The township of Montclair took one step closer to having a 2010 budget last night, when the council passed a resolution to amend the budget, decreasing appropriations from $70,687,749.71 to $70, 417,608.71.
Although this budget is not set in stone, it needed to be passed in order for there to be a legal public discussion on the topic. Mayor Jerry Fried urged everyone in attendance to keep an eye out for an upcoming public budget hearing, and hopes for a good turnout. “We really need to get the public involved to get it done,” First Ward Councilor Richard Murnick said during the meeting.
The township also passed a resolution requesting the Tax Assessor to submit an application to perform a reassessment of Montclair properties. The last property revaluation was performed in 2006. The council said the reassessment would hopefully cut down on the increase of tax appeals.
Township Attorney Alan Trembulak said it would cost between $100,000 to $150,000 to do the reassessment but the town spends at least that much — if not more — to defend tax appeals.
“This will be much different than a reevaluation,” Trembulak said. “It will mostly be done internally based on data the county already has.”
Also during last night’s meeting, a contract was awarded to Commercial Interiors Direct, Inc. to replace the carpets in the Montclair Public Library for $161,530.99.
The existing carpets are a safety concern, due to tears and bubbles which create a tripping hazard. The new carpet will also be color coded for different zones of the library.
The first floor of the library will require 10,000 square feet of carpet and 12,000 square feet on the second floor. Second Ward Councilor Cary Africk was not happy with the large amount of money being spent on carpets, even though Commercial Interiors had the lowest price out of four proposals. “We still have not had a chance to review priorities,” he said. “There is no fiscal budget. Yes, safety and color are important but I want to draw attention to the extraordinary economic times we are living in.”
The resolution states that funds were allocated for the rugs in three separate accounts from 2006, 2007 and 2009.
The resolution passed with majority of the vote, except from Africk who voted against it.
Africk is irked again.
$200,000 for carpeting. This isn’t “normal” carpeting. I’m told it’s “wayfinding” carpeting. I am not making this up.
By color coding the carpeting it’s easier to find various sections of the library, though if you want to find the fiction section just attend any Council budget meeting.
But I digress.
Yes, safety is of concern. It was also of concern in the Little Theater at the High School, for example, for years when the seats were broken and cabling was exposed with the danger people might trip but the powers that prevailed said “we don’t have the money.”
And this spending is part of the Capital Budgeting process which hasn’t even STARTED for 2010. Maybe there’s something MORE important than library carpeting.
And what really gets me is that the money for this is coming from “left over” money from 2006, 2007 and 2008. “Left over money?” If we have money left over the question is why did we borrow more than we needed and why didn’t we use it to repay debt?
And the the Council even went on to approve another $50K in wall repair work at the library using money from 2004. This was presented as “an emergency.” How, exactly, did we know in 2004 that we’d have a “wall emergency” in 2010?
This is what drives me crazy. An inability to BUDGET and TRACK and REPORT.
Cary Africk
2nd Ward Councilor
Wow, Rich, you state that “we really need to get the public involved” yet you voted to keep citizens in the dark on the MSU sewer project. Good thing Renee, Jerry and Renee shot you down. Please promise taxpayers you won’t run for Mayor–the last thing this town needs is a dishonest politician. Jerry is doing just fine! Maybe, Cary, you should move to the first ward. We would welcome you with open arms! We think your opinions and attitude is spot-on!!!
It’s a magic carpet, Cary. That’s why it’s so expensive. Didn’t we spend millions of dollars “renovating” the library a few years ago, when we could have built a new building for the price? Why doesn’t the township get the same warranties and guarantees of a job done correctly, as does a private citizen?
The budget process is one step forward, 1,000 steps back. I, too, want to know the location of the piggy bank with all the of the “extra” funds. With our huge debt, one wonders how anything could be called extra. Oh, yes, I’m going to get the explanation about capital funds vs. operating funds. Money is money, everywhere but in Montclair.
I take it there has to BE carpet for sound absorption purposes? Could we try just removing the current carpet–which I was thinking the other day was very worn, torn, and threadbare, a testament to how much our library is used!–and see how that goes before installing new carpet?
Forget the wayfinding color scheme–that sounds ridiculous. If you have to look down to see where you are, you’re already lost.
I understand the need for carpeting; imagine the reverb in that place with wood or tile floors!! but Wayfinding carpet??! In that case, why don’t they just install a parade of chairs on a track system, like in the movie Wall*E, and when you enter the library you sit down, speak into the mircrophone as to what department you want, and then enjoy the ride. No thinking required.
(isn’t anyone accountable for their own self-sufficiency anymore!?!)
Wow. The library is 55,000 square feet. $3 per square foot installed would be a fair price for mid-range carpeting if you were carpeting your 2,000 square foot home. There are huge economies of scale when carpeting a building such as a library. What is this carpeting made out of? Gold?
All of these capital purchases are really adding up. But what’s another $200,000 added to the $230 million we already owe. Right? Did the president of the library explain how the library would not be able to function with normal carpeting as he did when describing the impact of the $700,000 proposed operating cut.
Fried and this council have absolutely no spine and no care about your taxes. A 10-11% increase to your municipal budget (the one they control) is absolutely unacceptable. 131 homeowners in Montclair are now in some form of distress. We can solve this problem by making people bike everywhere, increase trade with China and focus on other issues of sustainability. This council needs to start worrying less about mother earth and more about Montclair. What a complete an utter joke they are. In other news, we built a 35 million dollar school that we apparantly no longer need as the trend in kindergarten classes is trending downward due to economic issues. Perhaps next Fried will pass an ordinance that we all have less children to control our taxes. Perhaps he learned about this as the representative of Mountclair City in his recent visit to China.
It isn’t as if Montclair is alone with all these financial woes . . . as Montclair goes, so goes the nation.
Two wrongs don’t make a right tempewicke.
I can provide millions of dollars in savings that I have proposed over the years. Enough to have not needed to make any cuts to the library, pre-k, or the arts commission.
I can also provide you examples of many towns in New Jersey that have little debt and have held their budgets to zero percent increases.
I’m fairly certain that these districts do not pay to pipe music into their elementary school cafeterias at lunch time. Sure they might have installed a few portable classrooms to handle the temporary increase in students during the tech bubble, but I bet it cost them just a bit less than 35 million. Today these portable sit empty. We now have a beuatiful school that is at 66% capacity. This number will worsen in the coming years as the economy double dips when the banks which keep kicking their distressed mortgage can down the road, reach a dead end.
Montclair is supposed to be progressive, forward thinking and so much better than the average Jersey town. It’s a shame that when it comes to our debt, we excuse it by grouping ourselves with everyone else. Any business can sell a product for less to increase sales. Unfortunately, it’s the bottom line that matters. In Montclair, the bottom line is wholly ignored. Didn’t you hear? Things are different now. We laid off 13 people, most who were part time. The actions of this town council will absolutely have a negative impact on your property values. This is why they chose to ignore a request to meet with local realtors and have discounted the report on our debt by the volunteer finance committee. Meanwhile, as Rome is burning, our Mayor is teaching China how to put out fires. You can’t make this stuff up. And you blindly and deafly support it. It must be nice to afford it.
our Mayor is teaching China how to put out fires
and he’s teaching our children how to speak Mandarin, so they’re prepared in case China calls our country’s Note and decides to take possession.