Byrnes, Short commended for efforts to trim budget In an effort to correct misinformation and present the facts, allow me to respond to a recent letter written byMiddletownGOP operative Michael Vitkansas. In his letter "Middletown Matters Matter" (Feb. 20), Mr. Vitkansas has blatantly attacked Committeemen Patrick Short and Sean Byrnes for their efforts to save the Middletown taxpayers their hard-earned tax dollars. As the newest member of the Township Committee,Mr. Byrnes was asked by the mayor to identify expenditures in the township budget that could be reduced or eliminated during the current budgeting process. During the open township committeemeeting in January,Mr. Byrnes stated that the township could save a considerable amount of tax dollars if the township newsletter "MiddletownMatters" was reworked. Mr. Byrnes suggested that by reducing the amount of issues from six to four, reducing the number of pages and by using lighter paper stock, the township could save approximately $30,000 a year. At the time, Mayor Scharfenberger did not feel that $30,000 was a significant enough amount of savings and dismissed Mr. Byrnes recommendation. However, since this was the very first time that this idea was discussed, it was recommended by Mr. Short to be tabled for further discussion at the February workshop meeting. During the February workshop meeting, I am pleased to announce to Mr. Vitkansas, tax-saving recommendations for the funding of "Middletown Matters" was approved by all of the committee members and will save the taxpayers $30,000. This is realmoney that can now be used for the purchase of a new police car at no added cost to Middletown taxpayers! I would like to commend Sean Byrnes and Patrick Short for outside of the box thinking; in an effort to identify areas of the budget that could be trimmed, I am very interested to see where else savings will be found. Michael Morris Middletown