Notice of a special meeting — to address the appointment of a new (or maybe reappointed?) town attorney and to continue budget deliberations — was issued by Montclair township earlier today. The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, September 30, at 4:00 P.M. While it’s slated to be held in the second floor conference room of the municipal building, Cary Africk told Baristanet that he has suggested the meeting be moved to the first floor in order to accommodate a larger number of attendees and facilitate it being televised.
Regarding the appointment of a new township attorney, both Councilors Murnick and Africk believe that Alan Trembulak has done an exemplary job in his role, and feel he should be reinstated. “We should be focusing 100% of our efforts on the budget right now,” Murnick said. “There’s no reason why the council can’t dig in its heels and pass it.”
While we wait for the next installment of township budget decisions, here for your review are some strategies that Councilors Murnick and Africk have put together to resolve the budget quagmire:
1. Form a “regional” library with surrounding towns. We could provide
the overall administrative services for, say, Glen Ridge, Bloomfield, Nutley, Cedar Grove, and Verona.2. Combine administrative services for at least ONE police force other than our own, e.g. Glen Ridge.
3. Are the number of levels in MPD too many? How do other towns do it?
4. Could the $2.6MM from the sewer connection fees to Montclair State have found their way into the operating budget?
Based on [Africk's] conversations, this might be possible with approval from the State. Let’s stop automatically saying “no” to these things. Let’s investigate! If we can willingly take less from the Montclair Parking Authority, why can’t we take this money from the Water/Sewer Utility?
5. We should conduct an independent review of the Montclair Parking Authority. Trim their budget, and a subcommittee should be formed to determine costs and benefits of turning the MPA into a Utility. Right now we have no control.
6. Review ALL PROMOTIONS AND HIRES the prior Manager made in the last twelve months prior to his departure. We had lived sometimes for years without those promotions/hires. Roll them back. Did we really need to replace the Deputy Chief in MPD, for example?
7. Form a subcommittee to investigate additional outsourcing, including outsourcing for trash pickup, bulky waste, and recycling. Report back in ONE MONTH with a Council Resolution. Consider requiring residents to do their own contracting for these services.
8. Put our Health Insurance out for study and re-bid. In order to do this a Loss History study had to be completed. It is my understanding that the prior Manager initiated this. Has it been done? Councilor Murnick and I have been told this is an area for considerable savings.
9. Next, is it possible to reorganize Community Services, or any other organization, further? Give more people more responsibility.
10. Meet with the County to see if there are other operations they could pick up for us. I still think “giving” Edgemont Park to the County makes financial and operational sense.
11. Next is a review of EVERY position and program in the Township. Are there other cuts?
12. And last, with regard to both police and fire, ask the Chiefs: If you HAVE TO, what positions would you cut and what would be the effect/cost savings?
I’m ready for the ROC onslaught (although you could be nice and cut me some slack — I’m really trying to make a difference)
Cary
Sounds an awful lot like walleroo’s 12 steps to me.
I hope the other council members haver a similarly long list of recommendations.
Wall’s comments were great! I was going to comment on them, but the Barista lady put my post up first.
Thanks, Wall!!
Cary
Cary,
I’ll try not to be mean. But this list of yours is another list of “maybes”. How about a concrete list of actual things we could do NOW to avoid a disastrous 2011.
Close the libraries.
Privatize the pools or make them 100% self-funding.
Suspend all non-necessary school programs – institute pay to play.
A list of positions to eliminate.
A list of non-necessary government entities to defund.
A list of services to privatize.
Unfortuantely your list won’t “make a difference” because it all needs “further study” which, let’s face it, won’t get done. I’ve lived here for nearly 2 decades and the WHOLE TIME politicians have been talking about “shared services”. It’s bunk.
I certainly hope you will not vote yes on the 2010 budget without concessions for the 2011 budget.
Can we count on that much?
I like the idea of combining town maintenance with the BOE. Do we really need 2 sets of trash collection, grounds crews, fleet of vehicles? Did you know that both groups to have their own backhoe? Are they really using both group’s machines on the same days???
ROC,
I’ll work with your list.
Close the Bellevue branch and lease out the building
OK on the pools
Only the Board can make decisions on the school programs.
I’ve got a couple of positions I think can be eliminated. We have some “stars” at the upper management level and I’d like to give them more to do with the resulting ability to cut another position, or two.
By the way, to go off on a total tangent, ever notice how organizations always pay attention to the weakest performers and try to “fix them?” Why not “feed the eagles” as the saying goes and just get rid of the non-performers?
Montclair Parking Authority should be made into a Utility with the resultant control now given back to the Town. Make a “Director of Utilities” who would have responsibility for BOTH the water/sewer utility and the Parking Utility.
Privatize sanitation, bulky waste, recycling, and park maintenance.
How am I doing?
Cary
Hey Mayor McCarthy, are you listening? Bloomfield’s next.
“Close the Bellevue branch and lease out the building”
How much revenue does that save/generate?
“OK on the pools”
How much revenue does that save/generate?
“Only the Board can make decisions on the school programs.”
But the council decides the budget, correct? hmmmmm? What to do? What to do?
“I’ve got a couple of positions I think can be eliminated. We have some “stars” at the upper management level and I’d like to give them more to do with the resulting ability to cut another position, or two.”
What positions are those? Do tell.
“By the way, to go off on a total tangent, ever notice how organizations always pay attention to the weakest performers and try to “fix them?” Why not “feed the eagles” as the saying goes and just get rid of the non-performers?”
I have no idea what you are getting at here.
“Montclair Parking Authority should be made into a Utility with the resultant control now given back to the Town. Make a “Director of Utilities” who would have responsibility for BOTH the water/sewer utility and the Parking Utility.”
When I look at the budget the PA does not seem to “make” any money above it’s cost. Does it? How Much?
“Privatize sanitation, bulky waste, recycling, and park maintenance.”
Good! When do you propose this in the form of a resolution?
“How am I doing?”
Here’s how to tell. Add up the cost of your savings and apply it to the likely 2011 tax increase. The closer the former gets to the latter the better you are doing.
Specifics are much more helpful in a list than things we have to “look into”.
So, now, here’s what you do. Put them all in a package with dollar signs attached (based on reality of course) and present them in the form of a resolution. Publicize it. Send it to the paper, post it here, post it on patch montclair (a fine site by the way). Then start demanding, and I mean DEMANDING similar specifics from your colleagues on the council. You can call it the Africk Plan for Zero Tax Growth. Keep pounding away until the rest of the council can’t stand it anymore and get the people behind you.
At all costs refrain from mealy-mouthed statements like “I’ve asked the manager to look into….”
Good luck. Get to it.
Signed,
Hoping to be a Fan,
Right of Center.
Cary, at the very least, go for the low hanging fruit. ROC is right. The pools should at least pay for themselves. . Get rid of the parking authority. Close both libraries. Make a list of positions to eliminate. Surely there are some. And don’t vote yes on any budget until you guys figure out how to keep 2011 flat. Completely flat. It will take years of no increases to make up for the past few years of nonsense.
p.s.
Are you willing to pledge a “no” vote on the 2010 budget until such time as the 2011 process is started NOW and a zero tax growth policy is adopted?
And for Cripes Sake, isn’t anyone interested in the story behind the switch in township attorney? Erika? Erika you there? Is this thing on?
Is anyone phoning (looking at YOU Erika)? Are questions being asked? walls of stone being put up? Calls not being returned? What do your unnamed sources on the council say?
I hear you ROC. Questions are being asked and we’ll get answers.
Great! Throw us a bone so’s we can start with the conspiracy theories. Something like “numerous calls to council members and the mayor seeking the reason behind Trembulak’s termination have gone unanswered.”
Perhaps our good buddy, Cary can fill us in…
I understand someone has started a pitchfork and burning torch concession for Thursday’s meeting. It starts at 4PM. Come early for a good seat.
Hey, I voted for the existing attorney when a vote came up last year. I’ve got enough stuff on my plate without changing attorneys. Beats me why some want to change.
p.s.
Next time – here’s a trick you can use Erika. Get something a little bit wrong on purpose so someone calls YOU with a correction and then you can ask them for the full story. Something a little bit inflammatory but rides the line carefully. You could say “Cause of Trembulak’s Termination Unknown” as a headline for example. It’s not untrue, but sounds like he might have been fired. Someone is sure to call you to correct it.
It works on us too. Done right you can summon, nearly on demand, any number of commenters….
“Hey, I voted for the existing attorney when a vote came up last year. I’ve got enough stuff on my plate without changing attorneys. Beats me why some want to change.”
Was there a vote to remove him? Who voted which way? Was there discussion? Did he resign Cary?
Let us, the public, know…
OK ROC,
==>> Here’s answers to the best of my knowledge to some of your questions (more to follow):
Close the Bellevue branch and lease out the building”
How much revenue does that save/generate?
==>> Full schedule is over $300K. Closing it, and leasing it out would generate $10K per month, potentially
“OK on the pools”
How much revenue does that save/generate?
==>> Excluding capital spending, closing the pools would only increase revenue $50K or so. However, there are BIG capital projects coming up! At least $100K for next year. Privatize the pools!
“Only the Board can make decisions on the school programs.”
But the council decides the budget, correct? hmmmmm? What to do? What to do?
==>> We get to vote on the entire budget: the whole enchilada. Only the BOSE gets to look at the line items, and since the Mayor is on the BOSE the BOSE effort is not very effective (I’m being kind)
“I’ve got a couple of positions I think can be eliminated. We have some “stars” at the upper management level and I’d like to give them more to do with the resulting ability to cut another position, or two.”
What positions are those? Do tell.
==>> I get into BIG trouble if I name names, but I think both Renee and I have several names. On an annual basis we’re talking $200K.
“By the way, to go off on a total tangent, ever notice how organizations always pay attention to the weakest performers and try to “fix them?” Why not “feed the eagles” as the saying goes and just get rid of the non-performers?”
I have no idea what you are getting at here.
==>> forget it
“Montclair Parking Authority should be made into a Utility with the resultant control now given back to the Town. Make a “Director of Utilities” who would have responsibility for BOTH the water/sewer utility and the Parking Utility.”
When I look at the budget the PA does not seem to “make” any money above it’s cost. Does it? How Much?
==>> as an authority, it has to be “self liquidating. It does this by providing lease payments to the Township. Obviously, if the MPA increases its own expenses with highly paid directors, managers, etc there is less money to send to the town. The MPA has missed it’s revenue goals to the town for about $800K over the last two years.
“Privatize sanitation, bulky waste, recycling, and park maintenance.”
Good! When do you propose this in the form of a resolution?
==>> I’m looking to reach agreement with the Manager on this tomorrow.
And be sure and come on Thursday!
On the Attorney,
I was told that on Thursday there will be four votes for the appointment of a new attorney. You’ll have to watch to see who votes which way, and what the attorney’s name is.
By my count Cary, that’s about a million.
For a zero percent tax increase you have another 3 million to cut.
What else?
Cary why is a new attorney up for a vote? Did Trembulak quit?
Is it my imagination or are you skirting answering these simple questions about Trembulak?
How would it be known that there are four votes for a new attorney when a vote has not yet taken place? Isn’t the council forbidden from conducting business in private and not in session?
Please explain.
Well, I like the Murnick and Africk 12 strategy program. I tried the 12 step program, but was unsuccessful. My alternative was to make sure that the Bottle King is one happy and prosperous business!
Cary,
While you’re looking for areas to streamline (cut), There seems to be excessive overhead at the boe. Realize they manage themselves, but when pushed to operate on less, here are some stats I found on their website:
16 secretaries at the central office. If you work for a corporation these days you need to be CEO or one level down for your own secretary …
16 secretaries at the high school. See above
A driver (if nothing else I would rename!! Imagining black car service)
And a number of misc job titles that seem ripe for elimination/combining. Agree with above post on combining maintenance crews and/or equipment. Boe has painters, electricians, duplicating service, tech coordinators, etc.
Very supportive of the schools and the excellent teachers my kids have had so far, but there seems to be an infrastructure that has gotten too fat (and not even happy. Often disgruntled).
I don’t actually know who has control over the school budget. Is it the town? If so, can we force them to work with less money but with the provision or strong suggestion that they look at these items rather than teacher positions?
ROC,
I only know what I have been told. There was no “official” vote, which of course can only be held in public.
Alan did not resign.
Mind you, things can change. Especially if the pitchforks and burning torches are real.
Sounds very “iffy” Cary. But not on your part at least. I mean how would someone know if canvasing or discussions had not taken place. I don’t know the exact law here, but it sounds odd to me.
jinx,
16 secretaries for the high school? That’s absurd. Whole university departments have one or two.
The council cannot control the BOSE but, the council could certainly “announce” that they think 16 secretaries is too much and reduce the overall budget by that precise amount. Just make sure the press knows the exact amounts involved and that the choice of either cutting the secretaries or cutting instruction is “of course” up to the BOE.
(there’s more than one way to skin a cat).
Amazing, huh? They’ve eliminated school librarians but we have 16 secretaries at the high school. It’s really an outrage.
Sadly I am out of town and can not go to the meeting.
Why not combine water & Sewer? Never understood why sewer can not rolled into water and renamed to water&Sewage.
Now is the right time to demand and institutionalize zero-based budgeting, Cary. Every 10 years or so
FWIW: I do not see why the branch library is so expensive and would like to see a reduction in force for fire and police considered instead.
Sewer remains a fiasco. A previous council separated it from the deductible real estate tax a few years ago to claim that our property tax increase was less than it actually was. The scam also included the claim that even though they mail out the bills, it didn’t cost the town a dime to make the change. This, of course, doesn’t explain why the alarm tax is processed in Colorado.
Cary,
I somehow ruptured my achilles tendon volunteering to coach Montclair’s Little Strikers last Sunday, but I plan to attend the meeting on Thursday night. I really think the downstairs regular meeting room would be most appropriate for transparency purposes (one of Fried’s election promises) for personal reasons, (less crutching) and due to what I would expect to be a very large audience. I’m really looking forward to it.
Don’t let us down. It is not your fault that we risk some financial penalty for taking so long to pass a budget. It’s the entire council’s fault for mistakenly restoring cuts without any rhyme or reason. The same council that implores us to ignores debt rating downgrades when they cause them, but hold the threat of a future debt downgrade against us for not following the King’s orders. The same can be said for the fear of having the state come in and help us run our finances. The state did not force us to seek a waiver to the cap nor did they force us into determining that a 10% municipal tax increase was acceptable. Perhaps having the state look into our books would be helpful. If the council can’t make the tough decisions, I’m sure some at the state level could.
Close ALL libraries? What kinda town doesn’t have a library???????????
How about an IT audit? Any employee who has been on the internet doing personal more than X amount of time a day clearly is not necessary. Even better, how about installing firewalls that limit internet use to 45 minutes a day unless that person has a job that specifically requires such.
“Close ALL libraries? What kinda town doesn’t have a library???????????”
Fiscally mismanaged – doubling their taxes every 5 years- BROKE ones. Duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What kind of town? That’s the $64 billion question. We need to rethink what makes this town what it is.
It can’t be what it was, what it still thinks it is: a town with long list of government supported vanities (ie, things that flatter our notion of ourselves). If we continue down that route in an effort to keep the status quo, the town will change despite ourselves, and not for the better–soaring taxes that brings the cost of living here out of reach of most people, or causes property values to collapse, will ensure that.
Instead, we need some way of preserving what we are (what we want to be) without spending money we don’t have. We need to articulate what this is and how we’re going to do it.
Let me start by saying I love the library and would be very sad to see it go. Where else can you browse online through thousands of books you never knew existed, and order them through the cooperative service, and receive an email when the books are ready for you to pick them up? Fabulous! But, if we can’t afford it anymore, then we can’t afford it.
However, closing the libraries would have a serious effect on kids who do not have internet access at home like my young neighbor. If homework is assigned that requires research, or finding an article, or whatever else, then those kids are going to get an automatic F – unless the school libraries stay open after hours and offer internet access and research assistance. That means school libraries would need to be updated (I don’t think Renaissance even HA one, yet!)
Or – maybe the district could finally do away with some of the nonsensical, repetitive and time-wasting homework I have seen over the years and focus on teaching! My 9th grader got a wrong answer on a recent homework question (in math), but the teacher only reviewed the answers the next day, and did not review the problem and explain it again for the kids who missed it. This is not productive, in my mind.
Someone said to zero-base – I fully agree. That means all township jobs, as well as everything in the budget. Maybe the schools too. In my company, we haven’t gotten to that yet… but the big bosses have said “shrink your staffs by 10%” and we’ve had to figure out how to do just that. If the Council would take a firm stand and tell all the departments to cut X% I’ll bet it could be done. These are tough times and it would stink to let people go, but what other option is there?
As long as the mayor can keep up his conference calls to China, Kay. That’s the important thing.
“Council would take a firm stand and tell all the departments to cut X% I’ll bet it could be done.”
Fried will propose 10% cuts to the 2011 budget around October 10, 2011.
You’re right, ROC. Last year they patted themselves on the back for a 4% increase. This year, they’ve done all they can do, so let’s move on. There’s a perception that these increases are “acceptable”.
And Walleroo nailed it, the town will change if the average $650,000 home has a $20k+ tax bill. People are already moving, or planning to move, or thinking about moving as soon as their kids are out of school. With that kind of middle class, middle aged exodus we are likely to see property values plummet. We will reach a tipping point at which a $400,000 home with a $25k tax bill will not be very appealing to most buyers.
I think we’re already at the tipping point gurl. We’re not “competitive” with other townships the same distance from NYC with lower taxes, just as mediocre schools, and the same or better services.
People are moaning about pool fees, closing libraries and cutting back the arts council. But if we keep to this path we’ll be cutting police enforcement at a time of rising crime and paying for our own garbage service in a few years.
How’s the doggy park look these days everyone? Kip’s Castle? The Iris Gardens? Essex County “Environmental (and Maple Sugaring lesson) Center”? Those and myriad more all purchased with state debt. I’ll bet without that debt the state could aid municipalities and education more.
We’ve lost sight of the purpose of government in this country. The correction is here. Ultimately the “conservatism” of the pocket book will always win. The sad thing is that as usual the victims of big government will be the poor, infirm and children.
I hear the recession is over.
Things are getting better.
Obama is FIRED UP!!!
Didn’t ya hear?
It’s all getting better!
Why is there so much focus on what could be charitably described as pimples on the butt of the real problem here? Pools and libraries. For so many that wear their liberalism on their sleeve and claim that they specifically moved to this town because of it’s diversity, it is somewhat hypocritical to want to focus on eliminating or raising the costs of services that would disproportionally impact the less fortunate among us. As a community, we need to get something tangible for our taxes rather than just paying into the public employees grotesquely bloated pension system.
Arguably the libraries are woefully underutilized, and that appears to be long term trend supported by dramatic advances in the availability of information and study habits that are forever changed by modern technology. Libraries must look for ways to adapt and better serve a broader cross section of the community, but the children’s programs and services that they provide to individuals that can’t afford the kind of broadband access that lots of us take for granted are valuable.
The pools provide necessary recreation to the members of the community. To put it more plainly, bored children hanging around with nothing to do often wind up in trouble. Keeping the pools open and accessible is a small price to pay, even at subsidized levels.
I’m all for market based solutions like privatizing trash collection. From my vantage point here, I have a bird’s eye view of our sanitary engineers at work. I’m mystified by what appears to be a fairly recently implemented work rule that requires them to collect trash/recycling from only one side of the street at a time. So after coming through once, they return often hours later to collect from my neighbors across the street. I could understand if it were a safety issue, but realistically..come on. Aside from the ridiculous inefficiency, privatizing the system would address the core of the budget crisis; that is, the employee benefits would not be long term municipal obligations. Presumably many current municipal employees would be taken on by the private hauler that won the contract through a competitive bid. Big current and future savings.
Well said ROC.
“provide necessary recreation”
Oy vey.
I agree big bucks could be reclaimed with renegotiating union contracts. But our blue progressive state laws tie the hands of local governments in union negotiations. Perhaps with more conservative state politicians this could eventually change.
When many operate from a position that pools are necessary to keep bored kids from becoming criminals, its pretty hopeless I think.
Government as “watchful parent” is a notion largely responsible for the coming collapse. We’ve tried that. And it leads to our current situation.
You cant cut our taxes without cutting the BOE budget. Period and end of story.
Since the BOSE (Fried 3-guess who?) wont do that, cuts will NEVER happen on this watch.
Without cutting the BOE costs, everything else is just lipstick on the pig.
Jokes asides, the idea that this is a choice between libraries/pools and reasonable taxes and sustaining government is false. Union contracts, bloated BOE, duplicate services are the big dollar issues.
yes and no jimmy.
Cary identified a million in cuts yesterday without touching the BOE. That’s nearly a third of the way there in terms of a zero tax increase.
I’d cut 2 million from the township and 2 million from the BOE budget.
I’ll say again, you don’t want a tax increase. CUT THE TAXES and the necessary priorities will naturally follow.
The 16 (16!) secretaries at the highschool alone likely account for 600,000-800,000 alone!
It can be done. But someone has to have balls.
Thats the point ROC. The people on the BOSE dont have those balls. They dont choose to have the balls.
All they seem to have imho is a “I know better than you” attitude.
16 secretaries is so ridiculous — even if the “council” cannot touch the BOE budget, they can certainly make very strong and very public recommendations to the BOSE. Even if they are a drop in the bucket, the pools should not be subsidized by the town, people can pay a few dollars more for passes. If the town closed the libraries it might be a wake up call.
Food for thought: From Felix Salmon blog on Reuters quoting Merideth Whitney research piece on upcoming muni bond defaults. Enjoy!
The states are spending 27% more than they’re raising in taxes — but states can and will get bailed out by the federal government, in extremis. Cities, by contrast, are on their own.
Municipalities receive one-third of their revenue from the states. If the states hold back that money for their own stricken budgets, towns and cities won’t have the funds to make their interest payments. “It has to happen,” says Whitney. “The states will secure their own shortfalls, and leave the cities to fend for themselves.” It’s all about inter-dependency, she says, with the federal government aiding the states, and the states funding the last and most vulnerable link, the municipalities.
The more lasting effect of widespread defaults will be in the real economy, where public employees and public services will start feeling the pinch of forced austerity. Once you approach default, no one will roll over your debt any more and no one will insure your bonds. So you have to slash your budget: you have no choice. That process has barely begun, in the U.S., and depending on the timing, it could contribute markedly to a bout of deflation or even a double-dip recession. If the first recession had its causes in the nexus of finance and real estate, its follow-up could well be based in local government.
What will be interesting is the conflict between the state and feds and the states and the locals. I think you will need to see public elections invalidated because locals will always vote their way out of paying.
IE… we borrowed too heavily for our new school/communitycenter/officepark/wastei ncenerator/seniorcenter and now the bill is comming due and we revuse to raise property taxes 100% to cover the short fall… we vote to default. The govenor of that state is going to have something to say about that. If he or she dosen’t than the Feds are going to have something to say about that… ect.
The era of free rides is comming to a close and the era of consequences is upon us!
” the idea that this is a choice between libraries/pools and reasonable taxes and sustaining government is false.”
Not that anyone is saying that.
The reason pools and libraries have been identified is because we can certainly be fine without them.
it’s all a matter of priorities.
Did you know the library budget in 2009 was 3.7 million and there are 38,000 people in montclair. We could send every single many woman and child an annual check for $100 to buy books and SAVE money on library employee benefits AND lease out the space. Every family of four could get $400 personal book budget and we’d SAVE money!
I love libraries. It’s really horrible that screwed up public policy has endangered them, but here we are.
Yes, when you look for waste and mediocre performance for premium spend it’s always the BOE. They are so completely out of control and uncontrollable that they are taking us all down. Remember this the next time a movement to elect the board appears.
Why are our pools not generating a profit?
E,g. Milburn is doing exactly that and their fees are not higher than ours.
“Remember this the next time a movement to elect the board appears.”
Or not. An elected board does not necessarily mean accountability. School board elections are among the lowest turnouts. It doesn’t take many organized spend-a-holic activist groups to pack the boards.
Better to make the BOE directly accountable to the township council and mayor.
The whole problem is the BUCK doesn’t stop in one place. So even with an elected board the council would say “we can’t do anything the BOE is independent!”
In my opinion all our local tax dollars should be spent and accounted for by ONE body. The elected council and mayor. They should get the credit and blame for everything. Don’t structurally engineer automatic excuse making.
Still at a loss about that BOE board vote. Put that one in the “what were they thinking” column. The same day, something like 77% of Montclair voted to re-elect Corzine too.
Roc, do you read Andrew Breitbart’s BigGov website religiously? You sound like a disciple. It’s just as easy to argue that lack of gov’t oversight/regulation and the increasing power of corporations has lead to the very disturbing income inequality in this country. You purport to care about children and the poor but in the next breath, you insinuate that nothing will prevent bored, poor kids from becoming criminals. You don’t make the grade? Off to vocational school for you whether you like it or not. Quite frankly, I find your views extreme and depressing. Why don’t you be honest and admit that you don’t really care about inequality but only your own pocketbook? I mean, I suppose you have convinced yourself that “tough love” will help the lower SES in the end and we’ll all be happier as a society, but that’s not the driving factor for you.
Where, oh, where is cro? I miss his viewpoint dearly. I think we can all agree that Montclair’s gov’t needs to do better. But, this website has turned into a Fox news like/Ayn Rand blogging community. Crime is up, let’s make it easier to get a handgun–it’s what the Founders and God himself wanted for us! I’m eagerly awaiting the blog post about how we should all invest in gold.
“You don’t make the grade? Off to vocational school for you whether you like it or not.”
You insinuate that this is always a bad thing. Many people I went to high school with in Summit went to vo-tech and emerged as self reliant, productive members of society.
Is this worse than force feeding a curriculum that might fall on deaf ears, while you trumpet the “achievement gap” and throw money down the rabbit hole?
I second jimmy’s comments. Nothing wrong with vocational school. In fact I wish one of my kids wanted to start a plumbing business. I’m SURE it a better paying life than the academic direction to which he’s leaning.
Good post, Wall!
Over on NJTomato Diane is imagining a Montclair of the future. But here’s what I see happening.
It’s simple. Expenses of running the town keep going up which means taxes keep going up. Fairly well off people, those in the “average” home of $700,000, are getting squeezed. Some are trying to leave but are finding they can’t sell their home without taking a big loss. Prices of houses go down, but taxes don’t because spending hasn’t changed.
There’s what’s called the rule of 72. Divide 72 by the percent change each year and get the doubling rate. Taxes go up 6% a year? 72/6 equals 12. That’s the time to double your taxes.
You move into Montclair with your kids just entering Kindergarten? By the time they graduate your average tax will go from $17K to $34K.
Something “big” has to happen. This could be new state funding mechanisms for education, which takes 58 cents of every one of our tax dollars. Or it could mean dramatic new ways of “doing education.”
ROC, I do think we have to find models of other towns that have managed to DRAMATICALLY change their cost structure. ROC, help me! Go look at West Orange’s budget and tell me how they serve 10,000 people more than Montclair, but only spend $1MM more than Montclair and have a ZERO percent tax increase? They offer more social programs, a higher average salary for teachers, more classroom spending than Montclair. And lower debt.
We have to decide what is essential to Montclair. Is it an aging skating rink that needs hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital spending? Is it having a modern, up to date street/water program?
I believe in what one transplant from Montclair to Madison told me: it’s interesting, engaging, people.
I would add to that it’s parents engaged with their children, including the schools, and sports. It’s sitting around in Anderson Park and wandering around in Upper Montclair.
It’s not an electric car charging station. It’s not growing our recycling rate 2%. And it’s not a DCH building that will stand empty, along with all the other properties for blocks around, for 15 years.
You answered your own question Cary … ” And lower debt.”
(its not rocket science)
Cary,
According to their budget (submitted and approved in MARCH 2010 BTW). Their debt service is 6.5% of their budget ours is 16%. Our taxes have to go up 3.9 million for the shortfall and we have 5 million more in debt service than they do….. not hard to figure that math out.
People keep asking about how West Orange did it this year. Instead of collecting almost $3.5 million in leasing fee’s over the upcoming years they sold the right in a one time shot in the arm revenue for $ 1.9 million this year and used that to plug the gap. Ain’t going to happen next year and they just cost the residents $1.5 m thats gone forever (meanwhile they have to pay the bond down on its construction). One time shot in the arms don’t work, sure maybe for one year but they didn’t solve any problems.
“$1.5 m thats gone forever”
Since the period is over 10 years it’s not a horrible deal. It’s a loss of $150,000 per year.
West Orange had their 2010 school budget up for a town vote and it was rejected. That’s how the town was able to get a 0% tax increase when the politicians wanted a 7.3% increase. The people finally said NO. This is what happens when property taxes are more than many people’s mortgage payments.
I hear ya Tudlow. We don’t just need to change Baristaville’s economic scheme, it’s a microcosm of what’s happening in the nation. Healthcare costs are climbing at an unsustainable rate. Montclair can’t change that, it’s an issue for bigger fish to fry.
Patch has some info on the Township Attorney firing:
http://montclair.patch.com/articles/council-plans-to-appoint-new-township-attorney-at-special-meeting-thursday
Sorry to say Galant, but Patch is running circles around you guys in the reporting department.
Question for Cary, bebopgun, herbeverschmel (or whoever knows the answer) – Does West Orange have a more substantial business base than Montclair? If yes, that must account to some degree for lower taxes??
Caphilly, Not sure but its very difficult to compare towns. Business districts, residents, industry, there are a lot of factors. I would think that WO has quite a bit more industry, business but not 100% sure.
Jimmy, some of the most competitive schools in NJ are technical schools. I know that and that is not at all what I insinuated. In fact, with the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act, federal funding is responsible for about $1.3 bill annually for these programs. Some of these schools spend a ton of money per student. So, you’ve missed the mark with your interpretation. Some other regular poster on this site insinuated that those students that do not score at a certain level on a standardized test should go to vocational school. Let’s interpret that: Who should go, the dummies?
gosh, Tud, I hope you don’t teach logic. I said in that very same post that “there are lots of types of intelligences”.
(you are so negative).
If you don’t test well for an academic aptitude by, say 16, then you should be offered vocational training. If you don’t want that or cannot perform well in that program then you should be dropped from the system.
@Tudlow. You are so correct about the exceptionally excellent vow/tech programs. Often they are superior to some academic ones. But many of the posters here reflect a bias and lack of understanding when evaluating education. It’s not hard to fathom. MEGA bucks continue to be wasted by BOE.
@ ROC you’re way toooooooo late for your evaluation and placement. Any kid who drops out of school at aga 16 because the adults are unable to find an educational fit for her/him has been screwed big time by the system.
Tudlow, –investing in gold, that’s a good one! Let’s keep G. Gordon Liddy employed.
You sent me on a hunt Caphilly. Some basic numbers, and to be honest I’m throwing them out there not knowing completely what I’m looking for. According to Wiki, West Orange has a lower per capita income than Montclair. It’s hard to tell how many property taxpayers there are in each town, but one assumption could be that WO has more homeowners and the costs are more spread out. Also, Montclair spends more per person than West Orange. Does Montclair get more services than West Orange? I don’t know.
West Orange estimated 2009 population: 42,561
Montclair 2008 estimated population: 36,966
West Orange: 2010 budget passed: $73,253,549 w/ 0% change from 2009
Montclair: 2010 failed budget: $70,430,948
2009 budget 68,672,648
AH just found this one: a huge difference is West Orange lost $1 million, 17% in state aid education aid in 2010, but Montclair lost $5.7 million (61%) in state aid. Ouch.
16% of the current budget goes to debt service. Hmmm. Without knowing what the maturity schedule is, but assuming that a fair amount will need to be refinanced in more normalized interest rate environment, and given the fiscal picture may be conducive to a downgrade in ratings, that means that substantially more revenue will be required simply to pay bond interest. The only light at the end of this tunnel is the train coming.
Chaper 9 and let the State come in and takeover!
Dead-eye is dead on. The sooner we hit the reset button the better.
Hence the talk of gold, Tudlow.
The sad thing is, I’ve been speaking up at public meetings sending emails and have been writing letters to the Montclair Times since the Remsen clan was in power about the coming debt implosion. I fought against the quiet zone (claiming it would double in cost and we paid a consultant to come up with the original cost), the community center, selling the Label Street property at the worst possible time to sell commercial real estate, screamed and yelled during capital meetings that the number was getting too huge and they would have to refinance soon and potentially at a much higher number, wayfinding signs, the sewer authority, the parking authority, the need to reassess and on and on. Every time I was considered by the town council to be just another loony resident. I didn’t lose a penny from my 401K when the financial crisis occurred. I shorted real estate to huge economic windfalls. And I’m the loony. It’s nice to finally see the day of reckoning near. This is probably the last chance the town truly has to save itself and the diversity it is so proud of. Unfortunately, history says it will blow it again. The Fried 3 will put progressiveness in front of financial sustainability as they always have. Unless somehow Rich and Cary can convince Renee and Roger that it’s the diversity that is truly at risk if we proceed down this tired path, Montclair as we know it is truly doomed. Why? Because the economy is setup for a double dip. Why? Because there are three states about to default on their municipal debt and Uncle Sam can’t bail them out for all of the other states will see it as a green light to borrow like there’s no tomorrow. It’s the same moral hazard Mayor Fried used when hiring that BS economic advisor to say our debt is not a problem. By the way, the cost to bailout those three states would be approximately one trillion. Then there’s the fact that banks aren’t booting distressed homeowners out of their homes because it keeps their balance sheet looking pretty (mark to market suspension). Eventually, Fannie and Freddie who insure these loans are gonna get po’ed. Don’t think it’s bad? Check out this link. http://realestate.yahoo.com/search/New_Jersey/Montclair/foreclosures?b=1&p=Montclair%2C%20NJ&type=foreclosure&radius=&lat=40.812080&lon=-74.212272&datelisted=&priceLow=0&priceHigh=Unlimited&bedroomLow=&searchName=&bathroomLow=&sqLow=0&sqHigh=Unlimited&n=30&view=list&sortBy=ctime%200
You think it’s tough now 3/4′s of the way into the 2010 budget? Just wait until you see 2011 and 2012. Forget the pools and the library for now, the real solution is to reduce the size of the municipal staff. The 7 part-time and 6 full-time cuts were not nearly enough, although Fried claims this pittance of an act represented, “Doing things differently.” Want to impact the 2010 budget? Terminate municipal staff members now and let the remaining others work twice as hard. This is what is going on in the private sector. This is what I was asked to do four months ago when the terminated the manager who replaced me when I was promoted five years ago. This will also make balancing the 2011 budget much easier. Where to cut? Across the board, until the outlays meet the revenues. It’s really quite simple. It sucks that some people will lose scholarships and some workers will lose jobs. But it doesn’t cost 4 million a year to operate an internet cafe and that seems to be the only real justification in keeping the library so overfunded. Who cares who large the circulation is? Hire some more check-out clerks. You don’t need a doctorate in library science to check out a book. I really hope you can do it Cary and Rich. I really do. But deep down inside, I fear Terry with his 6-figure pension and lifetime health benefits for him and his spouse will see a 6% tax increase as affordable, leaving his brethren to find another town that will accept them when they lose the ability to afford the constant increases. On the bright side, I suppose Newark isn’t too far from Montclair.
“. It’s nice to finally see the day of reckoning near.”
You are right in all you say, but hold the spite. No matter who is to blame or how we arrive at the impending implosion it will never be “nice to see”.
Baristanet seems to be the best source of town information and I apologize to everyone that is better informed that I am. As a novice in these budget waters, I was hoping someone could explain the situation to me. Is the probable tax increase intended to pay the bills incurred over the last ten months or to pay for the next fiscal year? Is there any mechanism that can reduce the Board of Education spending this year or next, or is that a dream that just won’t happen?
Is it true that the high school actually employs 16 secretaries? Do they all work five days a week, 12 months a year? What are their responsibilities? What is the ratio of educators to administrators in our school system?
Is the probable tax increase intended to pay the bills incurred over the last ten months or to pay for the next fiscal year?
Last ten months and the remaining 2.
Is there any mechanism that can reduce the Board of Education spending this year or next, or is that a dream that just won’t happen?
Not if the electorate continues to believe than an unelected board, accountable only to the mayor (who believes the schools deserve every penny they ask for as he truly believes Montclair is a top school system ranked in the 90s with a superintendent scheduled to make a quarter of a million a year plus bonuses and perks by the end of this contract) is the way to go and that the purpose of an elected school board is to dismantle so-called magnets that aren’t really magnets. Nishuane – Gifted and Talented? Come on now. My son studies at the Global Studies school where foreign language is taught by a tape recorder and the library is staffed by volunteers since the librarian has been turned into a teacher. So was a speech therapist!
Is it true that the high school actually employs 16 secretaries?
Don’t know. Ask them. You pay their paychecks.
Do they all work five days a week, 12 months a year?
Ditto.
What are their responsibilities?
Ditto.
What is the ratio of educators to administrators in our school system?
The last I read, the ratio was fair when compared with other school systems and the total spent on administration compared to teaching staff was also comparable. Where I see the problem is in the unsustainable pensions and benefits. Instead of the teachers union making concessions to pensions and benefits which would have not reduced the number of teachers in town, some decided to allow their salaries to be frozen. This resulted in much fewer teachers, had the teachers (and administrators) truly made benefit concessions, we’d have a lot more teachers and more experienced teachers. It’s not the salaries so much that are the big problem, it’s the pensions and benefits. The union does not do what is best for our children. It does what is best for the employees. Good luck changing this one.
Thanks for the answers.
Sanford,
if you go to the Board of Ed website, and to the staff page, there is a for you can sewrch staff with. enter “secretary” then limit the search to the high School — its 16.
What i’m thinking is if NJ defaults on its debt, I’m going to do the same.
I didn’t limit the search to high school, and it appears that the BOE employs over 50 secretaries. That is impressive.
Tudlow, we in croi’s family were touched by your kind words, and therefore felt that we should forward the sad obit from our local paper, THE SEMTEX GAZETTE, regarding our dear brother/uncle/father/ex,ex,and ex-husband, and tolerated neighbor:
“Croiagusanam, fiery defender of all that is right with the world and fierce opponent of windbags the world over, perished last week whilst touring the Guinness Brewery in St. James’ Gate, Dublin. Dr. Croiagusanam expired after pitching into a vat of the national drink of Ireland, and all efforts to revive him failed. Originally thought to be a dreadful accident, the discovery of a suicide note in the good doctor’s rented Prius suggests that it may have been a planned event. His absurdly large family — often cited by birth-control advocates as the epitome of poor planning — authorized some parts of the note for release, to wit:
“I’ve had it! They won’t listen! And what’s even worse, they won’t shut up! Endless rants about tenure, pensions, taxes. Empty-headed ‘solutions’ offered up without a thought as to practicality, legality, or morality. Dreadful sniping at any elected official who veers even a tad to the left of Rush Limbaugh. A steadfast refusal to see any good in anything, anywhere, at anytime. I can’t take it. Move over, Brendan Behan. I’m on me way.”
At first, the family felt sure that this screed was directed to them, but investigations unearthed Croi’s participation in an on-line chatroom cum blog entitled “Baristanet”. It seems that the frequenters of this site were the intended targets of the doctor’s bile( and let me tell you, after a few hours in a vat of stout there’s plenty of bile!).
Croi leaves behind a slew of ungrateful children, three miserable ex-wives, six sisters and three brothers who will have to find someone else from whom to “borrow”, and a raft of neighborhood children who will now feel free to traipse across his lawn and through his beloved garden without fear of having the dogs set on them. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Foundation for Increased State and Federal Aid to Proven Ratholes. Fear acht De lena hanam.
Thanks again for your support, tudlow. Croi would have been thrilled.
Croi’s chronically unemployed younger brother, Ni raibth me ach ag magadh
That’s a sad story. I am truly devastated. Maybe your brother should have posted more on the watercooler–that’s where many of the sunshiney, hirsute, “progressives” post. Damn them all to eternal hellfire, for they are the true agents of the financial apocalypse here in our fair town and the world over.
What are you doing, tudlow, wasting such a lovely late afternoon prowling this forsaken place?
Is that avatar an actual picture of the flesh-and-blood you? If so, why does it appear to have been taken from behind? Or are you in fact a cousin of Cousin It? If not, why don’t you turn around so we can get a full frontal?
Oh, I’ve been out and about all day and am just catching up on my coursework. My attention span is weak and I check to read all the rants on this site sometimes. I do not not know why I do so, I really don’t.
It is I. I refuse to disclose my identity on Baristanet. I have a reputation to protect and I’ve made some enemies no doubt. That is very funny asking me if I’m a cousin of Cousin It. I do actually have pictures of me from college with my hair in front of my face with glasses on, har har har. So yes, I am a second cousin twice removed of Cousin It.
There are no enemies here. I’d have a drink or 3 with any us fools posting on the site.
Bottom’s up.
If you’re buying, bop, I’m game.
All right, tudlow, I realize not everybody can carry off fame and fabulous wealth like I can. The reason you keep coming back, by the way, is for the companionship. Baristanet is less fuss than a friend and less expensive than a dog, though sometimes I think it would be more interesting talking to a terrier than many of the posters here.
Well Tudlow you must be a happy camper. It looks like Croi has returned with a more than brilliant post.
Is Nellie out looking for Cather?
“Baristanet is less fuss than a friend and less expensive than a dog, though sometimes I think it would be more interesting talking to a terrier than many of the posters here.”
There you go again, ‘roo, aiming for featured comment, well, at least with the first clause of your sentence.
I like the humor and wit of some here, I suppose. And some I find amusing for other reasons.
Cheers, bebop! Let’s have a virtual drink–I’ll have a dirty martini please.
And DagT, happy, yes to read some classic croi. Perhaps cathar will be lured from the shadows by croi’s display of pure brilliance. I have always enjoyed when the two of them engage in some intellectual sparring.
aiming for featured comment…
Not bloody likely, tud.