Kearny on the Web: Mayor Santos claims he wants to buckle down to help the tax payers - Kearny on the Web

Sounds like a good idea, but if the mayor was really serious about saving the tax payers money wouldn't he turn in his county vehicle paid for by the tax payers of Hudson County. I'm sure the gas is paid for by tax payers also.

Just think, if just one politician (Mayor Santos) didn't have his free tax payer paid vehicle, they would be able to bring sports back for the kids at county schools. 20k for a brand new vehicle, not to mention free insurance and fuel, would go a long way towards schools and their budgets.

Give me a break, we all drive back and forth to work and none of us get free vehicles. Politicians choose "Public Service" so i do not want to hear they need a vehicle to drive around in. If all these county no show jobs were canceled and all the free vehicles were gone, there would be plenty of money to fund programs, and necessary things like paving roads and paying workers salaries.

We all know politicians will not sacrifice anything themselves. Instead they punish children, seniors,and the rest of us and of course blame someone else. Im sure the governor is the new person to blame, I mean they can't blame president bush anymore. They lay off teachers because they lost funding from the state. So basically all these years our local politicians have been spending and spending with money that they didn't generate locally, but were given in grants.

I really hope they do not run their own bank accounts that way. Its like you hitting the lottery one year and buying a bunch of stuff that you couldn't pay for unless you hit the lottery again next year. It really is amazing.


Sorry if it seems im venting, but last council meeting i was looking for parking and sure enough the mayor was pulling up with his car that looks like a police car with county plates. Im sure the town of kearny council meeting is not offical Hudson County business.

I couldn't agree more. I wish there was a stat on how many free vehicles are given out for the county. When you think of how many offices there are and positions, its probably a insane number. This is all stuff the jerky journal should look into and make public, its the only way these guys will give up their tax payer perks. Does anyone even know what the mayor does for the county that gives him a car? I mean you never hear about him doing anything in the paper or anything, so it can't be that important. Plus it takes the county forever to do anything so he can't have that much pull. I live off of Passaic Ave. and that bridge construtction job was a nightmare.

It is funny to see politicians on one hand making cuts to programs like sports for kids, and then they get into a vehicle given to them by the government. He probably has a cell phone too paid for us tax payers also.

Really, that's what you're going to attack him on, his car? You're going to have to do alot better than that!. The town budget is $70 million plus, the school budget is also $70 million plus. 90% of those budgets are your salary and wages as government employees. (By the way, the Mayor doesn't get a salary from the town, it's a $6,000 a year stipend.)

Maybe we should take away the Mayor's vehicle and the Police Chief's vehicle and the Fire Chief's vehicle and the DPW vehicle and the Freeholder's vehicle and the State Senator's vehicle. Maybe that will come to pass. But you'll still have a $70 million budget and severe fiscal problems. Unless you've not read a paper in 7 months, you'd know it's Governor Christie imposing cut backs and attacking public unions.

By the way, I thought public employees were also considered "public servants". What are they doing to deal with the State cutbacks?

You're mud throwing, on Jul 18 2010, 04:20 PM, said:

First, Im a computer engineer thank you very much not a public servant. Second, I would think the Fire Chief would be in more of need of a vehicle then the mayor. Your post about how him having a vehicle is NO BIG DEAL, is the type of attitude that leads to the waste of money politicians have come to also have. If you add up all the vehicles given out to elected officials or appointed officials i bet it would be a significant number. If Santos gets one and he doesn't do anything of importance for the county, you bet your ass there are probably a hundred more out there. I could care less about the governor attacking public servants, my post was in response to county sports being cut out because of lack of funding. People like the mayor could easily give up there vehicles to help the kids keep their programs.

You seem to know alot about hte town budget. And you bring up the fire and police departments. Sounds like you work for the mayor or possibly its Santos himself. I could care less about your political games with unions. Give back the free car and have all your buddies give back there cars so kids are off the streets playing sports again.

You're mud throwing, on Jul 18 2010, 04:20 PM, said:

You are right $70 million town budget and $70 million plus school budget. Just think if all the perks were`nt given to the politicians all these years, we wouldn`t have these problems. Do you really think the Mayor deserves a car because he is a secretary for the Freeholders office. Our Police Chief and Fire Chief are on call 24/7 they should have a vechicle in case of emergency. By the way do You know for sure the Mayor recieves no pay from Town of Kearny? Your right, We should take the cars away from the Mayor,State Senators, Freeholders, Congressmens and DPW workers, that alone would save some jobs. By the way , what the Governor is doing now should have been done years ago!!

Guest, on Jul 18 2010, 10:02 AM, said:

In the past year, because of Mayor Santos, Schuyler Avenue gets repaved by the County at over $900,000 and the Passaic Avenue bridge gets totally reconstructed at a cost of $1.1 million and you think that Santos "can't be that important"?? $2 million in one year is incredibly good. I think only Jersey City and North Bergen got more for streets.

Let me see if I have this straight. In your view of the world, the Mayor who's the head of government should not get a cell phone? he should not get a salary? he should not have access to a vehicle? How far are you going with this? Does he get stationary? How about a name plate?

You're not kidding anyone. Your concern is obviously yourself. Don't hide behind the "kids" or saving money for the taxpayer. By the way, what "sports for kids" were cut by the Mayor? (Answer: None.)

The mayors of hudson county decided county sports would be cut from all county schools. For someone who acts like they know politics you really are clueless. I never said Santos cut childrens programs. I said if all the politicians turned in their free vehicles, they would be able to save baseball for county schools. No the mayor does not need a car thats paid for by tax payers. I never said the mayor shouldn't be paid either, so i dont know where you are getting all these bullsh!t ideas. Plain and simple if all the give away vehicles weren't given to politicians there would be a lot more money left over for other things.

You are crediting Santos because the county paved a road and fixed a bridge? Are you serious? Look at how much of our taxes go to the joke of our county government. Im supposed to be happy that the county paved a COUNTY Road and fixed a bridge that was falling apart on another COUNTY road. Add up all the taxes paid to the county over the years and see if they county really does anything for the people of Kearny.

You wanna save teachers jobs, police and firefighters, as well as keep taxes low and keep all services going. Get rid of county government completely. All the free perks would be gone, the second pensions, the corrupt spending. All that money would either get cut from our tax bill or atleast it would go to the town you live in. Let the state take over the courts and jails, which should have been done years ago. Then you would see a change.

Guest, on Jul 19 2010, 11:26 PM, said:

You might have a point about the County.

But you really have to deal with your anger. You got where you are through politics, including county people. But you won't do it publicly because your own high, taxpayer-paid salary can pay for a significant part of the money that would pay for the sports programs at the Schools of Technology. (I know, you'll profess you're not a government employee, but you gave yourself away more than once).

"In the past year, because of Mayor Santos, Schuyler Avenue gets repaved by the County at over $900,000 and the Passaic Avenue bridge gets totally reconstructed at a cost of $1.1 million and you think that Santos "can't be that important"?? $2 million in one year is incredibly good. I think only Jersey City and North Bergen got more for streets."

Is this implying that Santos couldn't get this done for Kearny as our MAYOR but only was able to get it done because he works for the county now? That says Santos isn't effective at getting the job done for Kearny. Does anyone think that Passaic Ave. bridge project went smoothly?

But good job on this being a topic actually about the town.

Guest, on Jul 21 2010, 09:25 AM, said:

Yes, for the type of project that it was, the Passaic Avenue bridge re-construction went smoothly. It was finished on schedule, discounting snow days. Is your complaint that for 4 months you were incovenienced because you had to drive several blocks up and down the hill? You're kidding, no? The bridge was entirely rebuilt, it had to be shut down.

I rather that we were incovenienced a few minutes a day instead of a taking the risk of a structural collapse of one of the supporting piers underneath the bridge. If that were to happen, I'm sure you'd blame the Mayor for that somehow.