Gov. Chris Christie is urging New Jersey mayors to have "the backbone" to support his proposed 2.5 percent spending cap to control escalating property taxes.

Taxpayers are being told that such a cap would provide much-needed tax relief. But think again. We currently have a 4 percent tax cap. Our towns are quickly running out of line items to cut. Taxpayers are
paying more and getting less.

The dangers of drug-trafficking in New Jersey are well-known in the addiction community. Our location between New York and Philadelphia, combined with the many major roadways and seaports, make this state a well-documented center for illegal drugs.

But few talk about the "other" drug culture in New Jersey – the sometimes legal, sometimes illegal, practice of abusing painkillers.

Assemblyman Lou Greenwald's recent proposal to allow local governments to levy their own sales and income taxes will actually increase the tax burden for the residents of New Jersey. Such a plan would simply give local elected officials another revenue stream to tap without reducing the cost of local government.

To make our state fiscally strong, we need to finally address the fact that we have 566 local governments that are duplicating the same services. Today, every business, non-profit, and hospital is merging, closing offices and actively seeking aggressive ways to eliminate redundancy and work more efficiently. Why isn't local government?

Dear Editor:

The search engine Yahoo recently reported that queries for "health care reform" are up more than 6,000 percent this week. One of the top search questions is: "How does the health care bill affect me?"

As President of the New Jersey Association of Health Underwriters and a broker who deciphers the myriad of health insurance plans available, I'm hearing that question often from my clients.