Preview: December 3 Town Council meeting

Proposals to move municipal elections from May to November, create a self-insured healthcare plan, borrow $3.35 million to pay for the avalanche of successful tax appeals, and loosen the ordinance governing the scheduling of council meetings head the agenda for the December 3, 2013, town council meeting.

The meeting agendas and related materials are here.

The council will also consider a financial agreement with the redeveloper of the Harvard Press site on Central Avenue for a tax abatement and payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) of 10% of revenues from the 100-unit income-restricted apartment complex.

In addition, council will consider the 2014 proposed budget of the Downtown West Orange Alliance, which manages the Special Improvement District along Main Street and Valley Road. The proposed budget of $220,000 would include $60,809 from the town.

The proposal to move council and mayoral elections from May to the November general election is set for second and final reading. A 2010 state law allowed municipalities such as West Orange with charters that require separate, non-partisan local elections to change these dates to coincide with general elections. The law has prompted debate and some date switches among affected municipalities, including the West Orange Board of Education changing its elections last year from April.

Approval of the ordinance would extend the terms of the mayor and two councilmembers whose terms would ordinarily expire shortly after the May 2014 election. Under the new schedule, elected officials would take office January 1 of the following year. (For more detail and background, please see my opinion article.)

The administration is asking council approval to leave its current program with Horizon Blue Cross & Blue Shield and create a self-insured healthcare program. The town would take on the risk of paying claims up to a certain unspecified amount, then rely on “excess loss” coverage from an insurer if claims are higher than expected.

A memo provided to the council from Fairview Insurance, the town’s insurance consultant and broker, indicates the town could reduce its current monthly premium of approximately $565,000 by 15% to $481,000 while keeping the benefits equal to or better than current benefits, a requirement under the town’s labor-union contracts.

The self-insured plan would require the town to obtain “excess loss” coverage from a company identified as RMTS, but the cost is not specified in the proposed resolution or memo. Other unspecified costs of the self-insured program would be:

- a claims adjudicator, Insurance Design Administrators (IDA),

- access to a CIGNA healthcare provider network,

- third-party administrator IDA (which provides a similar service to Parsippany and Bloomfield),

- an on-site wellness-coach program for employees

- a “hot-line” health advocate service to advise and assist employees with problems  

(I’ve asked the administration for more details on the proposal, including costs.)

Creating the self-insured plan would be a prelude to obtaining state approval to join Parsippany and Bloomfield in a cooperative joint Health Insurance Fund that is projected to further reduce costs. This could happen in 2014.

Council will also consider on second and final reading a proposal to issue $3.35 million in debt to pay for successful pre-2013 property tax appeals. The payback period would be determined by the state Local Finance Board for between three and seven years. The chief financial officer said funding the refunds now would add $200 to the average municipal property tax bill, while low market interest rates would not add significant interest costs and spread the tax impact over multiple years.

If approved, the borrowing would raise the town’s outstanding debt to nearly $67.2 million.

The proposal to loosen the ordinance on scheduling council meetings follows recent council debate. The proposed modifications include:

-  Changing the cycle from the first and third Tuesdays of each month (except once a month in July and August) to any Tuesdays of the month separated by at least two weeks.

-  Changing the allowances for different scheduling from a legal or national holiday to “holidays, special events and anticipated vacation schedules.”

-  Now allowing cancellations by majority vote of the council and also authorizing the mayor, business administrator or council president to cancel a meeting “summarily,” in an emergency.

The financial agreement with Valley Road Residential of Fort Lee is one of the last pieces of the proposed transaction, which has languished for several years. The apartment complex is part of a larger redevelopment in adjacent Orange, designed to anchor increased residential and retail activity around the New Jersey Transit’s Highland Avenue station.

The major portion of project financing from the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency limits tenants to those with household income of approximately $65,000 or less and provides a tax abatement for the term of the mortgage. The PILOT is projected to result in annual revenue to the town of $105,260 once the building is completed and occupied, with small annual increases each succeeding year.  

Other agenda items include requests to approve:

- Continuing the town’s reverse-911 emergency communications service at an annual contract cost of $16,000

- Another $4,075 in successful property tax appeals

- A two-year contract with a one-year option for janitorial services to Ocean Clean of Cedar Grove for $49,825.

- A proposed ordinance on second and final reading that would require non-resident property owners of one- and two-unit rentals to register contact information, holders of mortgages and the fuel-oil service provider of the property. The ordinance would comply with a state mandate.

- A salary ordinance to pay the town’s emergency management coordinator a $4,500 stipend.

- An ordinance on first reading to add several bus stops along Pleasant Valley Way.

- Create a handicapped parking space on Dean Street.  

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.