September 17 Town Council meeting

[The town chief financial officer clarified the municipal tax rate increase to 2.47% subsequent to this posting]

Town council further amended and gave final approval to the 2013 municipal budget that, according to the town chief financial officer, raises the property tax rate 2.45% -- the first increase since 2010 -- at its September 17 meeting.

Council also postponed consideration of an administration proposal to contract out emergency-medical services in the town and eliminated proposed five-minute speaking limits on council members in a revised meeting ordinance. In addition, council approved hiring insurers for the town employee/retiree prescription-drug benefit and dental plans, as well as awarding a competitively bid contract to the incumbent recycling center management firm.

The meeting agendas and related materials are here. Video of council meeting, downloadable and indexed to make it easier to view selected discussion, is here.

The administration proposed the second consecutive amendment of the budget at the meeting. Total general appropriations declined slightly to $73.3 million from $73.4 million. The total tax levy declined slightly from $51.995 million to $51.828 million (rounded).

According to figures provided by John Gross, the town chief financial officer:

- The 2013 municipal property tax levy is $51.828 million, up $752,879.49, or 1.47%, from 2012.

- The 2013 municipal property tax rate rose 2.45% to 0.92 per $1,000 of assessed value from 0.898 in 2012.

- On the 2013 average assessed value home of $338,621, property taxes are $3,114. That’s up 2%, or $62, from the $3,053 in 2012 taxes on the average assessed value home of $339,808.

I’ve asked Mr. Gross for additional clarification on these tax numbers, which were either barely or not mentioned at the meeting, including how they related to the statewide 2% property tax cap.

The 2013 budget passed by a 4-1 vote. I voted against the budget, as I did last year. I believe it’s vitally important to not raise property taxes in this fragile economic environment. In addition, resident Christine Bosco pointed out to me and the municipal clerk ahead of the meeting (and also spoke during the budget public hearing) that the summary budget form, Resolution 177-13 on the council meeting web page, was blank – preventing residents from viewing that information. (The page is still blank as of 10 p.m. today http://nj-westorange.civicplus.com/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/465?fileID=872. [This was fixed on October 1, 2013. The new link is here.])

A council majority approved the administration’s recommendation to hire Benecard Services of Lawrenceville as the prescription-drug insurer for November 2013-October 2014. The resolution indicated 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, leaving the premium at $2,977,867 to cover 585 employees and retirees ($5,090 per person average). The proposal includes a 3.25% commission to the town’s insurance broker/consultant – Fairview Insurance of Verona – for an indicated fee of nearly $97,000. This fee is included in the premium, meaning the town pays this commission indirectly.

The resolution passed 4-1. I voted against because of the large commission. I urged the rest of the council to support me in making a policy decision to stop paying commissions, in favor of fee-for-service, to lower costs and align the broker’s interests with the town instead of the insurer that pays them. The administration argued that the commission pays for administration of the plan.

Council approved the administration’s recommendation of Delta Dental of Oak Brook, Ill., to continue as the dental insurer for November 2013-December 2014. The 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 recommended the most expensive vendor, Delta, because the other vendors covered far fewer of the dentists that are currently serving employees and retirees. Business Administrator Jack Sayers said such high “disruption rates” could prompt litigation from employee unions on grounds of reduced service under their collective bargaining agreements.

Delta’s revised August 14 proposal charges a premium of $395,206. The decision not to go with the lowest bid costs approximately $20,315 in additional premium. The Delta proposal carries a brokerage commission of $13,300 for Fairview, according to Mr. Gross.

The proposed ordinance to change the council meeting order of business included limiting council people to five minutes of speaking in response to Public Comment. Also, the traditional General Matters Pending section, where council people could speak on any topic before Public Comment, was eliminated. Announcements and liaison reports were moved to the Conference Agenda before the start of the Public Meeting. Discussion of other topics was moved to the very end of the meeting, where council members and the administration could discuss topics with five-minute limits and an overall 30-minute limit to this section of the meeting. For more on this ordinance, please see my earlier discussion.

After three residents spoke against the amendment, the council voted unanimously to eliminate the time limits and to add back wording that allowed the council president to modify the meeting agenda with consent. I had opposed this ordinance from the start as detrimental to the council’s ability to respond to resident concerns and because it made discussion of town issues harder for residents to follow. According to Assistant Town Attorney Ken Kayser, the time limits were put in the legislation by the municipal clerk and Council President McCartney, who said during the debate she had not intended to restrict discussion and agreed to drop the time limits.

In other actions, the council:

- Postponed to the next council meeting a vote on the administration’s proposal to solicit competitive proposals to provide emergency-medical services in the town, which could threaten the viability of the West Orange First Aid Squad, which has served the town for five decades. At the August 20 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 the revenue from billing private and public insurers for the service. The work, and revenue, is currently shared by WOFAS and the town. So far this year, according to Mr. Gross, EMS have generated $488,415 in net revenue for the town. The proposed resolution indicates the town’s legal department has determined it must bid out third-party services.

- Approved renewing the current recycling center manager, Reliable Wood Products of Jersey City 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% 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.

- Held 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. The council also requested information on the recent case of Police Lieutenant Richard Levens, who was charged with theft for falsifying overtime. His case was adjudicated through pre-trial diversion, which carries a two-year probation and could result in erasing his criminal record.

- Approved  employment contracts for the town attorney, Richard Trenk, and assistant town attorney, Mr. Kayser. The vote was 4-1. I voted against the contracts because I’m not pleased with the quality of their legal counsel and because the contract had no independent legal review – according to Mr. Kayser, only he, Mr. Trenk and an attorney in Mr. Trenk’s firm. 

Council approved two other ordinances on second and final reading, including public hearings, related to:

- Reducing 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. I proposed amendments to remove the requirement that the town pay for wire transfers of funds into town accounts, set a 10-day deadline for the licensee to file quarter operating reports with the town, and make it clear that the town is not involved in the licensee’s operations that don’t involve property taxes.

Three proposed ordinances were approved on 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.

Other items of potential interest to residents from the meeting:

- I reported that the West Orange Historic Preservation Commission had still not heard from Prism, the designated downtown redeveloper, on applying for a Certificate of Appropriateness for the Edison Battery Factory project from the commission. Construction is not allowed without the certificate.

- I reported that the Open Space Committee is continuing to continue setting up a non-profit group to support the new park on Ridgeway Avenue and other open space in town.

- Council President McCartney reported on efforts to merge the Energy Commission with the dormant Environmental Commission with a revised ordinance, to qualify for more grant funding.

- Business Administrator Sayers declined to answer my question asking for the administration’s view on why the OSPAC Jazz Festival did not take place this September. Instead, he offered to tell me in his office whenever I wanted to visit.

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