Proposals to further amend the proposed 2013 municipal budget, bid out emergency-medical services in the town, hire insurers for the town employee/retiree prescription-drug benefit and dental plans, renew the recycling center management firm, and change the council’s meetings to place time restrictions on council members comments head the agenda for the September 17 council meeting.
The meeting agendas and related materials are here.
The administration amended the proposed 2013 municipal budget at the August 20 meeting, increasing total general appropriations nearly $475,000 to $73.4 million. According to the administration, this didn’t change its proposal to raise property taxes nearly 2 percent this year. The administration appears to have further amended the budget for the September 17 meeting. Total general appropriations declined to $73.3 million. The total tax levy declined slightly from $51.995 million to $51.828 million (rounded). It’s unclear from the materials whether that impacts the tax increase; I’ve asked the administration for clarification.
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The administration has recommended Benecard Services of Lawrenceville as the prescription-drug insurer for November 2013-October 2014. The proposed resolution indicates that from a solicitation of “informal quotations” from six vendors, one offered additional coverage and five maintained the town’s coverage. The resolution indicates the bids from the five ranged from no increase from last year’s cost to 10 percent more. The resolution indicates Benecard offered no increase. Benecard’s revised proposal, submitted August 15, specifies coverage for November 2013-October 2014. The administration also provided materials for November 2013-December 2014. I’ve asked for clarification.
Benecard’s submission carries two proposals – one costing $2.98 million to cover 585 employees and retirees ($5,090 per person average), the other a managed-care option for $2.79 million ($4,773 per person average). The proposal includes a 3.25% commission to the town’s broker/consultant – Fairview Insurance of Verona – for an indicated fee of $96,781 or $90,755, depending on the proposal. This fee is included in the proposal, meaning the town pays this commission indirectly.
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The administration has recommended Delta Dental of Oak Brook, Ill., to continue as the dental insurer for November 2013-December 2014. The proposed resolution indicates that from a solicitation of “informal quotations” from four vendors, ranging from a slight decrease from current costs of 0.4 percent to an increase of 5 percent. The administration is recommending the most expensive vendor, Delta, because the other vendors covered fewer of the dentists that are currently serving employees and retirees.
Delta’s revised August 14 proposal would charge a premium of $395,206. The decision not to go with the lowest bid costs approximately $20,315 in additional premium. The Delta proposal does not specify a brokerage commission. But at the 3.25% commission rate for prescription benefits, Fairview would receive a commission of $12,844. I’ve asked the administration for the commission rate.
In other proposed actions, the administration is asking council approval to:
- Solicit bids to provide emergency-medical services in the town. Such a move could result in the end of the West Orange First Aid Squad’s multiple decades of service in the town. At the last council meeting, the president of WOFAS spoke at public comment to oppose the administration’s move as unnecessary. The next day, the town conducted unannounced fire-safety and OSHA inspection’s at WOFAS’s headquarters, which is a township building shared with the town’s emergency services. At stake is revenue from billing private and public insurers for the service. The work, and revenue, is currently shared by WOFAS and the town. The proposed resolution indicates the town’s legal department has determined it must bid out third-party services.
- Renew the current recycling center manager, Reliable Wood Products of Jersey City in a competitive bidding in which it was the only responder to a request for proposal. The sole response increases the annual rent for use of the property for commercial operations 13.4 percent to $102,072 from $90,000. The bid reflects the town’s recent move to single-stream recycling, which is expected to lower the cost of processing recycled materials at the center. The town and Reliable recently agreed to a $5,000 fine for failure to comply with state limits on how much organic waste it could handle, for more than a year. The contract is for three years with two annual options.
- Hold an executive session to discuss additional payment to a consultant related to the upcoming trial in a lawsuit in which the town alleges electronic equipment it purchased for police cars did not work.
- Authorize contracts for the town attorney and assistant town attorney.
Three ordinances are on the agenda for second and final reading, including public hearings, related to:
- Amendments to the town council’s meeting order which would limit the time council people can speak in response to Public Comment and in a revised “Matters Pending” section at the very end of each meeting. I’m opposed to this as restricting residents’ opportunity to hear from their elected officials. For more on this ordinance, please see this article.
- Reduce the town’s charges for Open Public Records Act documents to comply with state law.
- Licensing a provider for the proposed “Shop Local” program that would direct discounts provided by local retailers to pay for shopper’s property taxes.
Three ordinances are on the agenda for first reading, related to:
- Amending provisions for the law department.
- Adding restricted parking 58 Llewellyn Ave., 29 Virginia Ave., 82 Riggs Place and 12 Orange Place.
- Changing the no-parking and no-standing rules for Stanford Avenue, where the town recent installed a car drop-off zone for Pleasantdale Elementary School.
I’m a West Orange Township councilman since 2010, reachable at jkrakoviak@westorange.org. I'm a business communications consultant in my spare time.
