Compared with 12 other municipalities around the state, West Windsor is in pretty good condition when it comes to efficiency.
But that efficiency, and few areas to cut, may cause problems when township officials try to stay within the 2 percent mandated cap on property tax increases in the 2011 budget, said a consultant hired by the township.
During the February 14 council meeting, Reagan Burkholder, principal of Summit Collaborative Advisors LLC, presented his findings of an efficiency study in which he compared various aspects of the township’s practices with other municipalities in his database.
Business Administrator Robert Hary said the township issued requests to various consulting firms. Four responded, and two were brought in for interviews. The township chose Burkholder because he had already compiled a database of like municipalities.
There were some areas that were not included in the study, like the engineering and health departments, because of the difference in the ways each municipality handles those matters.
Burkholder, who served as the city administrator for Summit from 1985 to 2002 and as the administrator in East Windsor and other municipalities prior to that, has compiled a database of 12 municipalities. Hary said West Windsor is considering joining that cooperative, where the work of each municipality is measured and compared at a fee of $2,000 annually.
The towns in the study range from populations as small as 7,500 to as large as 50,000, with budgets ranging from $12 million to $64 million annually, said Burkholder.
Burkholder summarized his report, which included 35 recommendations to the township. Only two of those recommendations were considered to be “high impact.”
The first area is in the tipping fees — fees charged for depositing waste into the county’s dump — the township pays to Mercer County. The tipping fees the township is paying “are far, far higher than the other municipalities in the study,” said Burkholder. “If you can somehow deal with that, it has the potential for tremendous impact on your budget.”
Hary told the council that even though the township got a “favorable garbage bid” from its new contractor, Waste Management, which saved the township $125,000, the tipping fees were the reason officials included the option of renewing every year. Hary said he did not want to tie the township into a five-year deal if there was a possibility that in a year or two, more recycling options become available for the township to reduce its waste streams.
The new $466,193 contract with the Houston-based provider represents a savings of $126,252 for the township, since the township was paying $592,445 in 2010 under its former contract with Central Jersey Waste and Recycling. The contract — approved by the Township Council on January 10 — is valid for one year, but the township has the option of renewing the service every year for up to five years. Over a five-year period, the township will save $535,265 compared with current costs.
When it was approved, Hary told the council he was anticipating that in the future — before five years — the township could reduce its waste stream by recycling initiatives.
The second area of high impact is in employee salaries as called for in contracts, said Burkholder. “Your per employee costs are relatively high,” said Burkholder. “If you can negotiate them down,” it will have a high impact.
“I’m both happy and sad to tell you this report is not going to solve your financial problems,” said Burkholder. With low taxes per capita and with factors including a “strong surplus,” the township will “have a harder time than many in dealing with the levy cap because by and large, you’re running an efficient operation.”
On top of that, Burkholder believes, many municipalities will struggle to try to “do more with less.”
Rather, Burkholder says, in general, “we’re going to be doing less with less because it’s going to be so much less, you’re not going to be able to do more.”
Council members questioned the comparisons made between the 12 municipalities in the study, pointing out that they have demographic differences, such as population and density per area, that could affect how they allocate resources differently.
For example, Councilman George Borek pointed out that a city like Summit condenses 21,000 people into 6 miles. “That’s condensed, and a high density town is using their resources differently,” he said.
He also pointed to police patrol zones, which could be different, depending on the size and density of any of the towns in the study. In West Windsor, the number of police officers falls below the FBI suggested ratio of two officers per 2,000 people, he said.
“We really have tried to choose things that are independent of density and population sizes,” explained Burkholder.
Council members also discussed the possible “inertia” within the township, as it is hard to get employees in any organization to stray from the procedures they have been accustomed to using. Burkholder offered his services in helping the township set goals and implement changes.
“Employees are going to have to learn to embrace change because their survival depends on it,” he said, adding that it is also necessary for township officials to empower the employees and help them realize that the budget of one department may simply have to be smaller than that of another department.
Councilwoman Linda Geevers said she wants the administration to show the council how many of the 35 recommendations have been considered and implemented as the administration created the 2011 budget, which Hary said could be submitted to council as early as Friday, February 18, or Tuesday, February 22.
Councilwoman Diane Ciccone also wanted to know which recommendations will be implemented, especially given the nature of the budget process under the mayor-council government. “One of the frustrations is there is not a collaborative effort in forming the budget and approving the budget,” said Ciccone.
Ciccone questioned how West Windsor would balance the services offered to the community with efficiency and in limiting costs. “I’m not sure this report gets us there,” she said. “What tools do we have?”
The township needs to have mechanisms in place to implement changes, Ciccone said, suggesting that the administration pre-schedule quarterly meetings with the council at the beginning of the year, so that there are specified dates during which the two could discuss policies. “Let’s put it in a calendar,” she said.
Hary told the council the administration has already been considering the recommendations in its creation of the budget. “Our challenge is going to be, ‘What services are we going to continue providing?’”
Many of Burkholder’s suggestions and observations validated his own thoughts, said Hary. Still, “we do have to take this study with a grain of salt,” based on the differences between municipalities in the study, he added.
Hary assured the council members the administration was working on their suggestions and listening to their input. “We’re going to look at all the recommendations.”
