December 2, 2006
A Budget Meeting of the Township Council of the Township of
Roxbury was held on December 2, 2006 at 1715 Route 46, Ledgewood, New Jersey at
9:00 AM.
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 Saturday, December 2, 2006 at 9:00AM at 1715 Route 46, Ledgewood, New Jersey
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 November 14,
2006; notice was posted on the bulletin board in the main hallway of the
Municipal Building on November 14, 2006.
ROLL CALL: (Present) Councilwoman Kathy DeFillippo,
Councilmen Fred Hall, Jim Rilee, Tim Smith, John Ciaramella, and Mayor Martin
Schmidt
ALSO PRESENT: Christopher
Raths, Township Manage; Lisa Palmieri, Chief Financial Officer and Janet Rieth,
Deputy Township Clerk
Councilman Zoschak arrived at 9:05 AM
Mr. Raths gave Council an overview of the Township and
advised that, according to the Banisch report/build out summary, there would be
a maximum 825 more potential residential units, with a potential additional
population of 2,343 and 335 potential
new school aged children. This is approximately a 10% growth over the current
population. Mr. Raths stated that
Roxbury Township is a mature community and will not be looking at the growth
that was seen in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
It is, therefore, important, for Council to consider how services are provided. We do not need to look at services for just
solely population growth. Mr. Raths
advised that the Council needs to look at more specific programs, what to
provide and how to provide it, rather than just addressing the needs of a
growing community.
Mr. Raths advised Council that in 2002 there were 178 full
time and 45 part time positions. We are
now at 171 full time positions and 42 part time. The annual change in revenue has been approximately 3% per annum
from 2001 to 2006. Expenditures have
increased 4.2% over the five year period.
At this time Mr. Raths had Council independently list five
accomplishments, five challenges and five strategies and strengths to meet the
challenges in the past five years.
Mr. Raths compared Council’s answers with those from the
staff. Mr. Raths will put the
information into a summary memo for Council.
At 10:30 AM Council took a short break and Mr. Rilee left
the Budget Meeting.
At 10:40 AM Council returned to the Budget Meeting.
Mr. Raths stated that one of the
most important things for Council to do is to create a vision plan for the
future. Mr. Smith stated that creating
a vision should be Council’s #1 priority.
Mr. Raths would like to bring in people who can facilitate this and work
with Council and Department Heads.
Mr. Raths stated that two goals
for the Manager for 2007 are to put together a shared services plan for the
Township and to assist the Council in developing a multi year vision for the
community.
Lisa Palmieri, Chief Financial
Officer, presented the five year revenue and expense history and forces driving
the budget. Ms. Palmieri reiterated
that all projections were done before she and Mr. Raths sat down with the
Department Heads to review their budgets.
Ms. Palmieri advised that in 2005 the Township realized
$960,000 more that was anticipated and the majority of that was from local
revenue and tax revenues (added assessments, added taxes). In 2006 73% of the revenue sources came from
taxes, compared to 66% in 2001. The
Township is relying less on fund balance to balance the budget and more on tax
revenue.
Ms. Palmieri stated that on October 23, 2001 she presented
to Council a projection of where the Township would be five years into the
future. A budget of $23,045,000 was
projected and the 2006 adopted budget was $23,376,000, which is a 1% deviation
of where we expected to be.
Ms. Palmieri advised Council that in 2007 there will be 27
pay periods, instead of the usual 26, which will cost approximately
$500,000. This happens approximately
every 10 years. She will put this
information in a memo to Council. The
Township is looking at possibly changing the pay periods to the first and the
fifteenth of the month.
Ms. Palmieri advised that the pension increase for 2007
will be approximately $100,000 over last year for PERS and approximately
$200,000 for PFRS. Council requested
that Ms. Palmieri look into any options for bonding money for pensions.
Mr. Smith stated that he would like to see all costs
compared to revenues for each department. Ms. Palmieri will put together a
profit and loss statement for each department that generates revenue.
Mr. Raths stated that the Capital
Budget presentation is scheduled for the December 12th meeting. The Operating Budget will be presented at
the first or second meeting in January.
At 12:05 PM Mr. Zoschak made a motion to adjourn the
Budget Meeting. Mr. Ciaramella seconded
the motion.
All In Favor – Yes
Submitted By:
________________________
BettyLou DeCroce
Township Clerk
MINUTES APPROVED BY COUNCIL
DATE: January
9, 2007
ROLL CALL: Mr.
Zoschak – yes Mr. Schmidt – yes
Mrs.
DeFillippo – yes Mr. Hall –yes
Mr.
Rilee – yes (on the portion he attended)
Mr.
Smith –yes Mayor Ciaramella – yes