When last summer ended, Montclair residents Hollie Reddington and Heather McCutcheon got to chatting about the state of the town, as neighbors are inclined to do.
When the subject of municipal finances came up, they agreed that things were spiraling out of control regarding the budget — or lack thereof. They commiserated about the alarming tax increases (McCutcheon’s have gone up 40% in the 11 years she has owned her house in Montclair) and decided to mobilize the community.
Within a few days, there were eight friends talking about the issues across a kitchen table, and before long there were 40 concerned taxpayers gathered in Reddington’s living room. Out of those meetings, Concerned Citizens of Montclair (CCM) was born. “We’re a grassroots organization, and we immediately committed to being non-partisan,” McCutcheon and Reddington told Baristanet, speaking in a unified voice. “We’ve been very careful and diligent about keeping party affiliation away from our agenda.” Both women emphatically deny any political aspirations and they have three primary goals:
1) A prudent and responsible Municipal Budget Plan for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013,
2) The practice of fiscal restraint by our elected Montclair Township Council and the Township Manager, and
3) A transparent municipal budget process.
Now, with a widely popular petition circulating through town, and more than 400 members, the group is gathering momentum and demanding an end to government inefficiency and opaqueness. “We’re challenging the town council to produce a 0% increase,” they stated. “And while we understand that this council didn’t create our current financial situation, it’s their job to fix it.”
With only 6 days left until the 2011 budget vote, we decided to give McCutcheon and Reddington an opportunity to get their message across in their own words.
They said that the budget information on the town website is hiding the real story.
Although some information has been posted on the township website, it’s interesting to note that it doesn’t advertise the Town Manager’s recommended 7% increase in the 2011 municipal budget. In other words, there is no information on revenues or taxpayer levy — the three critical elements comprising a budget. So much for transparency.
Did you know?
1. Salary & Wages: Notably 65 out of 401 municipal employees earn at least $100,000 a year. This represents a minimum 9.2% before benefits ($6.5 million from the $70.6 million 2010 budget).
2. Municipal Debt Service: For 2010, this budget expense equaled $11.9 million, or 16.9% of the total $70.6mn budget. With the recent refinancing of a certain portion of Township indebtedness, this number will increase by at least $800,000 in 2012.
3. Board Of Education (BOE): The BOE has met the challenge and is delivering a -1.4% budget decrease for 2011, while the Township is mulling a 7% increase for its services. Why is there such a vast discrepancy in achievement between the Township and BOE? Why should the Township be held to a lower standard in the budget process?
Ask the CCM spokeswomen questions below in comments, and they’ll do their best to answer as many as possible. You can find a wealth of information on their website and facebook page, as well.
Council photos from montclairnjusa.org.
Why is there such a vast discrepancy in achievement between the Township and BOE? Why should the Township be held to a lower standard in the budget process?
Is “why” the right question here? Frankly, I’m weary of the explanations (tax appeals, etc), which sounds like so much whining. Just do it!
Which is not to say that the CCM folks aren’t doing God’s work. They are. Hallelujah!
Who are the Concerned Citizens of Montclair? Their web site or FB page do not identify any of the officers of the group or even who has created the group. The domain registration points to 205 Claremont Ave. Isn’t it reasonable for them to identify themselves and their affiliation(s) if we’re trusting them for policy answers? Thanks in advance. JB
beyond Reddington and McCutcheon mentioned above of course…
Concerned Citizens of Montclair is a very fast growing grassroots group interested in a transparent and responsible budget process. As far as “officers” we don’t have official officers. We have nearly 500 members and today Hollie Reddington and Heather McCutcheon have stepped up to answer questions pertaining to the 2011 Budget and budget process. As far as “affiliations” we have none, we are a nonpartisan group.
I believe the article above states that Reddington and McCutcheon started the group. I think it’s great. Bring it on. I do not believe Fried or Lewis when they say when it comes to a zero increase in the municipal budget we can’t just wave a fairy wand or that it would be like Nick and Cary calling themselves ballerinas if they don ballet slippers. I mean WTF???
We have 65 people making over $100k a year, a parking authority that owes us money (fully staffed) almost free recreational services and we’re still borrowing money now to get rid of parking spaces in front of the stores on Park Street because the improvement will generate more tax revenue – it won’t!!!!
I wish there were more people in town like these two.
Thanks for the info, and I certainly applaud the ultimate goal. After I viewed this exchange on the UnMod site: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MontclairUnmoderated/message/29725 I simply found it odd that given the stated goal of transparency in town government that the group seemed to have it’s own transparency issues. It still feels like there may be more “there” there than we know, but it’s hard to tell, isn’t it?
jon,
I agree the CCM should follow all CAN-SPAM regulations. Otherwise they are in violation of the law.
Particular to the email Thom Kennon recieved the following rules were not applied:
# Tell recipients where you’re located. Your message must include your valid physical postal address. This can be your current street address, a post office box you’ve registered with the U.S. Postal Service, or a private mailbox you’ve registered with a commercial mail receiving agency established under Postal Service regulations.
# Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you. Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future. Craft the notice in a way that’s easy for an ordinary person to recognize, read, and understand. Creative use of type size, color, and location can improve clarity. Give a return email address or another easy Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their choice to you. You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you. Make sure your spam filter doesn’t block these opt-out requests.
I would suggest the CCM use a service like Icontact, SalesForce.com, Business Contact Manger for Outlook, or any of the thousands of services available to private, non-profit, or public companies.
Typical, responses Jon and Kyle, lets push more bureaucratic crap on a grass roots organization whose only goal is to make our Township leaders more accountable to the citizens who pay their salaries. Lets use this as a discussion on how our government can work more effectively and efficiently, all while being more transparent to the citizens it serves.
In the interests of accuracy, please note that under Montclair’s type of school system, the debt service for the schools is carried in the municipal budget, not in the school budget. Therefore, you must back this out of the municipal budget and municipal taxes and allocate it to the schools budget and schools taxes to get accurate analysis of each and before doing any calculations of increases, percentages, etc.
Also FYI note that the State DCA report issued Friday indicated Statewide average tax increases of 7.1% for municipal and 3.3% for schools.
Exactly getaclue, I would love to ask CCM a budget question but since I am a member, I attended their large meeting in November, get weekly updates and analysis from them, I actually don’t have a question. CCM should be applauded for their efforts. I love that Kyle mentions they could be in violation of the law because Thom Kennon received what he considers spam from CCM. God help us!!!!!
jhartnett,
Thanks for that, but has school debt service been stripped out of all previous budgets so that we can compare? Bringing up those numbers means nothing when we have no point of reference for the data. What has that number been as a % of previous budgets? You work with numbers, so I assume you know to to present them in an intelligent manner. And again, who cares what the municipal and school tax rates are expected to increase statewide THIS year. How do those stats measure up to Montclair’s increases over the past 3-5-10 years? You should be ashamed to present such a flimsy rationale for your expected tax increases by saying, “but we have school debt in our numbers and at least its not up as much as the rest of the state”. Seriously, this a joke.
I started going to council meetings when I read about the senior center project last year ($3.5m just to buy the building). I was dismayed to see the Mayor’s attitude about our town government. It was very ‘there’s nothing we can do, people keep appealing their taxes, we can’t negotiate with the unions — so there it is. Stop complaining. And if you appeal your taxes then you are a bad citizen not a team player’. Numerous citizens stood up to offer their help to come up with creative solutions, analyze data, etc. But it doesn’t seem like the township manager, the mayor and some on the council are interested in pursuing change, efficiency, or a different approach to government. Their response is to cut funding for the pre-k and say ‘see? Look at the awful things you’re making us do’. I’d say cutting the pre-k is exactly the wrong response. We need to RE-THINK how we’re doing things, not cut around the edges on items that are relatively small but do harm to those without a voice.
The fact of the matter is, the Town Manager does not provide any of the financial details needed to review the budget. That tells me either one of two things. One, that he does not understand the financials and is unable to articulate and explain the data. Or two, he believes he is not required to, and so won’t provide these details. Which leads me to believe that he is either overwhelmed with his position and responsibility and incapable of performing his job function, or by not being transparent, he is protecting the interests of his coworkers in the Township. Either way, I am dismayed. WHO DOES Marc D. Dashield work for? The citizens of Montclair or the employees of Montclair?
Jhartnett,
Point well taken. For the purposes of comparison, the differential between the projected BOE and muni budget would appear less drastic were we to reallocate expenses to the appropriate “accounting” ledgers, as you correctly point out. However, irrespective of classification of where certain items are booked (accounting), the economic impact is the same to the Montclair taxpayer. We are still looking at a total 2% increase for 2011, with an almost certain 2-3% increase due to terming out of debt and inability to borrow against the school tax deferral.
On your second point, is that data for 2010? That sounds like 2010. 2011 is a different animal altogether, as municipalities were caught off guard by the lack of state funding and were forced to raise taxes.
The debt service breakdown is shown in every municipal budget every year, Sheet #30, items “D” and “K.” So it’s always there. How people use those numbers is up to them; I always allocated them separately when doing calculations.
Sorry for any misunderstanding on the Statewide info post. I didn’t put it out there to justify anything, just wanted people to have the info.
Unfortunately, many on the Council are satisfied that we have done all that is possible and that success is evidenced by our avoiding layoffs of police and fire, holding our increase to “only 7%.”
I believe that there are additional reorganization possibilities that would result in substantial savings, as well as more efficient delivery of services.
There doesn’t appear to be the will to pursue these, but I will persist.
CCM core members have given of their time to make things better. It is a frustrating effort in that data is difficult to obtain.
As I said after our paid consultant sang the praises of our town in a recent Council meeting,
“I guess I should be telling residents to just sit down, keep quiet, and write out their tax checks?”
Thank you Cary, we could not agree more. This is the reason that CCM formed in the Fall of 2010. We are STILL waiting for a show of unity in regard to the 2011 budget. To say that a 7% increase is satisfactory is unjust. The numbers speak for themselves and Montclair has a real problem in it’s hands. We have yet to see any real progress in what has been done THIS year to cut the budget. The budget hearings were a real eye opener, that’s for sure!
Cary,
Correct me if I am wrong, but as a council member, are you saying that even you and the board cannot request the data and or ask for more transparency from the Township over our finances? Why was the BOE so much more willing to work with the citizens of Montclair on their budget than the Township has been?
Just saw an ad on TV -
Announcer: ” Hey, Marc Dashield! The Montclair budget’s done. Now what are you going to do?”
Marc: “I’m going to Disney World!”
Getaclue,
We know your question was directed to Cary but CCM had to obtain a lot of our financial information through OPRA requests. Our understanding on the BOE is that the BOE instructed Dana Sullivan to open up their books to the working groups and that happened. We have heard from several people on these working groups that the process was very easy, inviting and open. The BOE delivered a responsible buget (whether you agree or not on the cuts is beside the fact), the Town Council should be using the BOE budget process as a model.
concernedcitizensofmontclair,
whose interest is being served by not making this data open to the public?
I will personally hold each current council member and the Mayor responsible at the next election, and back any candidate that will make wholesale changes in how our government operates. Township employees are not servicing those that ultimately support them, taxpayers continue to provide more and more for less and less. Something has to give, and one councilman’s grandstanding is not enough to erase the disgust I feel when it comes to Montclair’s employee’s and their view that the taxpayers are a never-ending money machine.
getaclue – speaking of elections, you might want to question the Mayor’s motives for wanting to move the local election to November.
getaclue,
Unless you blindly think that no matter what the next council wants to impose on the Municipal employees(teachers, cops, firefighters, parks/rec, non-union service, water, parking, etc) you still have to negotiate. And if there is an impasse, it goes to an arbitrator, which I will not comment on.
Also finding someone electable who shares the idea that of “disgust I feel when it comes to Montclair’s employee’s” will be tough in Montclair because of its progressive roots.
Good luck though!
Kyle, Disgust is how I feel, not a campaign slogan.
Exactly getaclue, afterall, aren’t we as the citizens of Montclair entitled to know exactly where EVERY dollar is going? These are all important points to be made. I think Cary’s answer speaks for itself on how easy it is for him to get info. There is a true and real problem with transparency at 205 Claremont Avenue. It is all very baffling isn’t it? To think that the 2011 budget is being presented next Tuesday evening is very scary.
Getaclue, having such disdain, and electing someone like minded is a dream here. Negotiating under the pretext of feeling disgust for your employees will not garner REAL results during such. The Unions are real, the employees are real people, not just numbers on a budget. The process is grueling, and can lead to arbitration like i said. I believe more outsourcing is needed for Non-Safety and non-Direct Educators and “has” to happen to bring taxes lower, not just flat.
Y’all better increase your incomes or curtail consumption because inflation has just started.
bebogun – You are correct, gas prices and food are high, the market tanked today and yet the Mayor and Town Council in Montclair are all immune to this. I guess the huge increase in our property taxes this year will be considered “inflation” too!
jerseygurl,
Thank you for the nice compliment BUT there are lots of people like us who love Montclair and want make sure it is kept affordable and desirable for everyone. I think that is evident by the number of members CCM has in only 5 short months! We hope you are a member too!
I agree the CCM should follow all CAN-SPAM regulations. Otherwise they are in violation of the law.
Wrong. Political content is exempt from CAN-SPAM.
(I figured I can post since walleroo has shown up)
Who are the “concernedcitizensofmontclair”?
A humble request to CCM: If this is about transparency and efficiency, fine, but please don’t join the fray in demonizing public employees. The vast majority are hard-working people who often traded the possibility of bonuses and rapid advancement for stability and benefits. What does it mean to list the number of employees earning over $100,000? Is it unimaginable that these people are worth it? It is understandable if cuts need to be made and individuals need to be let go, but why act like they somehow bilked the system? Why blame the employees rather than the economic crisis?
I went to the CCM petition and noticed three things. First, there were a lot of signatures. Second, many people wrote comments, and the common thread was we need to CHANGE the way our government operates, not just make random cuts. Third, people are feeling that they are being forced out of their homes; they are tapped out.
I do think people are serious about the need for change. And I think they want our government to do the hard work to make this happen. Unfortunately when I hear nick Lewis speak contemptuously about CCM’s efforts and say they are ‘anti-tax and regressive’ it makes me think that he simply does not hear what people are saying. And i found his tutu comment to be arrogant and dismissive. And unfortunately I just don’t think fried is interested in change; his only agenda seems to be mindless ‘green’ development. I’d like green development, but we need a foundation first.
I didn’t read the 100k stat as an indictment of the employees. It just made me wonder if we have too many levels in our government. Combine departments, maybe. I read a good comment in another thread, with a suggestion to approach glen ridge about sharing services for all of public safety, not just fire. They suggested we could use glen ridge’s municipal court or come up with a solution that helps both communities. Single dispatch seems reasonable. I don’t know the answers but we need our town to streamline. If we have 65 100k employees and maplewood has 3, surely there are more efficient ways for us to operate.
msmr,
CCM posted the information about the number of employees making over $100,00.00 per year because this is a large number compared to other towns and it is factual. We have a very serious financial situation in Montclair. Changes need to be made and decisons need to be made, tough decisions. The only decisions that have been made to date is de-funding the Pre-K, de-funding the now defunk Montclair Arts Council and cutting the funding for the Library, forcing the Bellevue Avenue branch to close for now. CCM does not advocate for any specific cuts, those are the hard decision that need to be made by the Town Manager and the Town Council.That is what they were elected to do. Don’t you think those cuts should be fair and equitable for everyone in the Town?
Actually, I would be interested in hearing what the CCM suggests as far as making cuts. It seems that your group has done due diligence and you know the budget inside and out so why not make some recommendations? Of course, everything is valuable and important to someone and you’re right–tough decisions lie ahead that will anger many people. So, please be a part of suggesting what these tough decisions should be.
APOLOGIES… defunct Montclair Arts Council – not defunk Montclair Arts Council. Just noticed the error.
CCM has been great in joining citizens together. Acting alone, citizens would certainly have no impact. I’m impressed with the membership size in such a short time. I haven’t seen the petition yet, but I’ll be sure to sign it and forward it to everyone I know. The homework has been done by this group and their website has more financial transparency for Montclair’s finances than the town website!
Why doesn’t this town council hear Montclair’s citizens? Why is it so difficult to get straight answers or information from them? Why did the town’s CFO quite for a mere $2,000 more? Why doesn’t the leadership want new auditors? I hear some people are thinking about starting recall action. Has anyone heard anything about this? This was successfully done in a Florida town I read about today.
Tudlow, We think we will leave those recommendations up to the OBAC group, who made their presentation at the last Town Council meeting. Several of the members are also CCM founding members. If you would like a copy of that report, please email us at concernedcitizensmontclair@gmail.com and we would be happy to forward a copy to you.
Thanks, will do.
Sohobound, Thank you for the kind words and we hope that you do take a look and sign the petition. We also hope if you are not a CCM member you will become one! We don’t know why the Town Council is not listening to it’s citizens. This is a very frustrating problem for all. We also found it very “interesting” that the Town CFO decided to leave a month before the budget was to be presented. The only Council person that has been persistent about changing Auditors is Cary Africk and we agree it should be done. It doesn’t make sense to use the same Auditor for 20 (could be 30) years. Hopefully Cary will log back on and clarify the exact lenght of time. On to the recall question, ironically, CCM is getting a large number of emails asking about a recall and what it would entail. This seems to be a very hot topic, especially since there appears to be no movement by the Mayor, Town Manager and certain Town Council members on reducing the budget or making sound financial decisions for the Town and it’s citizens. At this moment CCM has no plans to start a recall but that is certianly not to say that there are not other groups just chomping at the bit to do so after the budget is passed.
Dear CCM, I understand the information on employee salaries is “factual,” but there are choices made when only certain facts are presented. Out of only 3 facts published in your letter, this was one of them – and the first one to boot. Given the current climate of blaming public employees for financial woes, I questioned if there was some meaning here. Certainly this will be read a certain way by many whether you intended it or not.
And I am not sure what to make of your final question: “Don’t you think those cuts should be fair and equitable for everyone in the Town?” Are you implying I don’t? Certainly most people do, but one person’s “fair and equitable” is another’s “ridiculous and unfair.” Or are you really naive enough to believe there is a solution everyone will find “fair and equitable”?
To clarify for those that may not know OBAC is the Operating Budget Advisory Committee that CCM implored the Town Council to resurrect after the last budget disaster. OBAC had not been operational but did exist on paper since 2008. This group is comprised of local, very experienced financial people. Councilors Baskerville and Murnick are the Town Council liasons for this group.
msmr,Of coarse we were not implying you didn’t believe the cuts should be fair and equitable. we were simply saying the cuts should come from ALL areas of Town. We also have stated several times that CCM does not recommend where the cuts should come from. That is the job of the Town Council and the Town Manager. We also don’t believe that we are naive, quite the contrary. We understand that any cuts made will be viewed as unfair by those that the cuts affect. That is the reality of being in a fiancial crisis.
We think we will leave those recommendations up to the OBAC group, who made their presentation at the last Town Council meeting.
Why so coy?
I’m hijacking the thread to wish yez all a Happy St. Patrick’s Day, since I may be in no shape to do so tomorrow:
(Fingers crossed!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCburA_D3KU
The refusal to change auditors was a puzzle. The auditors we had, and have, were around for probably 26 years.
There was no reason NOT to change, and every reason TO change. When the Council discussed the change certain data were misrepresented, i.e. people said that the Comptroller had “changed his mind and now recommended not changing auditors” (he didn’t), or that the Legislature had investigated the situation and had decided not to pass legislation to require changing (there was no such investigation, nor a vote). I was surprised that no one was concerned when the errors were revealed, by me.
I suggested a terrific auditing firm that would have been a partner for our Council. One who was “ready to go.”
No dice.
It is quite evident that the BOE committees had the total cooperation from the school business administrator, Dana Sullivan, and the endorsement of the Superintendent. That was combined with a commitment from the school board to make things happen, budget wise.
Even before the resignation of the CFO, which happened pretty much simultaneously with the auditor change “situation,” it was very difficult to get information. Even simple questions were quite difficult to get answers to. There are many reasons. One reason being that the Town didn’t have sufficient staff to pull the numbers together, and another reason being that the data is difficult to get from the IT system used by the Municipality.
Many changes have been, and are being discussed. A wholesale reduction of salaries is unlikely. I believe a reorganization is possible that would result in both cost savings, and increased service and efficiency. I am conveying this to the Council and Manager.
Cary Africk
@Cary:
“There are many reasons. One reason being that the Town didn’t have sufficient staff to pull the numbers together, and another reason being that the data is difficult to get from the IT system used by the Municipality. ”
And you guys on the council are ok with those ‘reasons’? Am I reading this right? ‘Difficult’? The council needs to set a deadline for an answer from the highly paid contracted work force (100k+ remember?) on the staff then.
That is the town I am living in?
“Things” aren’t set up to produce the kinds of data and management reports that are being called for now. Systems are in place to produce the reports and supply the data that the State requires. Hey, the Municipality even uses a different system of accounting — an encumbrance system — whereas the school use GAAP accounting!
And given that we are shrinking staff and trying to cut spending it is a difficult time to be adding people. And without a full time CFO to head up the finance department it is all the more difficult.
One can’t just stamp their feet and say I want the reports/data now, even if people are being paid over $100K. Montclair is a $200MM plus business (including the schools).
Change, assuming one wants change, will take time.
And remember you are talking to one person, me. I can, and have, told you what I want. But I can’t make things happen myself.
Good Morning Walerroo,
We are not being coy at all. OBAC has done the analysis and research on this topic and has made their recommedations on how Montclair can be more efficient and streamline operations. Let’s remember though, this is an on going process. OBAC has only been up and running since the end of Decembeer and OBAC, like CCM, is also having a difficult time getting their hands on financial data. OBAC is an Advisory Committee seated by the Town Council, they make foraml recommendations to the Town Council. Now, we all need to watch very carefully to see if the Town Council will take the advice and recommendations from OBAC, a committee the Council approved and seated.
Agreed Butterfly, CCM has to file OPRA reports to obtain certain financial information. We doubt this is a common problem in surrounding Towns. Many procedures are out of date, did you know that the Parks & Rec. dept is still fully manual when it comes to sports & activity sign up? Yet, the department has has the software to change to allow for sign ups on line through the Town website for 3 years. It is not efficient to expect citizens to drive to Claremont Ave, manually fill out a form and then write a check to sign up for baseball. This is behind the times and not convenient for parents that work either. The surrounding Towns do not operate their Parks & Rec. department this way. There are alot of these types of stories!
Let’s remember though, this is an on going process.
Sounds like something Cary would say.
Okay, I take your point that you may not have enough data. But coming out and saying specifically what should be cut is central to this whole debate. Without the specifics, it’s just more wind from the south.
Dear cro, your link went where your links usually go: nowhere. I wish you a happy St. Pats. Try not to stagger out into the middle of the street. And wear the damn green paper hat, at least it will act as a reflector.
Alas, I am I fear a walking, breathing Irish joke.
But I return your good wishes, and while I will not wear the green hat I will nevertheless join in the festivities.
At least you’re walking and breathing. And funny.
I will not be joining in the festivities, for your information. I’m saving myself for the Baristanet party in April.
Waleroo, Here are some suggestions; streamline procedures and combine departments where feasible, automate manual procedures, alalyze fees to ensure we are charging market rates for services (ie, our fees for Town sports are much lower than surrounding towns), seek out shared services with other towns. We understand your frustration when we say this is an on going process but this is the reality, the process is very broken.
Another very important point to make here is “you can lead the horse to water but you can’t make it drink it” – that statement is spot on when discussing what needs to be done in order to curb the continued property tax increases that is crippling the citizens of Montclair.Let’s not forget we have a very serious debt problem too. The powers that be have the information and the capacity to institute change, change will only happen if they deem it important.
What Baristanet party? I think pointing out the differences between what we spend on certain items compared to other towns is a good starting point. It is painfully obvious that our Mayor and most of the council do not even think there is a problem – and truly believe we must increase our taxes by 5%-6% every year because that’s just how it’s done. I don’t think pointing out the fact that we have 65 employees in our town earning over $100k vs. 3 people in another larger town is a statement against public employees but it sure is a head scratcher. Something tells me a lot of these jobs are “favors”. How and why did we wind up with an MPA? Do we really need an entire staff dedicated to meters and permits and how is it they can owe the town $800k without being fired? How did we wind up with a Sewer Authority? We can certainly do more outsourcing and sharing of services. Instead of the focus being on how to “cut” so we can meet the state mandate, the council needs to address the fact that the current economic climate combined with a state government that will continue to cut aid to municipalities is a game changer and just tweaking the existing numbers won’t work anymore. It’s time for a complete overhaul.
Nice to know that the town doesn’t follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), as Cary mentioned above, but rather an “encumbrance system.” I’d like to know exactly what that means. Meanwhile apparently the BOE follows GAAP. Reminds me of the old joke where the accountant is trying to get into heaven, and St. Peter asks him how much 2+2 equals. His answer, “whatever you want it to be.”
Excuses like ‘Difficult’ or ‘IT system not set up’ are the oldest in the book and are, IMHO, big red warning flags. Out of personal experience however, I can tell you that organizations are malleable and can be changed, e.g. by making people accountable with real consequences.
When either Council or Town manager are tolerating this sort of behavior, then things will not improve.
jerseygurl,
glad you mentioned the Parking Authority, that’s a real mystery!
butterfly,
We could not agree more, obviously, the Town Council and Town Manager feel the red flags you mentioned are acceptable. Why do you think that is????
jersey,
Great comments. As to non GAAP accounting, that’s all of NJ — the Municipalities don’t use GAAP, the schools do.
Anyone coming from a twenty first century IT environment is in for a shock when you see what we have.
At a recent League of Municipalities meeting the vendor who supplies our accounting software had a booth. I went off on him about the lack of management reports. He said “you know, people have been asking for that for twenty years … we’ll have to do something!”
When I asked for an analysis of some of our debt our IT department, after about a month gave me the five line data after writing a Vbasic program in Microsoft Word.
IT here is a trip back on memory lane — brings me back to my days in computing in 1970.
It’s a culture thing. It’s sort of like trying to get your grandparents to use Facebook and Twitter. We need a change.
Please look for CCM’s 1/2 page ad in the Montclair Times today.
Oh, one other thing? It’s not the IT people. They’re GOOD! It’s what’s asked of them!
Cary,
Sounds like the Parks & Recreation department, doesn’t it?
Butterfly and concerned citizens…. I agree with you both that the red flags are unacceptable. Here is a novel idea, get a manager that can manage! If the staff distribution isn’t working to create what is needed to run the town, FIX IT! One nearby town has a CFO that is also the assessor. Why not hire someone that can do both & bring in one or two entry level staff accountants that can produce the financial reports needed. I think the current assessing department cost is high. This would be a chance to re-organize two departments & save some money.
Ccm has financial reports that tell the story. How hard can it be for the town to do these! Please!
I’ve signed the petition & already belong to ccm.
The petition comments are quite meaningful! Are the town councilors reading these?
There are people in this town who think computing and the internet are a passing fancy and will go away.
Are these the same “people” that think annoying citizens who want accountability and lower taxes will go away?
You guys are making my morning! Back and forth, back and forth. I assume this is some type of guerrilla marketing campaign by the spirits council to start us drinking even earlier today.
A grassroots CCM deferring to a government created advisory group? A new, bleeding-edge model of private-public partnership? The OBAC presentation was slightly better than Parks & Rec, but Poice & Fire blew them away and made for better tv. I’m hoping for “most improved” next year.
Capital Cary Geek complaining about systems for 3 years. Payback on pre-school ed is 10:1. IT systems integration can be twice that in a quarter of the time. Further, IT projects like this can be capitalized – along with the support, implementation and training. So, let see, a playground for the kids or a 21th century system that will save us 7 figures. (CCM – sorry if I missed the part of the presentation on systems). So, very funny that you found funny people’s views of the internet, but you have consistently prioritized non-technology capital projects over back room technology investments. Oops! Your walk and talk are not yet synced. Don’t worry, there’s an app for that.
When concernedcitizensofmontclair says “we” who are we talking about?
I watched last week’s Council meeting, which featured the OBAC presentation, on Ch 34 last evening and was struck by the “newness” of the suggestions. They basically propose bringing rigor and professionalism to government.
It seems clear the town has been on autopilot for many years and I wonder if the form of government has anything to do with this. In calm seas, autopilot is adequate but in rougher times a captain and crew need to take control. Is the required level of control possible given Montclair’s form of government?
ipsofacto,
HUH?
Sorry, I can’t resist….
Is HUH a prefix, a suffix, and/or a honorific to DazedandConfused?
Huh is Dazed way of saying, what the heck are you talking about. Are you already celebrating? If you are, throw one back for me PLEASE.
soho and townie:
GOOD STUFF!
Autopilot is a great metaphor.
But bicycles are forever, right?
POSTED BY Cary Africk | March 17, 2011 @ 10:33 am
There are people in this town who think computing and the internet are a passing fancy and will go away.
HUH D&C,
Celebrating? NAH! As the saying goes, a meal without a drink is called breakfast. In keeping with this theme, let me distill down what I’m talking about to two basic observations.
The CCM and Cary should stop posturing for the next election and come out and say they running for office, put out their solutions now for a 1/3/5 year master financial plan.
The problem is the same for both – neither have the wherewithal to do this.
They don’t have the staff to do even the basic work and they are politically constrained. Cary because of his apirations and CCM because they got manipulated into going into the OBAC bottle (and the stopper has been tightly set).
These so-called “hard choices” are nothing special or earth-shaking. Those of us in the private sector live with this reality every day.
With Montclair employing over 65 people in town government making over $100K, how is it a “hard choice” on what to do? You cut 45 of those employees, combine functions, rehire some new people at $60K or outsource the work. This is just for starters. People will be lining up for these jobs. This is only a “hard decision” if the Council would rather support over-paid staff than the Montclair residents and taxpayers.
The great news here is there is plenty of opportunity for saving: The Township has a bloated overpaid staff.
Perfect example is the Parking Authority: 3 full time employees I believe? Commuter permits now $600 a year. 10 years ago parking permits handled by Town Clerk..no extra staff. $180 a year.
ipsofacto,
We don’t know what Carys intentions are for the next Municpipal election, but “we” (our names are mentioned above) have no interest or intention of running for political office in Montclair or any town for that matter. CCM is working on a projected financial plan and we would bet that so is OBAC. CCM has nearly 500 members and we get requests to help all the time. Most of this work is dissecting the murky finances that we are able to get our hands on either from the Town or OPRA requests. This is very time consuming and some of the analysis that CCM has done is on our website. There is also a report from the Capital Finance Committee on our website. None of this information is available on the Township webiste. Also, as we posted above OBAC was seated because CCM implored the Town Council to bring in fiancial minds who could help decifer the mess. On an added note, CCM will also add the OBAC report that was deliverd last week to our website.
Can I buy your mailing list?
I keep re-reading your 3 objectives and see CCM going away this year unless you evolve. I hope you do evolve. You have an unusual opportunity, but time is not on your side. You will lose momentum & relevancy as the next phase begins…hamstrung by your own constraints on deciding where the cuts should happen. Remember Prop 13?
Lastly, Recall is a silly scenario which you already know as you explored it last September. Why detract from your message?