyfully announced year after year that their tax rate has gone down while the rate continues to climb in Belmar should make every Belmar taxpayer irate.
I personally would like to sit, along with Joe, on a committee to explore ALL of these shared agreements with these other towns to see whether or not be the taxpayers are being cheated. Perhaps we should be on the other end of these lucrative deals. For instance many, many towns over the past 20 years or so have gone to the Monmouth County dispatch services for Police, fire and first aid. Are all those towns wrong or are we just stuck in trying to be the local town that subsidizes the surrounding towns with our dispatch services. In depth analysis needs to be done. The overall budget is much larger than it needs to be for a one mile square town with the population that it has which is only a red flag for waste.
Click here for 4 meetings where this was discussed, Editor.
(Asterisks are mine, Editor.)
14 I agree with most everything you said. The Duo duped the citizens of Belmar in an attempt for their own political gain. (Sentences deleted by Editor.)
Take a good look at the new EMS deal. Millions being spent providing service for three other towns.
#14 Thank you for your information.
Unfortunately the ones who were hurt the most by the merger were the LC police officers who lost their jobs and were not hired by Belmar.
I can’t understand why people would give 14 an ounce of credibility
#18 I can’t speak for everyone else, but I give #14 credibility because everything they said is basically true. This didn’t happen 150 years ago, we were all there.
#17 cry me a river. It was two officers and people in the private sector lose their jobs all the time.
I’m sorry. I meant to say don’t give #9 any credibility. I agree with most of #14 except the part of having him on ANY committee. You will see
(Not sure this is coming from the same person that wrote #18, Editor.)
#18- Credibility? Please point out one fact that #14 portrayed that was a falsehood. Review the tapes and do some research first.
Look, common sense can tell you that when you reduce the total amount of officers covering both towns from 30 to 25 you will save money. Common sense can also tell you that when you fire officers making veteran salaries and replace them with starting salaries you will save money. The question is at what expense. Risk/reward. The point is that Belmar did not save any money on this deal, Lake Como reaped it all. And ALL these “shared services” programs need to be looked at.
#19 Check your memory. It was two officers and I know of at least four police men.
#22 If memory serves- of the 10 Lake Como police, three found other jobs on different forces prior to the merger, two retired w full bennies. Of the remaining five, three wound up on other forces and two got different civil service jobs. The citizens of Lake Como overwhelmingly voted in favor of the disbandment, remember.
Either way, thousands of private sector jobs are lost and gained everyday. I just happen to disagree that those two policemen were the ones ‘hurt worst’ by the merger. I would give that distinction to any Belmar resident living hand to mouth that had their taxes increase to support the budgetary shell game.
Yes the taxpayers of Lake Como did have a vote. The taxpayers of Belmar were not afforded that opportunity. This horrible deal was just forced down our throats. Taxpayers shelling out more money for less services. This deal along with all need to be looked into. How does a town like Belmar have a higher tax rate that the others that it provides services to. It’s called subsidizing.
#24 Bingo. This incident, among many others, cost Matt and his ilk their political positions (except for Brennan, that guy is like teflon).
Unfortunately, voting out the folks who constructed this deal does nothing to undo it.