How can a candidate for mayor of Milton claim to be fiscally responsible when he is not? Under the last administration, after the sale of our sewer plant to Tidewater and the town was flush with money, both the administration and police department budgets went over $900,000.
After Cliff Newlands was elected mayor, he cut the administration budget down to about $600,000 which was very good. However, the police budget is still close to $800,000. As I see it, Newlands didn’t finish the job of reducing the budget by half. When I taught fifth grade for 21 years in Milton Middle School, any assignment only half finished received a failing grade.
Marion Jones is currently a candidate for mayor of Milton. As a private citizen as well as the time I served on the Milton Town Council with Jones, I was able to observe, first hand, her sense of fiscal responsibility by the manner of her votes on the issues. With 11 officers, Milton has one officer for every 241 residents. Dover has 1 to 411. Jones, an employee of the Rehoboth Police Department for 20 years, voted against the 2012-13 budget because she believed too much money was being spent on the police.
When a motion was made to cap the police force at nine through attrition, Newlands, in the minority, voted against it. Marion Jones and I, then councilmember, with a majority of the town council, voted to cap the force. We still believe that nine officers are sufficient, with proper time management, to provide Milton 24/7 police coverage.
When a motion was made to have the police chief write a letter to the Cops Grant Administration, taking Milton police out of the grant program, Newlands, in the minority, voted against it. Jones, in the majority, voted for it. Newlands called the majority “stupid” and added “they stupidly voted for it.”
In my opinion Newlands’ actions and statements are divisive and I am tired of his fear tactics. Heroine and gangs? I have yet to see the fourth grade Crips street fighting with the fifth grade Latin Kings.
Newlands’ ideas for “revenue streams” are just attempts to raise taxes. Twice Newlands voted, in the minority, to establish a gross rental receipts tax. Jones voted twice, in the majority, against the gross rental receipts tax. Further, Newlands tried to push through a referendum to spend millions of Town of Milton tax dollars on a new water tower while withholding information about 44 million gallons of water per year unaccounted for. The referendum was soundly defeated by Milton voters.
The results of a survey after the referendum reveled that Milton residents do not trust the Newlands’ administration.
As chairman of the Milton Economic Development Committee, Jones is working hard to bring new businesses to Milton. She understands that a deteriorating infrastructure is a deterrent to new business as well as a safety concern for residents. Jones wants to see tax dollars spent to repair the crumbling sidewalks, fix pot holes, add streetlights to brighten dark streets and fix the storm drainage problems. She is attentive to the many problems that Milton has.
Importantly, Jones has the ability to bring different factions together for the good of the town. Recently, at a meet-and-greet for Jones, I found myself sitting next to Don Post, former mayor, and having a civil conversation about the future of Milton. He and I campaigned against each other in previous mayoral elections and it was not pretty, but Jones has the knack of bringing opposing parties together for the common good.
I want a mayor who is fiscally responsible and who understands the many problems of the town and will work to solve them. As mayor of Milton, Marion Jones’ goals would be to keep taxes down while providing the best police protection for Milton residents and to rebuild the infrastructure of the town. By absentee ballot, I have already voted for Marion Jones for mayor. I encourage everyone who is registered to vote in the Town of Milton to also cast their vote for Marion Jones.
Mary Hudson
Town of Milton resident and former Milton town councilmember
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