On the Mayor’s television show, which aired Sunday night on the town’s television station, Mayor DiDonato inferred homeowners’ taxes would have gone up 25% if his were not elected .  His example quoted a home taxed at $4,000 would have gone up to $5,000.

His claim is based on financial data the town was $500,000 in debt when he was elected, and had $14,000,000 in loans that were interest only payments.  Hammonton News recently published that the town had a $4.9 million surplus at the end of 2004, directly contradicting the mayor’s statements.  The mayor also said that the town ended 2006 with a $1.5 million surplus. That would mean the surplus is over $3 million less than 2005(if you trust the published reports from Hammonton News).

Here’s an image of the financial statement for the end of 2005, which shows an operating surplus of $4.25 million:

According to the Press of Atlantic City, Hammonton’s Mayor and local developer John DiDonato will also add the moniker of talk show host as he takes his “Chat with Mayor” out on the mean streets of Hammonton.

The mayor, fearing residents don’t have a chance to get out and see all the projects that he’s started around town, is taping the show  to spotlight them:

“We felt that a lot of people are busy and it’s hard for them to get out to something like that,” the mayor said. “So we figured, let’s take it out on the road to show the projects we’ve done this year, but also get to talk to people about those projects.”

In a letter to the Hammonton News, Mayor DiDonato takes the gloves off and goes right at Jimmy Bertino and the Highway Department.  He lays blame on the new trash pickup system for the delay in leaf pickup.  He also infers that the new trash pickup system isn’t working.

On another note, I have had numerous complaints about the leaf and trash pickup. When I started as mayor I was handed numerous problems. One of the issues, a new trash system that cost over a half-million dollars and was supposed to do the work of six people. As we had so many other issues to deal with, I wanted to give the new system time to prove itself. Well, we all know after 10 months that the situation has actually gotten worse, causing the Highway Department to be behind in leaf pickup. I will be meeting with Councilman Jim Bertino, who is the chairman of the Public Works Committee, and Lance Schiernbeck, who is the head of the Highway Department, to see how we can fix the situation.

Mayor DiDonato did not mention, however, that Town Council has refused to fill the vacancies of two full time positions at the Highway Department.  Mayor DiDonato also failed to mention that while the Highway Department was understaffed by two, they picked up the additional responsibilities of Parks & Recreation, and have no street sweeper.  We also think he might have missed last week’s local news article about the delay in leaf pickup due to heavy rains.

We’d like to offer a tip to the Mayor:  When you’re in charge, take responsibility.  Hammonton residents don’t want to hear you blame people. They want solutions.

update:  Some people have voiced an opinion that they didn’t find the article very accusing of Coucilman Bertino.  Maybe we’re just gunshy over here at The Vine, but the article in its entirety gives the impression of laying a lot of blame on past administrations for several major issues in the town.