Proposed Budget Assumes Salary Freeze, Reduced Staffing

The Borough Council met Monday night at Bayley-Ellard to discuss a proposed budget which it says contains a projected $2.7 million revenue shortfall to reach the 2 percent property tax cap levy.

Council President Jeannie Tsukamoto also confirmed that that budget also assumes a zero percent salary increase for all employees, freezes all non-essential hiring, and reduces staffing. It also reflects an anticipated increase in health and pension benefits, which depending on what happens in Trenton, may or may not be included in the cap.

On Tuesday, three department heads–Police Chief John Trevena, Fire Chief Lou DeRosa, and Public Works Superintendent David Maines–took turns answering questions from council regarding their proposed budgets.

All three proposed budgets from the departments either matched the recommended budgets or were only slightly different. In the police department, a perceived larger recommended budget than what was proposed was due to a fourth dispatcher that was not taken into account.

Using civilian dispatchers is one way Trevena said his department has been able to lower its budget. He said the department has saved about $1.7 million in salary, health benefits, and pension costs by making that switch.

Trevena also cited the auxiliary police department for helping to keep costs down. Those volunteers staff the Downtown Concert series and perform traffic controlling duties at other events.

Tsukamoto said she was impressed with the department's willingness to improve efficiency and its cost saving measures.

Borough Administrator Ray Codey was just as complimentary of DeRosa, specifically praising his department's ability to recruit volunteers recently.

DeRosa said the department has brought on six new volunteers this year already, and that two more are getting set to join the ranks. The department is a combination department, with 14 career members and 25 active volunteers. DeRosa said the department is one member down, as it was unable to hire another career member following the retirement of former Chief Doug Atchison.

Volunteer members will not be receiving stipends this year, something the volunteers told DeRosa they would accept. DeRosa said stipends–about $300 each–are not given to every volunteer and must be earned.

"I hope to get it back some day as an appreciation of what they do," DeRosa said. "They said, "if the career division can take zeros for two years, we can take a hit, too."

The "zeros" DeRosa was referring to is the two-year wage freeze the fire union agreed to last year. The police union is still in the arbitration process–which was started in May–for the current budget year.

The largest gap between proposed budgets and recommended budgets taking the dispatcher discrepancy into consideration was in public works ($13,500). However, Maines said the department could "function under all cuts."

Council asked about numerous line items in all departments, but one that garnered a large discussion was trash pickup. The borough paid $90.38 per ton to bring solid waste to the transfer station for disposal, and that amount is increasing to $94. The total cost, which is estimated to be $501,396 next year, is in addition to the $433,000 contract the borough has with its vendor for pickup twice a week.

Codey said that some options available to cut cost could be to eliminate the ability of residents to have bulk pickup on every trash day, which would limit the fees paid to the transfer station for disposal. The thought is that the weight of the trash would be less if bulk weren't allowed on every day. Codey also said the pickup vendor would cut about $100,000 from its yearly bill if the borough decided to eliminate one of the two pickup days.

Councilmembers asked if they could have a full menu of items that could be considered as options regarding trash.

Some members, especially Don Links, asked if some general line items such as "maintenance" could be broken down further in each department so that council could know exactly what is being spent on each item.

Council will hold its next budget work session on Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. at Bayley-Ellard, Room 320.

* Difference between police "proposed" and "recommended" is due to the salary and benefits cost of a civilian dispatcher, which was not taken into account and will be added.