The Star-Ledger has a full write up on Richard O'Malley and his move to schools superintendent at Edison. I didn't realize that while he was MARSD superintendent, he was simultaneously serving as mayor of Raritan Township; he is currently serving as deputy mayor. (Each of those jobs pays more than $500/mo, according to NJ.com.)
The Asbury Park Press applauded O'Malley's schools budget achievements in Matawan. But a few years of his style of fiscal conservatism combined with an ax wielding Governor Christie have gotten Raritan Township into a fiscal mess. Of course they blame the unions for excessive pension costs and salary increases, but hundreds of thousands of dollars in cuts in state aid ordered by Governor Christie combined with several years of squeaky tight municipal budgeting are the true proximate cause of their troubles. O'Malley and the Raritan Township Committee repeatedly voted for budgets lower than the 2% cap allowed by the state, so with no flexibility in their bare bones budget they had to raise taxes by 9%. And next year they anticipate cutting staff. They've requested an exception to the state cap and are like totally upset about having to raise taxes so sharply. Check out this Star Ledger article for more information.
That had to be one heck of a commute for him, to go from Raritan Township to Aberdeen. That is at least 1 hour without traffic, who only knows how long with traffic every day. Wouldn't you take a bigger challenge, more money and an easier commute? I would.
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