The group includes several members who served on the FY 2010 committee, which should help the committee get up to speed quickly. Nominees are Ellsworth Williams, Jeanette Criscione, Joanne Macaluso, Fred D. Ellis, Jan Massey, Alan Goldstein, Carrie Faraone, Lisa Casey, Shari Effman, Susan Kilduff and Dee Dameron. The council will vote on the committee names at its regular meeting, 8 p.m. Monday in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.
The FY 2011 budget covers the fiscal year that began July1 and ends on June 30, 2011.
One of the findings of last year's committee was the need for a renewed effort to attract development to the city. To read Plaintalker's Feb. 10 post on the topic, click here. The FY 2010 committee had begun work in 2009 as part of a new system involving both citizen and council committees. To read more, click here.
The City Council's Finance Committee will also study the new budget once the administration produces it, and will make recommendations to the full governing body. The council cannot introduce the budget until the administration reviews department and division requests and makes its own recommendations. Once it is introduced, the governing body may then make any changes it deems necessary before final passage.
The FY 2010 budget resulted in two rounds of layoffs. State restrictions on spending are likely to force more hard choices in FY 2011. Budget hearings will be open to the public.
--Bernice Paglia
Would anyone happen to know, especially anyone that served on this committee previously, if any Administration actually put in place any recommendations made by this committee?
ReplyDeletePlease read our report at http://www.scribd.com/doc/26771642/CBAC-Final-Report-020810 to determine for yourself if the Administration picked up on any of our recommendations.
ReplyDeleteThe CBAC is an advocate for developing a strong commercial/light manufacturing sector as a means to broaden the tax base and offset the burden placed on homeowners. We recommended that economic development be separated from Public Works as a means to maintain the needed focus on this area.
Realigning the City's operating divisions and creating a separate Health and Social Services department that would include Senior Services and Recreation also seemed to make sense. City operations have become a hodge-podge of inefficiency. Bringing more voices to the table by expanding the Mayor's Executive Cabinet directly to the operating divisions was advised, as was putting in place a process for the regular evaluation of goals and methods across all levels of city government.
CBAC members support a continuing assessement of shared service opportunities as a means to spread the cost of providing services with maximum efficiency. Partnering with the non-profit sector and engaging the community through volunteer efforts was regarded as a way to get some services to the community in a way that doesn't bloat the size of city government.
The committee also suggested a series of rolling quarterly furloughs through June 2011 as a direct method of cutting costs in the face of sizable property tax increases. A review of the fee structure for permits and licenses to ensure that costs were being recouped was called for.
Last year the CBAC took a broad view of city government, believing that getting a real grip on an ever-increasing budget required making significant structural changes and improving lines of communication and focus. Instituting a regular review process of operations was required to run efficiently day-to-day, but only so much can be accomplished by tinkering around the edges. New methods of partnering are needed between municipalities, and long- standing formulas for employee compensation that rely too heavily on taxes are in need of study and upgrade.
Of course much of this goes way beyond Plainfield. We don't expect the Administration or the City Council to take us up on every idea, nor do we think the solution for one town is likely to play out seamlessly in another. But we do hope our city government has its eyes open for self-criticism and a willingness to make changes.
This year the CBAC intends a line-by-line study of the Plainfield budget in comparison to other municipalities. An analysis of sources and uses of public funds across a spectrum of entities may reveal new methods of getting services to the public and highlight various deficiencies where improvements to operations can be made. The committee welcomes any ideas the community may have.