FEBRUARY 7, 2006
A Workshop Meeting of the Township Council of the Township
of Roxbury was held on February 7, 2006 at 1715 Rt.#46, Ledgewood, New Jersey
at 7:30 PM.
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 7, 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 1, 2006; notice was posted on the bulleting
board in the main hallway of the Municipal Building on February 1, 2006.
ROLL CALL: Councilmen John Ciaramella, Fred Hall,
Jim Rilee, Tim Smith and Councilwoman Kathy DeFillippo.
ABSENT: Mayor Schmidt was out for health reasons.
Councilman Zoschak was away.
Deputy Mayor John Ciaramella would oversee the meeting
in the Mayors absence.
ALSO PRESENT: Christopher Raths, Township Manager;
BettyLou DeCroce, Township Clerk; Lisa Palmieri, Chief Financial Officer.
REPORTS OF COUNCIL LIAISON REPRESENTATIVES, COUNCIL
COMMITTEES AND NEW BUSINESS/OLD BUSINESS.
CAPITAL BUDGET DISCUSSIONS
OPERATING BUDGET DISCUSSIONS
Mr. Raths handed out a memo entitled Impact of Budget
Reduction 1.6 million/$800,000. Council had directed Mr. Raths to develop a
summary of the impact on Township services between a zero-point increase for
2006 and a 4-point increase for 2006. Mr. Raths stated that achieving a zero
percentage increase for 2006 would require implementing changes to services
immediately.
The summary provided outlined costs associated with the
implemented changes would affect services. The Township could revise its
method of providing trash services. Municipal Operation- trash, recyclables
and yard waste is collected by Township Personnel. The Township currently
operates under this system. The Township could contract with a private hauler
to collect municipal waste and recyclables. Also the Township could look into
each homeowner contracting with a private hauler. Also a fee base system could
be implemented. This could be accomplished as a billed service such as
water/sewer or unit based. Costs associated with these implemented changes are
as follows. The annual savings would be a reduction in cost of $827,746/ 4.05
Tax Points. The township would need to retain four positions in the DPW and
three trucks for leaf and brush collection in the fall. In summary the
Township could eliminate trash collection and reduce the 2006 tax increase by
2.29% for an annual savings of $45.80 on a $200,000 assessed home.
Another suggestion is to close
the Recycling Center which would result in an annual savings of $138,430.
Currently we employee a full-time Planner and the Planner’s position is charged
against escrow. These monies would go directly to an outside firm at an hourly
rate of $130.00 per hour. All other planner’s services would have to be
discontinued or secured via contract, thereby reducing potential savings.
Mr. Raths gave the same scenario
with contract Engineering Services and Inspection Services. If these positions
are eliminated there would be impact to the Township as inspection services
on Township projects and complaint monitoring would be discontinued.
Police Services – the 2001 State
Audit Team recommended the elimination of the following police services. SWAT
Team, Dive Team, EMS Unit. The savings for 2006 would be minimal in that the
earliest retirement of a sergeant’s position is November 2006.
Discontinue Fire Prevention
Services. Fire Prevention Services would be provided by the State. The State
would collect fees. Safety services would be discontinued. Such service
includes: accident review, safety team meetings and safety program
recommendations. These services positively impact the Township’s property and
casualty insurance rating.
Dial-A-Ride provides service for
medical appointments. The Township would discontinue bus service for weekly
club meetings, meals-on-wheels, shopping trips, holiday parties, etc. There
would be one bus and one driver. The van serviced approximately 305 residents
in 2005, which includes 948 trips for medical appointments.
Public Health Nursing-Eliminate
one part-time public health nurse. The Township would discontinue male and
female cancer screenings, senior citizen hypertension screening and semi-annual
SMAC program
Animal Control – Reduce service
to part-time. The response time to complaints would be reduced. Investigation
of potential West-Nile incidents would be impacted.
Eliminate Public Assistance and
Social Services – Eliminating services would require the approximately 237
customers to secure services from the county. The following services would be
eliminated or reduced: closure of the food panty and clothing center (or sole
reliance on volunteers), referrals to shelters, toys and food distribution
during Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Eliminate Information Technology
Services – Eliminating services would require departments and staff to maintain
and upgrade systems. This includes the website. The Township could contract
with a private vendor between $100 and $125 per hour. This would provide 929
hours of service at $100 per hour. The remaining services provided by the
department would be discontinued or curtailed.
Contract Equipment Repair – This
issue has been discussed in past years and concluded that it would not be in
the best interest of the Township for all equipment repair to be contracted
with outside facilities. We would lose control with regard to the actual
repairs needed. This would not cover the costs of major component repairs for
the first 6-months of the contract. In other words, if a garbage truck blew an
engine, the Township would be responsible.
In summary reducing or
eliminating services completely would be an annual savings of $1,962,181. This
though would cost individual homeowners and residents financially for private
services and for those that could not afford to pay directly to a provider
would have no service at all. Included in this is the need of services for our
senior citizens.
Discussion ensued by Council
pertaining to the presentation. The intent of this report was to see what
services if cut and the impact it would have on our residents.
The Council agreed that the proposed cuts could not be
followed, as it would be too great an impact on the services for our
residents. The Council agreed that they would need to look at each line item
and also ask Mr. Raths to go back to his departments to see where they could
cut back in order to bring the budget in at an acceptable amount.
Mr. Hall questioned as to the
services supplied by Edmunds, as to whether they are bronze/silver/gold. Mr.
Raths will follow up with Ms. Palmieri.
Discussion took place as to the
cost for liability insurance and health insurance. Ms. DeCroce, Commissioner
for the MCJIF and NJHIF stated that she would go over the budget and verify
with Ms. Palmieri.
Council agreed that a Special
Budget Meeting would be held on February 21, 2006, at 7:30 PM. The Township Clerk will advertise for the Special Meeting.
Mr. Raths will schedule main
departments such as Police, Engineering, Planning etc. for the next budget
meeting.
PUBLIC PORTION
No Public Input
DRAFT ORDINANCES FOR DISCUSSION
None
ORDINANCES TO BE INTRODUCED
None
HEARING AND ADOPTION OF ORDINANCES ON SECOND READING
None
DRAFT RESOLUTIONS
None
INTRODUCTION AND ADOPTION OF RESOLUTIONS
None
COMMUNICATIONS
February 3, 2006
#12 Mayors Fax Advisory from William G. Dressell, Jr
Executive Director of NJLM dated February 2, 2006 RE: SCS-557, Recycling: A resolution
will be prepared asking for full funding.
Deputy Mayor Ciaramella amended the order of business to
open the meeting to the Public.
Chief Joe Lang
Roxbury Fire Department
Chief Lang discussed the current coverage of EMS in the
Township. Chief Lang stated that the coverage in the Township has improved and
changes that were implemented seem to be working.
Deputy Mayor Ciaramella closed the public portion.
Mr. Hall brought up for discussion the current negotiations
for Verizon to be a part of the cable industry. Discussion ensued and the
majority agreed that a letter be prepared by the Township Manager to the FCC
stating our concerns.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
None
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Rilee made a motion to adjourn the Budget Meeting. Mr.
Smith seconded the motion.
Roll Call: Mr. Rilee – Yes Mr.
Smith – Yes
Mr. Ciaramella – Yes Ms.
DeFillippo – Yes
Mr. Hall – Yes
Motion Carried 5 to 0
Submitted By:
BettyLou DeCroce
Township Clerk
MINUTES APPROVED BY COUNCIL:
DATE: March 28, 2006
ROLL CALL: Mr. Ciaramella – yes Mr.
Smith – yes
Mrs. DeFillippo – yes
Mr. Zoschak – abstain
Mayor Schmidt - abstain