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Health & Fitness

April 22 Town Council meeting

A council majority approved three bond ordinances on first reading to borrow nearly $7.26 million and agreed to amend the 2014 introduced budget to increase appropriations by $85,000, at the April 22, 2014, council meeting.

The council also approved incorporating the results of an arbitrator’s award to the police patrolmen union that the administration estimates at approximately $830,000

The meeting agendas and related materials are here. Video of the meeting -- downloadable and indexed so you can quickly find the topics you’re looking for – is here.

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Council approved the administration’s proposed bond ordinances on first reading:

- Borrowing $550,000 to contribute to the Llewellyn Park sewer and road improvement project. The original bond ordinance, approved in 2012, authorized the $4.18 million project to borrow up to $3.68 million. The entire project was to be repaid by Llewellyn Park property owners. The ordinance was designed to give Llewellyn Park property owners access to the township’s low borrowing cost to avoid much higher interest rates they would otherwise face. The administration is now proposing to borrow $550,000 more that will be repaid by all the town’s property taxpayers. The project cost has increased by 14% to $4.78 million. The proposed ordinance does not include any explanation for the change. The council approved 4-1, with me voting no.

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At the meeting, Business Administrator Jack Sayers justified the increase on safety reasons, saying sanitary sewer problems in the park would impact other parts of the town’s system and adding that the 2012 project didn’t address sanitary sewer problems. I then pointed out that the original ordinance appeared to address that concern, reading part of the title: “Bond Ordinance Providing an Appropriation of $4,184,305 for Reconstruction of the Sanitary and Storm Sewerage Systems …” Mr. Sayers did not respond.

This proposal appears at odds with Mayor Robert Parisi’s comment at the April 8 council meeting that “… As members of the council know that we’ve approved bonding for Llewellyn Park and we’ve approved bonding for redevelopment. Those are not, that’s not debt service that the taxpayer, the average taxpayer is responsible for.” (The comment is at the 10:30 timemark of the council meeting video.)

- Borrowing $6.65 million to fund a wide variety of capital improvements ranging from traffic cones, cots, hoses and desks to an aerial ladder fire truck and asphalt roller to street re-surfacing and sewer upgrades. The total estimated cost of the purchases is $7 million. The administration provided a 10-page summary of the proposed investments that I’ve posted on West Orange Grassroots here. Council approved 5-0.

- Borrowing $57,000 to replace bleachers at various fields at the high school. The ordinance does not say which fields or why the town is paying for improvements on school property. In an e-mail sent just before the meeting started, Chief Financial Officer John Gross did not identify the sites but wrote: “It is my understanding that the BOE does not have such funding.” The council approved 4-1, with me voting no. The town has funded millions of dollars of improvements at the high school athletic facility in the last decade – in at least one case borrowing money that the school district repays -- sidestepping the state law requiring most major improvements by school districts to pass voter approval.

All three bond ordinances will have a second and final reading, including public comment hearings, at the May 6 council meeting. If approved, the borrowing will raise the town’s outstanding and authorized debt to $70.87 million, up 14% from $63.6 million at the end of 2013.

Three proposed ordinances were approved on second and final reading:

- The first is the administration’s proposal to update the salary ranges of the police force to reflect a February 8, 2014, interest arbitration decision of the labor contract between the town and its patrolmen’s union.

In general, the decision awards annual pay increases similar to those of the other town unions in the last round of contract negotiations -- zero in 2010 and 2011, and 2% increases in 2012 and 2013. The top salary for patrolmen rises to $87,870 and for new officers in training to $43,065. The union had asked for 3% raises in each of the four years of the contract.

The decision also directs all patrolmen to receive stipends of $625 for 2012 and another $625 for 2013, which the arbitrator wrote reflected the labor agreement with the firefighter’s union that provided $3,000 stipends (a change from 2% of base pay) to those who have Emergency Medical Technician certification. The award also added two step years for new officers, meaning it will take them eight years rather than six to reach top pay.

The stipend for detectives was increased from $1,000 to 1,250 for 2012 and $1,500 for 2013. The decision is here. The administration’s latest estimate on the cost of the decision is $830,249 in 2012 and 2013. I’ve asked the administration for final costs of the award.

The ordinance also sets top pay for the police chief at $160,571, deputy police chief at $142,157, captain at $125,743, lieutenant at $111,277, and sergeant at $98,480.

- The second ordinance allows the town to potentially exceed the state cap on annual appropriation increases to 3.5% from 2.5%. The law allows the municipality to “bank” the unused portion of that potential increase, estimated in the ordinance at $1.725 million in additional potential spending. That “bank” would be available to offset appropriation increases that would otherwise exceed the cap in the following two years.

- The third ordinance restricts temporary commercial sign advertising that’s done without the property owner’s permission.

Large changes to the introduced budget -- which Mr. Gross said raised appropriations that were offset by revenue, maintaining balance --include:

- A decline of 3.5% in contributions to the two major employee state retirement funds of $177,097 to $4.8 million.

- A 25% increase in private and public grants of $286,000 to $1.4 million. Grants typically fund programs that, by providing the revenue to cover the expenses of the program, do not add a revenue burden to the budget. A large factor was a new $375,000 hazard mitigation grant.

- A doubling of the capital fund for down payments on borrowing to $325,000 from $150,000.

- The council majority added $20,635 in additional compensation for employees in Public Works and Recreation at the March 1 statutory budget hearing and approved the mayor’s request for a promotion and $4,508 raise to $80,145 for his assistant. (The vote on the resolution was 4-1, with me voting no to try to keep personnel costs down.) A full list of the changes is on the agenda page here.

The state requires a public comment hearing on the budget, which will occur at the May 6 council meeting. Mr. Gross said he anticipated asking the council for adoption of the budget at the meeting, several months ahead of the traditional adoption of the budget. He said funding for operational appropriations was in place and that future grant awards could be added with appropriation offsets so that the budget remained balanced. He said the adoption would depend on whether the county was able to certify the tax levy and tax rates at that time.

Other resolutions of interest approved included:

- Appointment of Robert Stock as Class I Special Law Enforcement Officer for traffic enforcement. The re-appointment was necessary to meet state requirements.

- Processing the involuntary disability retirement for Police Officer Frank Biello.

- Authorization to apply for a $20,000 state forestry grant.

- Authorizing the sale of 21 surplus vehicles with an estimated value of $21,000.

If you’d like to contact the council with your thoughts on any of these issues, please send an e-mail to council@westorange.org or call 973.325.4155 to leave a message.

I’m a West Orange Township councilman since 2010, reachable at jkrakoviak@westorange.org. I'm a business communications consultant in my spare time.

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