Not quite fireworks – Meeting of 03/28/2011

Both the conference agenda and the regular meeting agendas were very full and there was much more of an audience in attendance than usual.  The items the Council expected to engender a great deal of comment were the two ordinances 10-2011 and 11-2011 establishing new R51 residence districts.  These have been the subjects of long and drawn out lawsuits and the ordinances were adopted under protest.  Audience protest was expected but, I believe the need was obviated by, comments from the Council regarding the fact the adoption was effectively coerced by the courts, and that the zoning ordinance had to be adopted before the rulings in the case could be appealed.  As the plans are to continue to appeal the decisions regarding these ‘builder remedy’ lawsuits, it appeared that anyone who might have been in attendance to protest this was mollified.  One person did get up and question the Council about a letter that had been printed in the West Essex Tribune last week but, as I did not read the letter, and as I am still making myself familiar with all the issues involved (having started way before my tenure!), I really can’t comment on that.

Speaking of commenting on things – one of the issues on which I ran was to work to make local government more transparent.  As yet, we do not have the meetings televised – which is an issue that has been raised and I am told they are ‘working on it’.  Until that time, I blog.  For those who cannot come to the meetings, I hope that an insider’s perspective, along with reportage by the Patch and the West Essex Tribune, will round out the picture of what is occurring at the Township level.  I am fully aware that there are other ‘takes’ on what is going on.  I would encourage everyone who comes to meetings – whether on the Town Council or not – to speak about what happens, ask people to get involved, have others come out to see for themselves what is happening.  An educated populace is an empowered one.

The real ‘meat’ of the meeting was the introduction of the 2011 budget.  I have stated time and time again that I am not satisfied with the budget and that I don’t agree that we as a group have come up with the best possible budget.  I felt, as did my fellow Councilmen, that a reduction of services was unfair and not needed at this time.  For example, why take away leaf collection from the town when it would just force the cost onto the individual taxpayer to solve the problem?  And, who could possibly vote for elimination of all SYLS programs not covered by fees – as this would get rid of all senior programming entirely?  These were not reasonable considerations.  So, as was published in the West Essex Tribune, “the Council unanimously agreed that the benefits provided by these programs far exceeded there cost and all agreed not to eliminate them.”  But when asked if any further expense reductions were sought, what can you answer when all your suggestions and ideas have already been shot down??

I have already proposed in the budget and conference meetings a number of recommendations such as a) increasing the amount of the Township employees contributions to their health insurance premiums, b) further reducing headcount by consolidation of job responsibilities, c) reducing the budgeted amount for police vests by soliciting bids from responsible vendors who could provide the Level IIIA protection at a 40% reduction from the budgeted amount, and d) replacing pagers for the Fire Department on a revolving basis as opposed to doing them all at once.  I even had the temerity to question the $20K budgeted for the Employee parties and having them get two half-days paid to attend.  All of these suggestions would reduce the taxpayer burden today.  And, even if we couldn’t get to a 0% increase budget, it would be a budget that has a lower increase than that of 2010 and one I’d be much happier with.  So, while I voted YES to introduce the budget (so that we could meet State timelines to be eligible for more funding), I voted NO to approving the budget itself.

The budget is coming up for vote on May 2^nd.  We only have two Council meetings until then – come out and make your voices heard.

Budget Blues - Meeting of 03/07/2011

Not much progress is being made in our conference meetings regarding the budget.  Mike Rieber and I can't seem to get agreement that a 0% increase is the proper goal to have.  I strongly disagree that people won't even notice it or that the $45 (which is what the municipal portion of the tax increase would be for an average home of $605,000) is what people spend without thinking.  What I think is that people are tired of property tax increases, that we need a break, and if someone wants to tear up $45, then it is his or her money to do so with - not the Town Council's to continue to spend for them.

The budget increase is mainly going to fund the increase in debt service due to the new Town Hall.  Along with the huge building and the huge library, come huge increases in the costs to light and heat.  But, of course, the biggest increases are really in contributions to pensions and healthcare - two items that we can't touch.  At this time, I have requested, as has Mike, to ask the township employees to increase their contribution (from 1.5%) toward the cost of healthcare.  The State healthcare plans are so robust that I can't afford them for my own employees or myself.  Yet, the cost increase from last year - I believe somewhere about 20% for the State as a whole - is not being passed along to the people who benefit from it.  It is now being borne by the taxpayers.  Lucky us!

Other than trying to wrestle with the budget (which must be finalized now as Ms. Meade plans on introducing it on March 28th), the rest of the conference and regular meetings were business as usual.  We did have to pass two zoning ordinances - which were done under protest - to comply with the rulings regarding the COAH litigation the township is involved with.  This was passed along with the Riparian zone ordinance - which also had to be done to comply with State regulations.  It amazes me how little control a town has over its own destiny and how regulated it all is.  Only one interesting note in the evening that I recall - we spoke about brokering electrical power to the Township (as we do with water) and are looking to see if it is feasible and cost effective.

More budget suggestions anyone??

A slippery slope indeed – Meeting of 2/28/2011

I am still tired from the Council meetings – both conference and regular – which took place on 2/28.  The most notable item on the agenda was the final hearing on an ordinance to amend some zoning issues with a number of lots.  The lots, which were split zoned (i.e., zoned both residential and business), were being rezoned to business to reflect the facts on the ground.  Quite a number of citizens turned out to contest the rezoning – which, in my opinion, was the wrong thing to contest.  What this ordinance was doing was just recognizing the current usage of the properties in question and zoning the lot to reflect that usage.  Passing or not passing this ordinance does not change anything; those businesses would just continue to operate on split zoned lots.

What I think that most of the residents who showed up realized is that there is a ‘slippery slope’ here.  But that slippery slope needs to be dealt with at the Zoning Board level – by the time it gets to the Town Council, the ‘dirty deeds’ have already been perpetrated.  It was, however, useful for the residents to come in as they did have complaints about their business neighbors and the Town Manager was able to give them direction as to where to get assistance.

At the conference meeting, before the regular one, we heard from Rich Calbi, Township Engineer, regarding the proposed Geographic Information System – for which a $189,000 bid is up for award and which is part of a $250,000 proposed capital item.  At the meeting on 2/14, both Mike Rieber and I had questions with regard to this item and Rich was at the meeting on 2/28 to answer those questions.  Unfortunately, there was insufficient time to really understand why we are being asked to spend this money.  The other council members seem to be in favor of it but I – and Mike Rieber – are not convinced.  I will be meeting with Rich Calbi and Michele Meade on Friday, 3/4 to discuss this further.  If we are going to do this at all, we must apparently do this NOW before the leaves are back on the trees as the $189,000 is for a fly over to contour map our township!

Finally, we resumed the conference meeting after the regular meeting was adjourned and discussed the proposed budget as presented by Michele Meade.  I am not happy that the proposal calls again for a 2% increase in property taxes!  I raised several possibilities, e.g., asking township employees to contribute more toward their health benefits, holding off on some capital improvement items, but none seems to have traction with the other members of the Council.  My goal, as stated in the meeting, is to have a 0% increase.  I am not sure the other Council members agree with me.  As also stated in the meeting, they are convinced that citizens will live with the increase as long as they don’t have to deal with any reductions in service.  I believe that we can hold services steady and still not increase taxes.  It’s going to be an interesting next several weeks while this is being discussed. 

So – the challenge to anyone who is listening/reading out there!  Send me your suggestions on how we can hold the line on taxes.  Or better yet, come to the meetings and make yourself heard!