Mayor, towns should stop complaining

With reference to the article titled “New 2 Percent Tax Cap Gets Mixed Reviews” (Sentinel, July 22), I have but a short comment for Nancy Martin, mayor of Helmetta, who said, “Helmetta employees are going into their second year without an increase [in salary] and are now contributing 1.5 percent of their salary to health insurance.”

I (like many others who work in the private sector) have not received a salary increase in more than five years, have to pay 40 percent toward my health care, have no pension to fall back on, and have been cut to a four-day work week, which results in a huge pay cut. So stop your whining and cut the fat.

And that goes for all municipalities in our great state. As people migrate to other (more affordable) states, there will be less tax revenue, which will require higher taxes from the people who remain here. Would it not be wise to make New Jersey more affordable to bring the people and the business back to this state?

Natalie Norman

Old Bridge