Montclair’s town council held a public hearing for amendments to the 2010 budget. There will be a 5.6 percent property tax increase and a 10.3 percent increase in municipal taxes.
Despite the rise in taxes, the overall amount taxpayers will contribute has been cut by $606,000.
Although the meeting was intended for the public, approximately eight people came to the meeting, with only three opting to speak.
The town faces increases in banking costs. Township Manager Marc Dashield explained to the public that Chase removed government banking as an option, as did other banks, so they had to shell out more money for a payroll service.
Despite the increases, there were also restorations in funding for groups that were previously anticipating budget cuts, like the Montclair public library, the Montclair Art Council and the Montclair Community Pre-K.
The 2010 budget is still in limbo while the town waits to hear from the state on transitional aid funds.
“As soon as we hear from the state, we can move as soon as possible,” Dashield says.
The budget will go from $70,687,549 to $70,430,948.
“Despite the rise in taxes, the overall amount taxpayers will contribute has been cut by $606,000.”
Huh?
(no need to explain that one?)
Those are huge increaaes!
Almost 12 million on annual debt service on budget of 70.7 million. 17% of the budget is for debt.
This issue gets worse and worse every few years! When will it be contained?
When you get rid of the people who make these decisions and vote in new blood.
A little explanation is necessary here.
If in 2009 the total expenditures were $68MM, and the introduced budget (i.e. everything, within reason, that the departments and manager wants) for 2010 is $72MM, if you “reduce” the introduced budget to $70mm you have “saved” or “cut” $2MM.
Get it?
A reduction from what you want is really a “savings.”
Such thinking boggles the mind. Apparently, it’s common in Municipal finance.
Cary, thanks I think I get this: If last year I had a Ford Taurus, and I ask the town to buy me a new Aston Martin, but they only give me a Lexus they will tell the taxpayers they “saved” $100,000?
very cool – the more you spend the more you save.
Yes! It’s kinda like that deal that certain credit card companies have, i.e., the more you spend, the more “bonus points” you earn.
Yay now I get it! Like those “buy two, get one free” deals – even if you only needed one. Instead of paying $50 for one pair of jeans, now you paid $100 to get 3 pairs at $33 each. I just saved $17 on jeans!
Actually I think there’s a corporate-speak euphemism for that: cost avoidance.
Here’s the definition I found online…
“Benefits realized by avoiding a relatively certain future expenditure, although the projected expenditure has not been budgeted or obligated. Cost avoidance is more speculative than cost savings and requires more rigorous justification.”
No expenditures were harmed in the making of this budget!
“Mayor Robert D. Parisi noted that the zero percent budget proposal includes no layoffs or furloughs of employees. This is the sixth time since 1998 that the Administration has submitted and the Council has passed a municipal budget with no annual increases.”
Guess the town?
Is there ANY way our council can figure out how to DECREASE the amount we pay? Or keep it flat for a few years? Honestly, 6%, 8% , 5% every year is just not sustainable. I know so many people who plan to move as soon as their kids are out of school. Then what?
I know, I know! Podunk Idaho, population 7: The Mayor and his wife, their teenage son, the Mayor’s brother and his girlfriend, and the wife’s parents. and the Mayor is the only township employee!
Stu, hhhmmmmm, that’s a tough question…..
zero percent budget increase….no layoffs or furloughs…..sixth time since 1998 that they….passed a municipal budget with no annual increases
must be some tiny little town in western NJ….certainly NOT a BIG town in Essex County that has tough budget choices like Montclair.
Right?
Please …tell me!
You need courage. You need to say “nothing is off limits.” You need to take a VERY hard look at ALL the positions and say “do we need this?”
You also need to do comparison, i.e. “best practices.” If other towns can come in at zero, what are they doing differently?
I asked for doing things like looking at all new hires in the last 18 months and seeing why we couldn’t un-hire those people. I asked to look at ALL promotions for the same time and roll those back.
Folks, the cost of living increases for the last several years have NOT been 4%. And the excuse of “well, they live in Montclair where it’s expensive doesn’t hold water because 75% of our employees DON’T live in Montclair.
Look at EVERYTHING. Parking Authority is “off” by a zillion dollars? Don’t say “Oh well …” Get in an INDEPENDENT person to find out why.
Bring in some tough minds.
A friend of mine just bought a house in Fair Haven. Another “diverse” commuter town with a sizable wealthy population and high taxes. However, their taxes have gone DOWN the past few years. DOWN, not up. Imagine.
Fairhaven is diverse? Hardly.
If I could get anyone to give me 80% of appraised value for my house, I’d be out of here.
“You need courage.”
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk?
What makes the Hottentot so hot?
What puts the “ape” in apricot?
“You need to say ‘nothing is off limits.’ You need to take a VERY hard look at ALL the positions and say ‘do we need this?'”
”
Like $750,000 sidewalk beautification boondoggles, for example. Or $1,100,000 baseball diamond 20 yard relocation “needs”.
“do we need this?” Is not the right question, because someone will always come up with a “need”. (like “economic development” for example) The correct question is “can we afford this?”
“Bring in some tough minds.”
Stupid us, we thought we elected some….
I’ll say this yet again … where’s the outrage, people? Where’s the recall effort for the mayor and his buddies? Where are the Manager’s objectives and performance review?
Cary seems to be the only elected official who has a clue. I’ve seen posters here, on the Watercooler and Unmod that I’d vote for in a heartbeat. I’d love to see the current apparent lack of competence bring out the citizens of this town who actually have the knowledge, skills and abilities to properly govern the town and structure its finances. And do it without resorting to shenanigans like the Sewer Utility and Parking Authority – moving costs around is obviously nothing like actually reducing costs.
So, people, where is the outrage?
@jerseygurl. You’d have to define your concept of diverse. Fair Haven is a great little small town with a smart mayor who’s tax reduction feat was Monmouth county news worthy. Just as excessive school expenses can be stopped as per the “big guy” in Trenton so too can towns chop expenses therefore tax reduction. Where oh where are the brave men and women who want to lead?
Oh, so we’re paying some sort of premium for “diversity.” That makes about as much sense as the town counsel’s math. This is about self-dealing, incompetent, governance. The concept of “savings” generated by not spending with even greater profligacy is absurd on it’s face. End the shakedown now!
“Cary seems to be the only elected official who has a clue.”
And somehow his answer is always “hire a consultant”.
How about proposing an ordinance whereby the annual tax rate is voted on by the citizenry?
Then we elect people to make it work within those constraints.
Necessity is the mother of invention, not consultants.
ROC, you perpetually rail against consultants. Slightly bizarre aversion, don’t ya think?
Did one steal a girlfriend of yours at one time? Anyway, I’m with you. Let’s abolish all consultants:
My doctor AKA health consultant
My lawyer AKA keep me outa jail consultant
My accountant AKA keep me outa audits consultant
My architect AKA keep my house looking waspy and impressive consultant
My realtor AKA keep my house from looking unsellable consultant
My gardener AKA keep my yard from looking ratty consultant
My dentist AKA keep me from looking like white trash consultant
My trainer AKA keep my bod from looking like it’s from Missouri consultant
No doubt, ROC, you have fired all these consultants by now, a virtuous effort in these austere times.
The “consultant” I hired is the politician I voted for. If they’re not capable of running the town in coordination with another highly paid professional (the manager) they should resign.
Remember the “Streamlining” (or was it “efficiency”?) consultant Cary wanted to hire?
If the Council, Mayor, Township Manager, Head of the Parking Authority and Deputy Head of the Parking Authority can’t figure out what to do, it’s time to fire the lot of them and move on.
The town I quoted with the zero percent increase is West Orange. They are more diverse than Montclair so we can’t use the excuse of diversity any more. But the Fried Five believes that a 10% tax increase is necessary to maintain our quality of life. Last time I drove through West Orange, it didn’t appear there quality of life was really much different than ours. I’m not sure of West Orange’s debt, but I bet it is less than half of ours.
@ Spiro T. Quayle Your kind of thinking is exactly what has inflated the administration in school systems. High taxes are a result of either the leaders being in over their heads or a belief that a consultant knows more than politician.
“A friend of mine just bought a house in Fair Haven. Another “diverse” commuter town with a sizable wealthy population and high taxes. However, their taxes have gone DOWN the past few years. DOWN, not up. Imagine”
Montclair and Fair Haven look absolutely nothing like each other
From Wikopedia: As of the census[4] of 2000, there were 5,937 people, 1,998 households, and 1,658 families residing in the borough. The population density was 3,559.3 people per square mile (1,372.6/km2). There were 2,037 housing units at an average density of 1,221.2/sq mi (471.0/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 93.87% White, 4.09% African American, 0.03% Native American, 0.98% Asian, 0.22% from other races, and 0.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.33% of the population.
Despite the rise in taxes, the overall amount taxpayers will contribute has been cut by $606,000.
Cut from what?
Since the writer is obviously trying in tone to be “objective,” it’s all the more amazing that she can write a sentence like this as though it’s her own analysis (since it’s attributed to no one).
It makes absolutely no sense, except as claptrap from an apologist for raising taxes in the midst of a recession.
Like her colleague writing about NJTransit’s interactive publicity stunt, it seems that the writer here is just eating whatever porridge is put in front of her.
Come on, Kristie, you can do better than that.
Where the heck is Fairhaven? Speaking as an Inuit married to a full blooded Apache, and as the father of two adopted Australian Aboriginal children, how could we ever consider leaving this veritable Eden of diversity just because of the crushing tax burden? Perish the thought. Wait a minute, 10.3% on top of last year’s, and then there’s the re-assessment for the new kitchen. Anyone know a good realtor in, say, Chatham?
Yes, gritty, urban, Fairhaven, on the banks of the fetid Navesink river and smack in the middle of the Rumson, Red Bank, Little Silver triangle of diversity. Are you kidding me?
Fwiw: The cost for debt servicing *will* go up since rates have been at a record low and it’s difficult to imagine them drop further.
A town with an annual budget of ca. 70 mil and a debt of ca. 200 mil can be called broke. Plain and simple.
Personally I wish someone would threaten to put a lien on every property to fulfill the debt. It certainly would make people aware of the size of the debt.
West Orange has major issues with their property taxes also. It is not uncommon in the nicer parts for your property taxes to be over 20k.
I am looking to buy a home in a truly “diverse” town. The so called diverse towns in Essex have astronomical property taxes and schools that don’t come close to justifying taxes (W Orange HS has metal detectors).
Unfortunately, there is a premium to be paid to live in a “diverse” town!
But it does appear that West Orange is making some headway with their tax issues. In Montclair, Mayor Fried is perfectly satisfied making up the shortfall in revenue through a >10% tax increase rather than a 10% reduction in services.
To hear him attribute our problems to revenue shortages and not understand what this means is just plain scary. He also does not consider our debt an issue whatsoever. After all, he’s not getting reelected, regardless of how many state sponsored trips to China that he takes.
actually, Dag T, I’m with you and ROC on this one.
We should definitely elect officials who don’t need consultants , and who know what they’re doing.
…which reminds me of the the Delaware primaries…
Do your elected officials get paid enough to live in town? One reason there’s a deficit of talent on the local level is other jobs pay more.
17% of the budget is for debt.
If you think that’s high, wait a couple of years until the short-term loans are refinanced.
ROC,
Welcome back!
The Montclair Parking Authority is an independent agency with its own board and management. The Town cannot tell them anything. Indeed the MPA is closed today because the TOWN has furloughs!
I am recommending an INDEPENDENT review of the MPA and will be introducing a Resolution to do so. I have identified several individuals who live in town, and who are unconnected and can do this analysis.
But remember, ROC, the majority of the Council is OK with the MPA, and is OK with the taxes, and is OK with the running of things.
Stu has good insight on this issue!
Cary
“The Montclair Parking Authority is an independent agency with its own board and management. The Town cannot tell them anything.”
The board of the Authority is wholly appointed by the municipality. Any monies loaned by the municipality to the authority must be approved by the council. The municipality is not required to loan the authority money nor is it required to guarantee any bonding the authority wishes to conduct.
So I’m not sure what you are talking about “cannot tell them anything”.
The PA is supposed to support it’s activities with its own property and it’s own revenue. Any revenue the township kicks in is subject to approval by the council.
Frankly, I’m sick of the obfuscation and excuses.
p.s. And if the township is unhappy with income from the Authority for contracted services the township could end those contracts by act of the council.
Thanks for the kind words Cary.
“But remember, ROC, the majority of the Council is OK with the MPA, and is OK with the taxes, and is OK with the running of things.”
I really have huge issues with the Fried Five as well. Big enough issues that I plan to move as soon as the ideal house comes up for me in Glen Ridge where the taxes are high, but you get some decent services for what you pay. I came to Montclair for the diversity, but just can’t stand the politics here. There is absolutely no accountability and the town councils, year after year, support the local workers over the tax payers. Revenues are completely ignored.
Here is his quote from Tuesday’s meeting:
Mayor Jerry Fried has said that this year’s property tax increase — now about 5.8 percent when the school, municipal, and county increases are combined — is “a number that no one on the governing body is happy with.” The municipal portion, about a quarter of the total tax, will have an increase over the previous year of around 9 percent. Of this number, only about 2 percent represents an increase in spending — mostly increases in pensions and health benefits with some contractual salary increases. He said that the rest of the increase is due to decreases in revenue sources.
The last sentence is the key. West Orange shared the same revenue shortage but made cuts to municipal spending. The Fried Five earnestly believe that tax increases are a necessity and service cuts are an impossibility. Privatization? Never, for it would put a few local guys out of work. Fried’s Community Center is no different than Hartnett’s way-finding signs. Both mayors believe their role is to spend and improve, spend an improve. Economic conditions be damned. I’m the mayor and I refuse to do less than the last mayor regardless of the state of the economy. After all, sustainability of mother earth is much more important than the finacial sustainability of Montclair. Isn’t it? Oh..and lets sell off some more property now that commercial real estate is in the dumper. Can someone please send me to China?
ROC,
You’ve got most of it right.
The Council does appoint the seven members of the Board. The Board, however, implements managerial and operation structure for the Authority, i.e. hiring of the people, etc.
Board members are for five year terms, and this Council has only appointed two of the members.
And I can find no procedures for removing board members, even if the Council were unhappy with them.
However, the important point is that the majority of the Council, and the Board of the MPA, are happy with the current state of things.
Also: as an Authority the MPA issues its own bonds. While initially the town did guarantee the bonds, the statute says the Authority has, well, the authority to issue its own debt. In fact, that was one reason people gave for establishing an Authority, i.e. we could remove some of the Town’s debt to another entity (some less generous people would the add “to make it look like the town has less debt than it really has” but I would never suggest such a thing!
ROC is PRECISELY right when his says: “The PA is supposed to support it’s activities with its own property and it’s own revenue.”
And he is also right when he says “Any revenue the township kicks in is subject to approval by the council” as this did occur this year when the Council, by vote, gave the MPA “relief” in money “owed” to the Council.
But I keep getting back to the same point, namely that overall the people who are in charge are happy with the MPA.
I think this statement by Mayor Fried about the new school pretty much sums up his lack of connection to reality:
The practical application of Bullock’s new technologies was inspiring to Mayor Jerry Fried, as was the completion of the school during the severe economic downturn plaguing the nation.
“The opening of this school is truly historic,” Fried said. “It is something that future generations will look back on. They will look at the ‘Great Recession’ of 2008, 2009, 2010, and they will marvel at the ability of a community to be able to create a marvelous institution like this in light of that.
“They will say ‘how was it possible that a brand new school with solar panels, with geothermal heating, beautifully put together, durable, lasting, sustainable for the future… How was it that an institution like this could be built in this time?’”
Fried said the answer is “in the residents of Montclair” who came together and made a commitment to education dispute tough economic times.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/103025014_Bravo_for_Bullock_School.html
Now bend over and happily accept that 6% tax increase.
Cary
Has the town thought about next year when increases will be ‘limited’ to 2.5%?
Superstar: West Orange resident here. I don’t think diversity of community is the problem. There are plenty of diverse communities in say, Passaic County, that don’t pay the taxes we do.
It’s all the “extras,” such as twice a week garbage pick up, 1 on 1 aides in schools for special needs kids, etc., that raise taxes. I mean really, who needs twice a week trash pickup? Don’t want it in your house? Then put it out in the garage for a few days for crying out loud. I just cited two examples but the township government is bloated with others. We need a real honest-to-God bean counter with a red pen to go over the budget and just be merciless.
Note: The things that REALLY need doing, such as replacement of ancient water mains, don’t get done.
bebopgun – “Luckily” for Mayor Fried and the majority of the town council, most of the drivers of our tax hikes – salary/pension/benefit increases and decreases to revenue are all excluded from the cap!
And since we will not reassess until 2012, let’s just get ready for another 6% tax increase next year that will be under the 2.5% cap.
“Has the town thought about next year when increases will be ‘limited’ to 2.5%?”
They were limited to 4% this year. We applied for a waiver. No reason we won’t get it next year. This is how the Fried Five think. Revenue be damned.
Sorry, I’d like to tell you what I think but my doctor has advised against it.