February 21, 2006
A
Budget/Workshop Meeting of the Township Council of the Township of Roxbury was
held on February 21, 2006 at 1715 Route 46, Ledgewood, New Jersey at 7:30.
OPEN PUBLIC
MEETING STATEMENT
Notice is
hereby given that a Special Meeting of the Township Council of the Township of
Roxbury will be held on Tuesday, February 21, 2006 at 7:30 PM at 1715 Route 46,
Ledgewood, New Jersey. This meeting is being held for the purpose of
discussing the 2006 Municipal Budget.
Adequate
notice of this meeting of the Township Council of the Township of Roxbury was
given as required by the Open Public Meetings Act as follows: Notice was faxed
to the Daily Record, the Newark Star Ledger and the Roxbury Register on
February 8, 2006; notice was posted on the bulletin board in the main hallway
of the Municipal Building on February 8, 2006.
ROLL
CALL: Councilwoman
Kathy DeFillippo, Councilmen Fred Hall, Jim Rilee, Tim Smith, John Ciaramella
and Mayor Martin Schmidt
ALSO
PRESENT: Christopher
Raths, Township Manager and Janet Rieth, Deputy Township Clerk
ABSENT:
Councilman Richard
Zoschak was on vacation.
REPORTS
OF COUNCIL LIAISON REPRESENTATIVES, COUNCIL COMMITTEES AND NEW BUSINESS/OLD
BUSINESS.
Operating
Budget Discussion
Engineering /
DPW
Engineering
Mr.
Raths stated that there is a reduction in O/E of 15.51% overall and a reduction
of 2.1% from last year’s budget.
Mr.
Smith questioned if a greater percentage of the salaries of Kevin Begraft, Mike
Kobylarz and Melanie Michetti could be taken out of Water and Sewer since more
of their work is coming from those departments than from Engineering. Mr.
Kobylarz will look into this.
Mr.
Smith requested justification for the $5,000 for GPS. Mr. Kobylarz stated that
there is $2,000 for the GPS unit. In order to comply with stormwater
management regulations, we need to locate the outfalls on all of our discharges
throughout the Township. Initially it would be to continue that work. We have
done work in conjunction with the Lake Hopatcong Commission and the Lake Musconetcong
Regional Planning Board to locate outfalls along those water bodies. This
program needs to be continued within the Township and needs to be completed
within a three year period from April 2004. Mr. Kobylarz feels this is
important and would rather not put this item off for another year.
Account 239,
Education & Training
Mr. Hall
stated that GIS training is listed twice. Mr. Kobylarz will check to determine
if this is a redundancy. Mr. Hall questioned if these training sessions are offered
in house or online. Mr. Kobylarz stated that he has not seen these courses
offered either way.
Account 203,
Contracted Services
Mr. Ciaramella
questioned if the contribution to Lake Musconetcong Regional Planning Board
would fall under this Account. Mr. Kobylarz stated that the Lake Musconetcong
Regional Planning Board has it own account.
Account
219, Materials & Supplies
Mrs.
DeFillippo questioned why so much is being requested this year. Mr. Kobylarz
stated that $1,750 of the $4,525 is for an office workstation that they did not
receive last year.
Mr.
Kobylarz stated that this includes the Professional Engineers Convention, which
he has not been able to attend.
The
majority of Council agreed to remove the $1,750 for the workstation. Mr. Raths
will check into the possibility of splitting the purchase of the GPS unit
($1,000) and the training ($750) with Sewer & Water Utilities.
DPW
Streets and
Roads
Council
agreed that all salary increase requests will be discussed collectively at a
future date.
Mr.
Raths advised that this represents a 6.7% overall increase from last year.
Account
102, Part Time
The
$21,120 will be taken out for part time seasonal employees, bringing the total
salary and wages to $651,222.
Snow &
Ice
Mr. Raths
advised that this is $5,000 less than last year.
Account 102,
Part Time
Mr. Blood
advised that this will offset overtime and contracted services. During a
weekday storm, Township employees cannot plow because of their other workload.
By hiring people on a constant basis to be available during the week, they can
supplement the plowing operation and reduce the time it takes to finish.
Public Works
Mr. Raths
advised that this is a 1.21% increase from the previous year’s budgeted amount.
Sanitation
& Recycling
Mr.
Blood will look at the possibility of operating the recycling center on
weekends only. He will have this information available for the February 28th
meeting.
Ms.
Palmieri advised that one of the reasons for the increase in expenses is that
the Township was only able to appropriate $40,000 worth of salaries to the
recycling trust.
Equipment
& Repair
Mr. Raths
advised that this is an overall increase of .04 %. Ms. Palmieri advised that
$500 in salaries will be allocated to the Uniform Construction Code budget for
the hours spent on that department’s vehicle maintenance.
Tipping Fees
Mr. Raths
advised that there is no price increase in 2006.
Water Utility
Fund
Account 204,
Electricity
Mr. Blood stated
that an increase to $112,000 is being recommended due to an increase in utility
costs.
Account 213,
State Fees/Permits
Mrs. Palmieri
stated that we are allocating $10,000 from the operating budget into Water
Utility for pension costs.
Account 211,
Contracted Services
Mr. Blood
advised that this was increased for the annual servicing of the generators.
Sewer Utility
Account 261,
Office Expense
Mr. Raths will
break this down for Council.
At 8:45 PM
Council took a short break.
At 8:55 PM
Council returned to the Budget Meeting.
Police
Department
Mr. Raths
advised that this represents a 3.20% overall increase.
Account 209,
Emergency Services Unit
Chief Noll
advised that supplies for the Emergency Services Unit and for emergency
supplies for the police fleet come out of this line item. He further advised
that this line item has been consistent at $10,000 since 1991. Mr. Raths
explained that this line item also consists of training for EMT certification.
Chief Noll advised that the 15 EMTs must recertify with 48 educational credits
every 3 years.
Account 219,
Materials & Supplies
Mr. Ciaramella
questioned if the $2,000 for replacement furniture could be cut. Captain
Kennedy explained that this is the broadest line item and is used to replace
items that get broken during the year.
Discussion
ensued regarding the dive team and dive equipment. Council questioned if the
Fire Department owns dive equipment. Mr. Raths will look into this.
Account 277,
Police Applicants/Promotional Exams
Promotional
exams were added to this line item this year. An exam will be held to replace
two officers who will be retiring in 2006.
Account 218,
Civilian CPR
Chief Noll
advised that, in the past, this class was held for Township employees. There
was no class in 2005, but they are planning on holding a CPR class this year.
Mr. Hall
questioned if there is anything that can be done to cut back on overtime.
Captain Kennedy stated that they compared Roxbury to other similar communities
and the overtime in Roxbury was the least amount of all the other towns. Chief
Noll stated that there was a period of time last year when the Department was
short two officers and two, sometimes three people in dispatch, which required
overtime.
Mr.
Smith stated that the Council is looking for a reduction of costs. He would
like the Chief to consider finding a way to take $10,000 to $15,000 out of his
budget. Chief Noll stated that he and other Department Heads meet with Ms.
Palmieri and Mr. Raths before the budget is presented to Council and he feels that
his Department always presents a very frugal budget. Chief Noll further stated
that to cut money he would need direction from Council. He does not feel it is
a decision he should make.
Police Staff
Mr. Raths
advised that this is down .89% from last year.
Dispatch
The request for
salary increases will be discussed collectively at a future date.
MATTERS
REQUESTED/REFERRED BY COUNCIL MEMBERS, MANAGER, ATTORNEY OR CLERK
PUBLIC
PORTION
Robert Kluska, 274 Emmans Road, commented on the fact that some Council
members do not speak into the microphones and the public is unable to hear
discussions.
DRAFT
ORDINANCES FOR DISCUSSION
None
ORDINANCES TO
BE INTRODUCED
None
HEARING AND
ADOPTION OF ORDINANCES ON SECOND READING
None
DRAFT
RESOLUTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
None
INTRODUCTION
AND ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS.
NONE
COMMUNICATIONS
February 17,
2006
#2 – Interoffice
Memo from BettyLou DeCroce, re: Property Purchase – The Township does not want
to sell this property.
#3 – Interoffice
memo from BettyLou DeCroce, re: Dialysis Center. Mr. Raths spoke with Miriam Morris and
they are not looking for any changes. Council would like the lease agreement
to be changed to 10 years. Mr. Bucco is working on the Agreement.
#5 – Correspondence
from Al Blayer, re: Dial-A-Ride Services. He has been advised that the
Dial-A-Ride services are not being cut.
EXECUTIVE
SESSION
None
ADJOURNMENT
At 10:10 PM
Mr. Ciaramella made a motion to adjourn the Budget Meeting. Mr. Smith seconded
the motion.
All If Favor -
yes
Submitted By:
_______________________
BettyLou DeCroce
MINUTES
APPROVED BY COUNCIL
DATE: March 14, 2006
ROLL
CALL: Mr.
Rilee – yes Mr. Hall – yes
Mr.
Ciaramella – yes Mr. Smith – yes
Mr.
Zoschak – recuse Mayor Schmidt - yes