It’s the budget that won’t go away, but tonight, Montclair council will vote on the 2010 budget at special meeting at 8 p.m. Just don’t expect it to be adopted quietly or unanimously. The $70,430,948 budget which comes with a 5.8% tax increase can finally be voted on, now that the prospect of Montclair receiving any transitional aid is off the table. We emailed Montclair town council members to get their pre-vote reactions/thoughts to tonight’s votes. We’ve included those who responded by press time, but we’ll update if more responses come in.
Renee Baskerville says she is still not satisfied that council has done all they could to “trim the fat” out of the budget. She was scheduled to meet with the manager this past Friday to have a final attempt to share her budget concerns. An emergency came up and he needed to cancel the meeting. Yesterday, Baskerville said she expected to meet him this morning.
An area where Baskerville thinks savings can result in is changes to health benefits and life-long benefits to families of township employees. “Providing affordable, quality health-care for all certainly is the cornerstone of my platform in life, but Montclair seems to be at the top of the list in terms of having minimal to no contribution from employees and their families, as well as being vested for life after very few years of service.”
Baskerville also wonders about township properties that are not being utilized and whether they could generate revenue, or if not rented, be used for seniors and youth activities. Says Baskerville, “I can’t answer the question about if I will support the budget tomorrow. A lot has to do with our meeting. I also need to sit back and take a hard look at what it will mean if I vote against the budget — how that will affect our ability to handle day to day township functions, and if my budgetary concerns will make a difference in what the taxpayers see. The problem with passing it is, if I am feeling ignored now, imagine what will happen after we vote the budget in. The chances of my concerns then becoming top priority don’t seem promising.”
Africk, who has long been irked about this budget, said he has made repeated recommendations for further budget cuts. ” At a council ‘upstairs’ meeting, I said I wanted, in response to a direct question from the Mayor, an additional $300,000 in cuts,” says Africk.
Back in April, Africk says he suggested the new town manager take a look at all the promotions and hires the former town manager made in the last 12 months prior to his departure. “We had lived for years without those promotions/hires. I suggested we roll them back,” says Africk, who also suggested closing the Bellevue branch of the Montclair library and leasing it out, which he estimates would bring in at least $10,000 per month.
Africk wanted to take a hard look at every position and program in the town and break them out into two columns: must have and nice to have. He adds that he and councilor Rich Murnick have also suggested putting health insurance out for study and re-bid. Another suggestion was asking both the police and fire departments to consider how a reorganization might enable the elimination of five positions with minimal effect on the town. “Mind you, all of this requires a mindset that says we have a financial crisis at hand – people are seriously hurting,” says Africk. “But I don’t think we have this mindset.”
In June, Mayor Jerry Fried expressed his views on the Montclair budget, including who to blame, as well as successes and failures, in a three-part letter.
Take a look at the budget and tell us your thoughts.
Asking department heads to “consider how a reorganization might enable…” ?
That’s leadership? Making a list of “nice to have’s?”
This is a whole lot of nothing.
How about an ordinance to close the library? You know, like making a decision.
How about refusing to pass a budget until the increase is capped at 2%?
Asking the manager to “take a look at new hires” is nothing more than buck passing and more of the same bullsh*t.
THIS JUST IN….
The prof has decided to donate ONE DOLLAR to the Township of Montclair. He is hoping to attract another 99,999,999 folks to join him to equal the 100 million Zuckerberg gave to Newark.
Donations can be sent to bikewalkmontclair.org
The New Slogan:
Vote Africk: He called for lists to be made!
Vote for the budget, run the risk of a recall as far as i am concerned.
oh, a recall, dazed. I’m sure they’re terrified….
Agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Baskerville….her 4th ward concerns will definitely be ignored if this budget is passed, as will the concerns of all the residents in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd wards. BUT, this will not stop the Mayor as evidenced by the bloated BOE budget that was foisted upon us in the spring.
Will refreshments be served tonight? Or how bout a frontal labotomy as that’s the only way to understand the pols in town.
““Providing affordable, quality health-care for all certainly is the cornerstone of my platform in life.”
Frankly we’re doomed until our local politicians’ “Platform in life” is to run the township in a fiscally sound manner.
we’re in this hole because of clowns like this.
Maybe the Mayor is already making plans to change the name Montclair to the Township of Fried, just think the streets will be lined with families bike riding to neighborhood pot luck dinners, the sun will always be shining, schools and businesses will be thriving,all the banks in town will be closed because, hey… who needs money in the Township of Fried.
You mean the Fiefdom of Fried…he is the King and we are the serfs.
Wow, ROC, Cary must have done some beat down on you when he stole your lunch money in kindergarten.
I suppose you’re right Howard. Perhaps I’m too hard on Cary. After all, where would we be without someone issuing the clarion call for others to “look into” things? Or without “hard look” columnar lists?
Oh, yeah, exactly where we are now!
ROC, you’re not right wing enough. Face up to it.
Tax cuts don’t work. Government intervention into the private market doesn’t work. Even small town government doesn’t work. Everything is broken. We have lost our way. It is time to live like our Founding Fathers, and bring back slavery.
Then with all the money we’d save, nationwide, due to millions of human pieces of property earning $0 salaries and $0 benefits, we’d really see a massive budget surplus in Washington, and in every town, and in every retirement portfolio across out land, just like the good old days.
Spiro,
Your post should have simply said: I am an ASS.
That you are so dumb and insensitive that you would equate either political party with the systematic enslavement of a people is well, dumb and insensitive.
Or was that you being funny?
Either way- it reads only one way….
Thanks for the laugh Prof. Couldn’t have said it better.
Montclair’s high taxes aren’t worth it for the services rendered. Simple as that. Proximity to NY, neat little eateries, Lackawanna plaza, all those niceties aside–tax relief is needed.
I am getting both more curious and more hopeless.
Is there anyone out there that thinks the incumbent Manager and Council are doing a good job? If so, why?
In the spirit of civic mindedness Nick. (as well as to get something finally accomplished) I hereby make “repeated recommendations” for a more effective township government.
There! Next problem!
Well you know professor, slavery was very popular for a long time in this country. And the south was very affluent as a result. The Bible, AKA the word of God, has many humane laws on how to treat one’s slave.
Funny you should mention if anyone thinks the Manager and Council are doing a good job. I asked a friend that this morning and we could not think of one person in all of our various circles in town that is happy and not very concerned as to what is going on. The situation is very dire and even though it is fun to poke fun at,there needs to be something that we as a community can do. Maybe a recall is the answer. The Mayor does not seem to get it. Whether you can affford to pay the taxes or not is not the question here. No one can make any sense of the ridiculous tax situation we are in, and to think that this Mayor somehow tries to justify it is only the beginning of the problem. Personally, I think we are in lots of trouble and this is only the beginning. Let’s hope the budget doesn’t pass and the State comes in and takes over.
“The Bible, AKA the word of God, has many humane laws on how to treat one’s slave.”
It’s got some good advice regarding fools, too.
Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, honor is inappropriate for a fool.
Like a flitting sparrow or a fluttering swallow, an undeserved curse goes nowhere.
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools.
Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness, or you’ll be like him yourself.
Answer a fool according to his foolishness, or he’ll become wise in his own eyes.
The one who sends a message by a fool’s hand cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.
A proverb in the mouth of a fool is like lame legs that hang limp.
Giving honor to a fool is like binding a stone in a sling.
A proverb in the mouth of a fool is like a stick with thorns, brandished by the hand of a drunkard.
The one who hires a fool, or who hires those passing by, is like an archer who wounds everyone.
As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.
Passing the budget is the easy way out. Done, let the taxpayers make up for our ineptitude. The current council should NOT pass the budget. Just say no. Sit down and figure it how to make it flat. No increase.
This council is a complete an utter joke. West Orange managed a 0% increase. Montclair managed a greater than 10% increase in their municipal tax. And for this the Fried Five is proud. It’s simply embarrassing and pathetic.
ROC, you need to lay off Cary so much. He is one of seven. Four of them always vote in lockstep like the mindless sheep that they are and usually a fifth lackey joins them. Cary must work within the confines of the town council. It’s bad enough they already consider him a Joe the Plumber type. Then again, the Fried Five consider all of their constituents Joe the Plumber types. Unless of course, a resident happened to be a member of blue wave or have joined the green fraternity of earth sustainers.
Your just angry and you don’t understand. We had to lay off 7 part timers ROC. It’s different now. So what if revenues have dropped 20%. We had to lay off 7 part timers!!!! Some these people live in Montclair. Seven!!!! Did you hear me?
Well with such concrete policies like:
“I said I wanted, in response to a direct question from the Mayor, an additional $300,000 in cuts,” says Africk.”
it’s hard to know where things went wrong, huh Stu?
I mean deciding where to cut $300,000 is just the minutia, right? Or is it perhaps that by being specific about what should be cut, or which new hires should be “looked in to” Mr. Africk would actually have to commit to a political position?
I’m never sure what’s worse. A do-nothing politician or a lip-service politician. I do know the result is precisely the same….
Hey, I am beginning to think ROC is really Jerry Fried in disguise. You know like trying to make us all think Cary is inept and deflecting all the Towns troubles away from him… very intersting indeed.
ROC,
Yuu should have watched the meeting where Fried decided that some of the proposed cuts to the library, pre-K and arts commission were restored. No new revenues were found nor were any real justifications made for their restoration besides, “The library couldn’t function with the full cut. The Library director told us so. The Pre-K uses most of the money to pay for scholarships, this would be unfair. The arts commission would have to stop paying their workers for the rest of the year.”
There was absolutely not a single mention of the loss in revenue or the impact these budget restorations would have on the proposed tax increase. The town council simply player Robin Hood and didn’t bother to run the numbers. One by one, each town council member explained why this restoration was needed. Except for Cary who was still against the library restoration. Did it matter? Of course not. The Fried Five are all well to do and do not feel the impact of these tax increases. They are a bunch of boobs and there is nothing that Cary can do to stop them from thinking they are saving the world, while in actuality, they are destroying it.
SUCCESS!
I’ve obviously succeeded in deflecting the troubles away from the mayor and council.
(clever me!)
You haven’t deflected them away from me… I really need to know how much my property taxes are going to increase so I can decide if I am buying 1 or 2 new pair of Prada shoes this fall. If we wait much longer the season will be over! I know I can always wait for spring but I don’t want to!
Might I suggest you throw your old shoes at the mayor tonight since you will no longer need them?
Spiro’s next post:
“No really, I’m an ASS!”
According to the NJ constition it would take 25% of registered voters to recall an elected official that is in the US congress. Anyone have a tip on what percentage it would take to recall a local elected official of Montclair? I’ve been searching the web to no avail.
Professor, you could have easily deduced from my years of liberal posts here that I support neither slavery nor the literal interpretation of the Bible, so your insult was merely foul and gratuitous.
But as the right wing grows to resemble a lunatic assylum more and more with each passing day, I would expect insane views like those to slowly mainstream.
I hope I am wrong about my fellow Americans. But I know I am right about you, Williams.
you are a wonder Spiro. A person who labels others in favor of slavery now has his feathers in a ruffle because some one else’s insult is “foul and gratuitous”.
You really never have much of substance to say Spiro. Do you imagine it’s clever repartee on your part?
ROC, you have rarely resorted to personal attacks on Baristanet, unlike the Prof, so I am surprised at your post. My feathers are hardly in a ruffle, (despite your certainty that they are). I stand beside my “foul and gratuitous” assessment of the Professor’s latest foray into name calling.
To kindle a personal attack from you, ROC, suggests that I am getting uncomfortably close to the dank and dirty underside of conservative beliefs today.
We should be most concerned with dealing with tax increases. A recall won’t happen, and remember this is the town that said we do not want an elected Board of Education even though it would allow us to vote on the education budget.
You know Spiro, for types like you, silence means you are right; a loud response means you are right; anger means you are right; indifference means you are right.
Congratulations!
Voters in this town dug this hole for themselves. What we’re witnessing is the predictable angst when fiscal reality intrudes on cherished progressive ideals that so many people here seem hardwired with. There is good debate on this site, but the majority of our neighbors still don’t seem to fully grasp the magnitude and intractability of the problems confronting us, and that the solution isn’t just more taxes and wealth transfer.
I think Cary is exactly right for providing a simple framework for deciding what we can and cannot afford. A list allows us to make smart decisions, instead of making decisions in a vacuum. The $3.5M senior center is a great example, as I seem to remember someone in the government saying that ‘of course you would borrow money to buy the lot next to you because you don’t want to miss a great opportunity”, or something of that sort. The library system is another good example. Maybe it makes sense to run both branches as is, but look at the whole picture before you make that assessment.
The ever-escalating property taxes are unsustainable. We need action now. It will be hard work, someone has to sweat the details on the budget, and we need to make tough, clear-eyed decisions.
“No really, I’m an ASS!”
Prof, every once in a great while, you can be really very funny.
They are a bunch of boobs and there is nothing that Cary can do to stop them from thinking they are saving the world, while in actuality, they are destroying it.
Nailed it.