A series of budget sessions — during which West Windsor Council members have been trying to limit spending in light of reduced state aid — have, so far, ended with council members in disagreement over the amount of money to keep in surplus, but has them in consensus in many other areas.##M:[more]##
Nonetheless, pending further information from township officials, the council is looking to introduce this year’s proposed $35.4 million budget on Monday, April 21.
During recent budget sessions debate has taken place, particularly when it comes to raising council’s salaries and using surplus funds to reduce this year’s budget. Debate on the latter ended abruptly during the latest budget session on April 7. The debate kept council in its chambers till 11 p.m., at which time it either needed to extend the clock, so that the conversation could be carried further into the night, or move to adjourn the session.
Council members were still debating whether or not to reduce the tax rate by another penny by cutting the amount of surplus in the 2008 budget. Council President Will Anklowitz and Councilman Charles Morgan proposed knocking a penny off the tax rate, bringing it down to only a 2.6 cent increase. Councilwoman Linda Geevers and Chief Financial Officer Joanne Louth argued against the move, saying that keeping a strong amount of surplus in the budget will help the council next year, when money for township services may be even tighter with the possibility of state aid being reduced even further.
Anklowitz and Morgan made motions to adjourn while the debate was still ensuing without a lack of consensus, even though the township budget has to be introduced by its meeting on Monday, April 21 (or the township will miss the state deadline). Council will hear more information from the administration and the tax assessor, and discuss the surplus issue further on April 21 before deciding whether to introduce the budget. A public hearing would be scheduled to follow on Monday, May 19.
Council has been meeting to revise the budget, hoping to direct Business Administrator Chris Marion to items to cut in time for the introduction. So far, council has made about $120,”000 in cuts from the proposed budget as it reviews each individual line item. At the end of the most recent budget session, Louth said that with those cuts so far, the council has cut the tax rate to an increase of 3.4 cents, down from the 3.6 cent-increase originally proposed. The $35.4 million proposed budget originally carried a tax rate of 31.57 cents per $100 of assessed value, increasing overall by $2.6 million and carrying a tax levy of $19.7 million.
This year’s budget season also saw a new state regulation that changed the procedure for rounding the tax rate. Now, municipalities and counties are required to round to the tenth of the penny. Each penny in West Windsor’s tax rate is worth about $623,”937.73. With each penny on the tax rate, the owner of a house assessed at the township average of $556,”973 would pay $55.70. With a 3.6 cent tax rate increase, the homeowner would have been paying about $200.52 more on his or her municipal tax bill this year. About $72.41 of that increase comes from budget increases that were directly resulting from state actions. The loss in state aid accounted for .4 cents on the tax rate, and pension increases of $528,”199 accounted for .9, Louth explained.
One such line item that has drawn the most public concern during the scarcely attended public budget sessions is the proposed salary raise the council intends to give itself and the mayor. With a few residents and Councilwoman Linda Geevers urging the council against the move, the rest of the council members seem to be on board with the idea.
Council President Will Anklowitz first proposed raising the council members’ salaries from $5,”000 to $10,”000 a year, a 100 percent increase, citing the rising costs associated with the job. Later, council members reduced the raise to 50 percent, or $2,”500.
Along with that, Anklowitz proposed that the mayor’s salary be raised from $17,”800 to $25,”000 a year, a $4,”200 raise with the $3,”000 stipends — or $250 a month — the mayor puts in for mileage associated with the position accounted for in the salary.
Anklowitz says he spends much more than $5,”000 a year on cell phone bills, gas costs, and other expenses associated with serving as a council member and just wants to “break even.” “It costs me more to be on council than the paycheck gives me,” Anklowitz said during the April 3 budget session. “I don’t mind volunteering my time. I’d just like to break even.”
He also says the amount the mayor or council spends in expenses, like mileage reimbursements, should be included in the salary. This way, questions pertaining to whether or not the money sought in reimbursements is actually related to job expenses, or if it should be considered a personal expense, won’t be raised. This way, “It’s a salary; he gets paid for it; it’s clean,” Anklowitz said.
Councilwoman Heidi Kleinman said she agreed that council members should break even on the expenses accrued as part of the job. “It’s not unreasonable to have a cost of living increase,” she said. She said raising the salaries would also benefit the town in the future, as residents wouldn’t shy away from volunteering their time to serve as council members. “They shouldn’t feel they have to pay to be in this office,” she said.
But Astor Court resident Lynn Livingston said that the senior citizen population in the township is increasing. “Many of us live on fixed incomes,” she said. “In a time of economic uncertainty when people are leaving the state of New Jersey, I would say it’s unwise,” to raise the salaries, she said. “I’m not saying council shouldn’t have an honorarium, but to increase it 102 percent (referring to the original proposal), I think is politically unwise.”
Another resident, James Moeller, said that he was “glad to see on one hand, you’re making sure this is a tight budget,” but council’s proposal to raise its and the mayor’s salaries was a “political football I think you don’t want to have there. Given everything you’re cutting, it would be hard to justify.”
Geevers noted at the April 3 session that when she served on the West Windsor-Plainsboro school board, board members put in hours both day and night, even though they don’t receive a salary at all. “The township lost $240,”412 in state aid. It’s a very difficult time to raise our salaries,” she said.
“We talk about sharing in our residents’ pain, and what are we doing?” Geevers said when the subject came up again during the April 7 session. “We’re raising our salaries. I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary we do that.” She said council members and the mayor should simply put in for the amount of reimbursements like mileage.
But with consensus coming from Anklowitz, Kleinman, and Morgan, council decided it would keep the raise in the budget before moving on to other subjects.
Other matters that the council spent much time debating was whether or not to cut some of the new positions proposed in the budget. Initially included in this year’s budget was funding for a new assistant township engineer, a public safety telecommunicator, and a school resource officer in the Department of Public Safety, an administrative assistant in the clerk’s office, and a part-time bus driver in the Department of Human Services’ senior and social services division.
Ultimately, though, the council decided to defer the assistant engineer and part-time bus driver to the 2009 budget, and said it wanted to hold off on funding a school resource officer.
During the April 3 budget session, West Windsor Police Chief Joe Pica appeared before the council to explain why he felt the department needed the two new police positions. Pica said the key to enhancing the community policing efforts around the township is to have a school resource officer.
“Recently, we had several incidents that we’ve been busy with over there,” including a DYFS incident, an assault, and a domestic dispute, he said. “These things take time and manpower to investigate and that’s taking away” from the officers’ duties elsewhere around town.
At one point, the department’s community policing program had four officers assigned to it, but because of increase and demand in other areas, like identity theft, Internet crime, and white collar crime, “I take people from community policing and put them over here,” Pica said. Currently, there are two officers assigned to community policing, and one of them, because of his other duties as a detective, is only on a part-time basis.
“I’m running out of places and I’m putting my fingers in the dike, but with all the leaks, I’m running out of fingers,” Pica said. “I don’t want to have to increase our response time for the service we provide.”
Eventually, Pica said, he would like to see a community policing group that would focus on whatever issues are hot at any given moment in town. For example, if one month, there is a spike in the number of thefts at the train station, he would like to send more of the community policing officers to that area, while not compromising the safety of residents in other parts of the town. Currently, Pica said, the average number of police officers in towns across the United States is two officers for every 1,”000 people. “If you use that statistic, we should be at 50,” Pica said. “We’re at 47.”
The salary for a new police officer on the force is $44,”000, and the school district was supposed to pay for $38,”000 of it, but decided it didn’t want the school resource officer this year, he said.
Anklowitz asked Pica whether or not the gang problem in Trenton has made its way to West Windsor, and whether the police force was strong enough to prevent gangs from moving to the township.
“There’s a presence in the town; there’s specific areas I know they frequent,” Pica said. “We have a gang presence; we don’t have a gang problem where people are afraid to leave their houses.” Pica explained that because the gang problems is more of a county-wide problem, and because there are major shopping centers on Route 1, and the community college located within township borders, there are certain areas where gang members frequent. One example is that they buy their ammunition at Dick’s in Nassau Park, he said.
Anklowitz said he doesn’t “want to have to beef up the police department,” after gangs have already settled in West Windsor.
The other position requested by the police department was the public safety telecommunicator, or a dispatcher. Council members had already been concerned with the amount of money spent in recent years on overtime, and Pica told them hiring the new dispatcher would cut down on overtime use. Currently, there are four dispatchers working, but because they are spread so thin and cover many hours, hiring a new person to put into the rotation would cut down on overtime. It is also a position, he said, that the department desperately needed.
Geevers said because the school board members flatly stated they weren’t interested this year in funding the school resource officer, “I think that can be a savings this year.”
During the April 7 discussion, Anklowitz said he didn’t want to keep both police positions in this year’s budget. Councilwoman Heidi Kleinman said she felt Pica “was saying the telecommunicator person was the priority,” and that “he didn’t sell me” on the school resource officer. Morgan said he agreed with Kleinman.
With regard to the administrative position in the clerk’s office, Municipal Clerk Sharon Young told the council that there was one person who left the office, and since then, the clerk’s office staff has fallen behind on its ability to keep records updated. “Minutes have to be prepared. We have a backlog,” she said. And with the township’s increasing population, and changes in the Open Public Records Act, “it’s a struggle,” she said.
The council ultimately decided to leave that in the budget as well. The school resource officer, assistant engineer position, and part-time bus driver were deferred to next year’s budget.
Throughout the discussion, a main concern of Councilman Charles Morgan was that he felt the budget needed “to reflect reality.” He said he wants to leave enough funding in each of the areas so that the council doesn’t have to approve budget transfers later in the year, like in September.
In the area of overtime for code enforcement officials, Anklowitz proposed cutting the $60,”000 allotted in the budget by $20,”000. Morgan pointed out that the request was already $5,”000 less than what that department actually spent in 2007, and that it was $35,”000 less than requested.
“I’d be nervous with a $20,”000 cut in overtime,” Marion said. Eventually, council kept the overtime at $60,”000.
Another area proposed to be slashed is the Environmental Commission, which requested $10,”000 in the municipal budget for 2008. Anklowitz pointed out that the in the last two years, the commission spent $3,”000, and “I don’t see why we should give it $10,”000.” The council decided to reduce that budget to $3,”000. Anklowitz said the administration would be checking with the commission to see why it asked for such an increase of money before council makes a decision.
Debate also occurred when it came to keeping $15,”000 in funding for consultants and professional fees. Historically, there has always been $15,”000 allotted in this area. Last year, the council spent $3,”050 of that money. At the same time, Anklowitz proposed putting in $3,”600 to give council members access to LexisNexis — which provides governmental law information on things like state statutes — and it was proposed that $15,”000 be provided to fund the new GroWW event — which will showcase all of the township’s sustainable and green efforts.
“The festival’s a great idea, but it’s not as important as the blocking and tackling the council needs to do,” in reference to preparing itself legally, said Morgan.
Geevers, however, said, “I don’t think it’s necessary. [Township Attorney Michael Herbert] offered for anybody (on council) to use that service,” at his office, she said. “I just don’t see we need that expense.”
With regard to GroWW, Kleinman, who chairs the event, said, “You can’t get all of this volunteer work without some budget.”
Ultimately, the council elected to keep $15,”000 in funding for GroWW, remove the LexisNexis, and use that $3,”600 for consulting fees.
The council also contemplated slashing the planning board budget. In 2007 the planning board spent almost $140,”000, but was requesting $178,”000 for 2008. Anklowitz said that the cost associated with the board’s professionals to review applications is paid for by the applicants, and any work on the redevelopment plan in the next year will come from the redevelopment bond the council approved at the end of next year. He proposed cutting the planning budget by $50,”000. Another proposal was to cut it only by $20,”000, but the council will be talking to Division of Land Use Manager Sam Surtees to see what impact the reductions would have on various items before it makes a final decision.
The council also decided to leave the $200,”000 allocated to bicycle and pedestrian projects around town alone. On April 7, during the council’s regular meeting, three residents, including the township’s bicycle and pedestrian alliance president Ken Carlson, urged the council to fund various projects recommended for intersections around town.
Michael Ogg, a resident who depends on his wheelchair for transportation around town, urged the council to support the capital improvement projects around town because it “is very, very, very important to me.”
“I have two choices — one is to not be outside, and in the spring and summer, I’d rather not stay inside, and the other is to put my life in danger,” he said, referring to his travels around town.
In other business during the April 7 meeting, the council introduced an ordinance establishing fees for marriage and civil union ceremonies performed by the mayor in the township and elsewhere. For ceremonies performed for West Windsor residents at the municipal complex, the township would charge $100, while those performed off premises would cost $150. A public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for Monday, May 5.
The council also passed the ordinances to convert the Shade Tree Committee to Shade Tree Commission and to allow residents to let their dogs run at large, unleashed, within the dog parks in Community Park. No dogs are allowed to be unleashed in any other public area.
The name change move is meant to protect both the township and its volunteer Shade Tree members from liability suits, possibly resulting from damage caused by downed or uprooted trees.
