What makes anyone think that the town council can do the "right" thing w/ the school budget? This is the same council that can't take care of their own finances and now the fate of the children rests in their hands...what a sad day it is for Brick!! I am still astonished that I can get a letter from Warren Wolf supporting the town's referendum and saying NOTHING about the schools budget. Last time I looked he was elected to serve the taxpayers on the school board, not be a figure head for our lame duck town council! Mr Wolf, you have aligned yourself w/ some bad people, and as a follower of yours for many years, I can say that I'm disappointed in your choice.

Mr. Deluca-before you start right away with "we will make cuts to the school budget" remember what you and the council put this town through with this election that we just had to keep our services in BRICK. Look at the over spending by the administration with pay raises to administrators who should not have been hired in the first place. I voted yes on both budgets because I didn't want anyone to lose their jobs but I have never been so disappointed in a job that this administration has done than I have been in the past two years. It is terrible.

To Kim T it was your responsibility to clean up the garbage known as Central Adm. salaries and you failed to do so.Now Mr. Wolf and Talty have a plurality of 5-2 sit back and watch as they treat people with respect and your 5 minute clock is put out in the garbage.Hope they go after the fat cats and their salaries and not 13 teachers like your budget wanted to.Most of these fat cats dont live in Brick... HYRZENKO,EDWARDS,BRUNO,all carpetbaggers.

From which portion will they make these "cuts"? Only 17% of the BOE budget is NOT allocated toward payroll. Out of that 17% there are still bills to pay and maintenence costs, so probably 12% or less of the BOE budget actually makes it "to the kids" and threre are 13 schools in this town!

The part that needs cutting is the the largest single item which consumes 83% of the BOE budget and that's PAYROLL! $0.83 cents of every dollar in the BOE budget go directly to payroll.

Please don't anyone start with the "why is everyone always picking on the teachers" malarkey. Cuts need to be made out this HUGE portion of the budget. When the ratio of money gets to a reasonable amount which actually goes to the school maintence and the KIDS maybe thing will change inhow people vote.

IMO, there should have been some kind of law on the books from our very beginnings that a minimum of 30-33% of the BOE budget is allocated for that specific purpose, THE KIDS and the upkeep of the schools.

Someone figure out how to make all that happen and I will begin to vote for school budgets.

It will be interesting to see the breakdown of the individual districts and how the votes were placed.

it is a new day, the vote has been cast…we need to work improving our government, not just bashing it…being vigilant is a good thing but the name calling just diminishes any point you are trying to make.. I am glad that there were not any layoffs…but I do think that the unions should have given up something to show some support in resolving this tax increase… win or lose… everyone lost something…somehow this is just the beginning of a bigger things to come…the public is making less money so the administration needs to figure out how to do with less.. I think there was a clear message. We the People of Brick want our municipal garbage collection but we also want the town leaders to be spending our tax dollars more wisely and figure out how to do more with less…the referendum was upsetting to all Government wages are out of control. If its all about the children how come 83% of the money goes to teachers salary???? This referendum has certainly raised awareness to local government in Brick. also more transparency going forward…

Good morning Clam, The only mailings I received were about the canidates, no mention of the budget itself. The budget cuts to programs are already in place, but they do not want the public to know. I have been notified by the Child Study Team of the eliminations being made.

The ballot layout caused so much confusion, especially among some seniors. I have heard many seniors wanted to vote yes on the school question and no on the municpal question. The person who laid out that ballot really confused many voters wrongfully....... What a shame, our kids aren't worth $50 bucks more per yr???? It was the best budget the board put up in yrs.

here we go again same old s*** again. we are going to cut activities for kids. hard working staff, teachers, custodians, lunch room workers, teachers aides, school bus drivers, maintenance people, grounds. The list csn go on and on. do you see the trend here the underpaid hard working people who mostly live in brick will lose jobs. the over paid administrators who mostly live elsewhere will keep their jobs I'm probably get raises.

WOW all of the sudden Mr DeLuca and the TC care about the taxpayers?? What joke, come Nov. these clowns will be gone, what are you going to cut Mr DeLuca??? I'm sure not the fat cat admin salaries, let me guess??? After school activities, technology funding, field trips, at least we will have our garbage picked up every week, who cares about our kids futures?? Not this Mayor and town council, time to clean house starting Nov. Mr. DeLuca this isn't the DMV so you are going to need to show you have some intelligence and don't cut the school budget, you failed the people on the referendum don't fail us on our children futures. A disgruntled taxpayer.

Lets reduce or eliminate the "Perfect Attendance Award" which gives out $150 a quarter to employees with perfect attendance. What is the definition of perfect attendance? I realize it is an incentive program, and when working it helps preclude the necessity of having to hire a Temp teacher, but the employees can easily work the system, and they have leave they simply have to use. Why not make it a semi annual incentive or annual to reduce costs?

Cut the extreme salaries and fat from the top of the school administration! The money should go to the kids, not assistants to assistants and superintendents salaries. How many principals does an elementary school need? and each one has a secretary! Cut from the TOP, keep the teachers and put the money into education not administration!

Mr. DeLuca. One thing for sure we know will be cut,your job on the town council. Start securing that DMV job,it will be your only one. Oh and hope you and your staff at the DMV don't treat the people that go there like you treat people at council meetings.

Great to have passed the township budget. Sad our school budget did not pass AGAIN. Sad that people care more about garbage then the education of our children and the run-down physical conditions of our schools. When were were looking for a place to raise our children 17 years ago the first thing we looked at were the schools. We also looked at the fact that many residents who lived here were raised here and some chose to teach in our schools. This spoke volumes to the type of town we were. Were I making the same decision today I would not be settling in Brick. What are we doing to our schools? What is the future of this town and our children? Will our children want to live here in the future? To those who voted NO for Brick Township School District Question 1 as our schools continue to degrade, what do you think your property and homes will be worth? As families with school aged children begin to move to better districts, will new families want to move to a town who does not consider the education and welfare of our children as important as garbage pick up?

To those of us who voted, good job. At least we voted, even though the results were ass-backward. To the 60, 000 residents who didn't vote, shame on you and I hope more people in that bunch go into default on their mortgages due to the senseless higher taxes from referendum #2. Acropolis and his cronies bamboozled the masses. You embody the type of toothless morons that other towns in N.J. feel we are. I'm truly embarrassed to tell people where we live.

I am often quite amused by some of the comments I read from some of our township's so-called experts. Instead of whining and complaining, do something about it. If you feel the layout of the ballot was improper, contact the Ocean County Clerk before he certifies the vote. In addition, any allegations of fraud or irregularities at the polling place need to be reported to Beth McGuckin or Susanne Dyer at the Ocean County Board of Elections. It also would not hurt to contact the Attorney General's and Governor's offices.

For those of you who have plenty of time to make comments about not knowing the specifics of the school budget, you should spend some of that spare time going to the BOE website. A little research goes a long way. Here, let me help you...http://www.brickschools.org/district/boffice/Pages/2011-2012-Budget-Information.aspx.

I am sorry for coming off like a jerk, but complaining accomplishes nothing. Action causes results!!!

I do not know if people know this or not but the council can only pass the levy amount. They can not dictate to the board what to cut or who to cut. So it's very important that the board members who will be make these decisions make the right cuts in the right places. Never new a school librarian was such a lucrative profession and 3 nurses in one high school to the tune of $196,228.00 why?
28 Principals =$3.6 Million, Health Insurance $18 Million, Prescription Plan 4.9 Million Dental Plan $1.1 Million Other Medical $50K, SS & Pensions $4.3 Million. Perfect Attendance Bonus Grades 1-5$69,000 Perfect Attendance Bonus Grades 6-8 $53,000 Perfect Attendance Bonus Grade 9-12 $64,700 . All I know is $186,000 could boost the technology line items greatly, which IMO are disgraceful. These kids are the future leaders use the money to improve their learning experience. Create incentives for students to excel. Who gets a bonus for not calling out of their job for 180 days out of 365 days a year?
Here is the link to the budget for those of you who are interested.
http://www.brickschools.org/district/boffice/Documents/Budget%202011-12/2011-2012%20Proposed%20Budget%20Detail%203-29-11.pdf

"Health Insurance $18 Million, Prescription Plan 4.9 Million Dental Plan $1.1 Million" I have written our Governor and elected officials many times, and we all need to do that if this is ever going to get fixed. Trenton is finally doing something about the medical costs, but it will be a slow process, and not the complete. Do you guys know that public retirees get free health benefits for life! Well it's costing us plenty to provide that benefit, and it needs to stop. There's no reason public retirees cannot pay thier fair share. If we keep these benefit costs down, we'll keep taxes down

We need to ask the fbi to look into this mayor and council. These jobs that r being handed out to friends and family is a crime it is called racketeering.

Ginny, you are correct. The FBI is a great idea. However, they are short staffed too. Domestic and International terrorism among other things take priority. But if you make a complaint it has to be investigated eventually. So call them and good luck!

DeLuca should have said if there is waste to be cut then they will do it... If they can then they should if not it's only a $50 tax increase...

What the school board needs to do in hire from within no more outsiders.

The Councill has the authority to make zero cuts to the school budget. They should take a look at the Transportation Director and his assistant's salaries. If the man actually showed up on a daily basis and did his job, he would not had to create a new position for an assistant. His job title needed to be changed because he is not certified as a Coordinator of Transportation, the job title that was in place for almost 50 years. How much influence does he have on the Council's decisions regarding the school budget. My opinion is he needs to resign from either the council or from Transportation, or both so he can focus on his buisness in the trucking industry. His name is Sangiovanni, and he is a prime example of conflict of interest, and we the taxpayers pay for his salaries and benefits. One more reason the Mayor and Council SHOULD NOT receive benefits. Sangiovanni saves a large amount of money for his business by not having to insure himself and his family, we do it for him

They claim people who have a conflict of interest will not be appointed to the committee reviewing the budget. Kind of like Juan Bellu abstaining from the vote to hire Acropolis to the TRMUA.

Lori, what you posted just shows how all these double and triple dippers have SERIOUS conflict of interest issues. And you're right about the transportation director having a conflict with his council duties. He should immediately give up one of his positions but trust he won't!!! He's part of the OC GOP RAT PACK!!!!

Toms River School system mired in corruption, http://www.app.com/article/20110503/NJNEWS/110503018/Conflict-interest-Toms-River-schools-paid-millions-firm-Ritacco-link ….. many employees and contractors feeding at the property tax trough in Toms River… lets see TR School Sys 200 million budget with 14,650 students that equals $ 13,605 per student per yr. with plenty of money for the Ritacco gang… Compare that to Brick student costs at proposed budget 139.804 million with 9,901 students equals $14,120 per student------plenty of money to waste here too. … Just saying these administrators need to be trying to reduce spending….not keep raising taxes… there is plenty of money to teach the students…. the more they spend the more crumbs drop into that trough. We need honest and trust worthy leaders…… stop the spending……. god help us

A shame how they used Mr. Wolf to sign his name to their budget letter to get the budget passed and now they want to make cuts to school budget to the exact same people who helped them get their budget passed.
And w/ the school budget failing by such a minimal amount, historically town council's around the state make little or no cuts. I can see if it was defeated by a landslide like last time. The School budget stayed under 2 percent state cap and we cut funds from them, but town goes over budget more than any municipality in state. Makes no sense, but what does in this town. Keep cutting programs from the kids so you can live in your nice houses.

Complaints:

Racketeering - https://tips.fbi.gov/

If everyone on here were to file a report about the Brick Town Council with FBI they would look into it. Stop complaining and do something.

Ballot irregularity:

Ocean County Clerk - http://www.clerk.co.ocean.nj.us/comments.htm

Election Board of Ocean County - http://www.co.ocean.nj.us/ElectionBoard/

NJ Dept of State - Division of Elections - http://www.state.nj.us/state/elections/election_certifications.html

NJ Election Law Enforcement - http://www.elec.state.nj.us/publicinformation.htm

OPRA Form - http://www.state.nj.us/dep/opra/opraform.html online form
http://www.ocean.nj.us/.%5C%5CPDFs%5C%5COpraForm.pdf Ocean County PDF form

Brick BOE Budget - C:\Documents and Settings\owner\Local Settings\Temp\User Friendly budget presented to voters.mht

Brick Township Budget - http://www.twp.brick.nj.us/library/budget/Budget_Presentation_2011.pdf (be patient - takes a while to load)

Brick Teacher/Admin Salaries - http://php.app.com/edstaff/results2.php?county=OCEAN&district=BRICK+TOWNSHIP&school=%25&lname=&fname=&job1=%25&Submit=Submit
You may need to update this
Great that the teachers salaries are so easy to find. Wouldn't it be great if we could find everyone's salary?! How would you like your salary published for everyone to see.

Any more sites you would like let me know - an informed citizen is a valuable citizen.

As for the BOE complaints - I urge EVERYONE to go to the BOE meetings. SPEAK UP!! Tell them what we/you want .

But be informed - while the BOE can approve the budget they can't really tell anyone how to run the schools. They are limited in what they are legally responsible for.

Check out the NJSBA - http://www.njsba.org/
Check out the BOE Ethics - http://www.njsba.org/candidacy/ethics11.pdf

It’s not just the school budget that is the problem.. We the people of Brick on average make less than the teachers, administrators and PBA and we pay our own benefits and work 45yrs not the 25yrs, retire and get a pension for 45 yrs like the PBA. You raised my taxes 12% school Budget 2% utilities 1% and 10 % of us are unemployed You are forcing good people to leave. Brick is on its way to becoming a welfare town like Asbury (by the way Asbury spends $23,000 a yr per student) so throwing money at it is not the answer. The unions need to pay more the their benefits and the town leaders need to stop spending and look at cutting cost… no more solar power,. wind projects, marinas, shopping centers until you can figure how to plow the snow and balance the budget with out raising taxes

I find it ironic that a group of council people who can't control spending in the municipal budget and spend taxpayer money like drunken sailors, are going to be the same people who review our school budget.. They never saw real estate they didn't want to buy, or a sport or activity they didn't want to add, or friends and family they didn't want to hire. And this is the group running a town this size???? Bricktucky?????? Ring a bell????? God forbid if one of them had an ounce of fiscal responsibility in them.

And furthermore, i don't consider paying 1.5% a fair contribution at all, and certainly the eight tenths of one percent that the PBA pays towards their cadillac healthcare is disgraceful !!!!!!! But this mayor OK'D that contract too!!!!!!