The municipal and Board of Education budgets have to be under scrutiny throughout the year. Montclair has an enormous debt to pay down and, for me, this should be a top priority.

Municipal and Board of Education employees must realize that the desire for raises in salaries must be tempered by a realization of how taxes are burdening many citizens of our dear town.

Montclair cannot be expected to do all that some might want, and this is one of the key roles of the new council. We cannot have it all and the council will have to make tough, but necessary, decisions about the operating and capital budgets.

With the above stated, I am not at all in favor of privatizing garbage collection. I feel that the men have been and are doing a good job, and many of them are part of our community. If garbage could be collected with one or two less employees, then when one retires or leaves, don’t fill that position.

Regarding the arena, I have a thought. If the arena is charging too little to cover costs, then raise the fees. If it is in disrepair, the town can overhaul it when public/private funds can be raised.

Privatizing the arena is not in the best interests of our town. We must tighten our belt, but privatizing is not the answer.