Dustin Racioppi's column "M’TOWN LOOKS TO TRENTON FOR BUDGET HELP " that appeared on the rebbankgreen.com website yesterday made a lasting impression on a few people, not for what it contained but for what it didn't.
Gerry Scharfenberger makes for a good interview but unfortunately much of what qualifies as quotes from him are often lacking in truth or honesty. He seems to make stuff up as he goes along just so that he can tell people what he thinks they want to hear. Telling people not to worry because Govonor Christie will come to our rescue and bail out Middeltown from it's $5 million budget deficit we face is just one recent and classic example of that.
Gerry just refuses to "see" that Middeltown's finances are in crisis and that a large tax increase seems to be the only way out of the mess that he and his fellow republicans have made, unless of course he gets serious and sits down to discuss long term solutions to the problems that affect Middletown's budget. The governor's "toolbox" may help but it is not the solution.
Below a reader sent me a copy of Dustin Racioppi's column with comments attached. This person's comments appear in blue and they do a good job at countering much of what Scharfenberger told Racioppi. I included audio clips that I had laying around for added emphasis on a few points.
Remember Gerry, there are always two sides to a story. You can't ignore the one side while sugar coating the other without people taking notice and pointing it out:
CFO Trasente said that a budget could be ready for May presentation. He said this at the April 5 workshop meeting. Listen to the recording.
A quorum.
At least, that’s one reason Wednesday night’s scheduled introduction of the 2010 budget was delayed.
The unveiling of the budget, which runs on a calendar year, was first put off because the town had been without a chief financial officer for several months to help guide the township committee. Then the committee had to focus its fiscal efforts — including a very public jousting between the mayor and teachers’ union — on trimming the failed education budget.
Then, just when a spending plan was to be introduced, it appeared that not enough committee members could make Wednesday night’s special meeting.
It’s OK, though, says Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger. He and the four-member committee are waiting on some pending bills in Trenton that, if they pass, will allow for more reductions in spending. And there’s a temporary budget in place, he said.
This reads like the Mayor is not part of the Committee. This is furthest from the truth. In fact, Middletown has a 5 member Township Committee. One of the Committee members is selected to be Mayor so that meetings can be conducted in an orderly fashion.
“Fiscally we’re on very solid footing,” he said. “It’s not as bad as it seems.”
Being $5M in the hole at the beginning of the fiscal year is never that bad. I think the Mayor meant that having his foot in a $5M hole is a very solid fact.
Of course, he’s speaking in temporary budget terms. The short- and long-term budget picture is, naturally, ugly. State aid and municipal revenues are down, costs are up and the township was hit with a spate of retirements — including some this week — that will cost it beaucoup bucks that officials simply didn’t budget for, Scharfenberger said.
If it was not for the Christie administration changing the retirement rules there would not have been these retirements.
But that’s where the waiting game could pay off for Middletown, he said.
Pension and health benefits reform proposed by Governor Chris Christie, if approved, would not only limit the amount retirees are paid, but also spread the municipality’s payout over 10 years.
Scharfenberger pointed to Hackensack, which recently had to bond for millions in order to pay for a 33-employee exodus. Middletown, by the way, has seen 39 employees retire since Christie announced the changes, exposing it to huge costs.
It is always easy for Gerry to point fingers. He always forgets that there are 3 fingers pointing right back at him when he does this. People in Middletown do not care what Hackensack are doing. They want to know what Middletown is doing. They want to know why Middletown does not have a budget going into the 6th month of the year.
“That just goes to show, it’s not just Middletown,” Scharfenberger said. “This year, so many people retired because of the changes in the state. There was no way to see this coming.”
This just goes to show if it was not for the Christie administration changing the retirement rules there would not have been these retirements. How can you not see this coming? He must have been blind and on another planet with Christie if they did not see this coming.
Scharfenberger also said Christie has proposed changes that allow places like Middletown to opt out of civil service agreements, which would make sharing services more feasible. Middletown is bound by the rules of the Civil Service Commission, which requires tests and screening, making it harder to find outside municipalities that have as-qualified employees to share.
If the change goes through, “That would be a ripple effect on the town,” Scharfenberger said.
This is a big If. What IF they don’t go through? Do we bond for millions like Hackensack?
Middletown officials are also negotiating with health insurance companies to save money and have applied for financial relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for recent flooding, as opposed to paying out of pocket.
How is FEMA going to bail us out? FEMA relief has nothing to do with the Township budget. This statement should not be in this article discussing the Township budget. FEMA relief is for the businesses and homeowners, not the Township.
The Township is self insured and has spent millions already this year in claims and premiums.
Scharfenberger is “cautiously optimistic” that some or all of these measures will come through before the town’s budget is presented to the public.
The Mayor should be helping in putting a budget together instead of looking for others to bail him out. Is this the osmosis part?
“Rather than introduce it and go back and change it,” Scharfenberger said, “we want to be able to cut as much as we can before we introduce it.”
Nothing is being cut because nobody has stepped up to provide the “toolbox” to do the cutting. Right now the toolbox is empty and the ship is sinking.
Scharfenberger said the committee will shoot for late next week or early the following week to bring the budget forward.
He is waiting until after the primary so that he has a better opportunity to be on the ballot in November. There will not be much of a change between now and next week, as far as something coming through to help. The Township Committee should be working on NEXT YEARS BUDGET, not the one that started this past January.
1 comment:
Who were the 39 and what did they get? How many more of these big payouts are due ?
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