Sixth Sense? They Hire Dead People

February 4 2007

By Bob Ingle

Asbury Park Press

TRENTON — So your property taxes are through the roof. Be calm. Remember, you're paying more so the state can use its education dollars in needy places like Camden.

That would be the Camden that an audit says paid an employee $130,000 since he died in 1974. What does it say about the work ethic there that you can be deceased for 33 years and nobody notices? In total, dead people earned $330,000 in Camden. Newark paid dead folks $310,000. They probably matched the payroll with the voter lists and determined everything was all right.

Not to discriminate, Camden also cut checks for people whose birth dates are in the future. Newark's schools chief, Marion Bolden, spent $1,795 on a jukebox. Perhaps the fancy leather-seated Jeep she drives courtesy of your tax dollars didn't come with a CD player.

The audits reflect just four Abbott districts that suck the money out of the education budget. That means there are 27 audits to go. Suppose anyone will go to jail over this?