Monmouth County GOP Senator Declan O'Scanlon wants to talk about incompetent people, let's talk about it

Monmouth County Republican State Senator Declan O'Scanlon is complaining about incompetent people desperate for more tax dollars to feed the insatiable government monster. Now, when he posted this, it might've been Opposite Day, because I'm sure if there's an incompetent group of people that are desperate for more tax dollars to feed an insatiable government monster, it would be the Monmouth County Republican Party, which has raised taxes on residents by 21-23 million dollars last year, and alongside Senator Declan O'Scanlon, who was one of the main Monmouth County Cosponsors, and currently a staunch advocate, and defender of the disastrous Monmouth County Assessment Demonstration Program (ADP), currently enthusiastically support the Monmouth ADP failure.

Under the old system, property values stayed stable for years. The ADP shifted to annual market valuations, resulting in sudden and unpredictable property tax increases, which sometimes jumped by thousands of dollars overnight. This made it incredibly difficult for residents, especially seniors and those on fixed incomes, to budget for housing costs. Previously, if a resident won a tax appeal, their assessment was legally frozen for three years. The ADP stripped away this protection. Because properties were re-evaluated every year, residents who felt over-assessed had to spend time, energy, and filing fees to appeal their taxes year after year just to ensure their payments remained fair.

Residents also faced an administrative system clouded by a high profile, 18 month investigation by the FBI and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office into alleged steering of appraisal contracts. Even though the investigation closed without criminal charges, it left homeowners feeling that the system was rigged by insiders at their expense.

So if Senator Declan O'Scanlon wants to talk about incompetent people feeding the insatiable government monster, he should maybe look in the mirror, alongside his colleagues in the Monmouth County Republican Party, and the current Republican controlled government here in Monmouth County.