Opinion: To Bond or Not to Bond?

The Barnegat Township Committee voted Monday to introduce a $2.1 million bond ordinance to fund the purchase of new vehicles, a road project, new computer servers and more – a complete bond list is included in .

It's the first bond for improvements directly benefitting the township since 2006, said Township Administrator David Breeden, and will allow Barnegat to make badly needed replacements in firefighting equipment, purchase a new ladder truck and update outdated technology, among other things.

Few challenged the necessity of the updates during the meeting's public session. But some say bonding all at once for a big bundle of improvements that everyone knew were needed isn't a wise solution – equipment and infrastructure should be updated bit by bit, as the budget allows, to avoid adding to the township's debt.

What do you think? Are these important updates? Is it necessary to bond for them? Tell us in the comments!