Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority attorney Leslie London said Tuesday the authority is proposing legislation that would allow taxpayers to deduct utilities costs.
London said "issues raised by residents" led to the proposal. The authority's resolution detailing the proposed legislation will be passed on to Assemblyman Jerry Green for his support, London said. Green has served in the State Assembly since 1992 and is currently Speaker Pro Tempore. He will be seeking another two-year term in 2013.
Residents lost the ability to deduct sewer costs from tax bills when the authority took over from the city's sewer utility. In recent discussions of possible dissolution of the PMUA, residents have cited reinstitution of the tax deduction as a benefit of turning sewer operations back to city control. The authority also provides solid waste removal, which residents formerly arranged with private haulers without any tax breaks.
Plaintalker did not obtain a copy of the resolution (R 71-2012) Tuesday. No residents commented on the proposal at Tuesday's meeting.
In other business, Chief Financial Officer James Perry said the authority sent a $1.6 million payment to the city Tuesday for use of the city-owned sewer lines. But new Executive Director Dan Williamson said he did not think the check had actually been delivered. PMUA Chairman Harold Mitchell then said he wanted to take the check to City Hall Wednesday and to "have a conversation with the mayor."
In nominations from the mayor this year, Mitchell was to receive a new term only as an alternate, which would prevent him from serving as chairman. But the governing body has not given advice and consent to the change, so Mitchell has retained his seat as a holdover and was re-elected chairman at the PMUA's February reorganization.
London also reported on a South Plainfield resident's call for the authority to have a commissioner from Middlesex County. The PMUA recently contracted with the borough for bulk waste removal. London said she does not agree with the resident's issue and she will be sending her legal opinion to South Plainfield Mayor Matthew P. Anesh and the Borough Council.
--Bernice
Part 1
ReplyDeleteAt least the PMUA refers to the $1.6 million as its lease on the sewer assets. The City, on the other hand, has misled us for years into believing it is revenue sharing. It shows up as 'PMUA revenue sharing' in the city budget, and has been spoken of as the "typical" annual contribution to revenue sharing by former City Administrator Bibi Taylor in public comment. Now the question is, why has there never been any revenue sharing, although PMUA is sitting on nearly $4 million in unrestricted net assets? This pre-dates the current administration in City Hall.
Another unanswered question is, what happened to Section 203B of the Inter Local Agreement which governs the relationship between PMUA and the City? That is a central provision of the ILA, and requires to City to incorporate within its annual budget the total cost of disposal of solid waste within the city's geographic border. It says the PMUA is to make a lease payment to the city equal to the difference between the appropriation and $1.2 million. But this was chucked out secretly within months of the ILA's passage by the City Council in October 1997, although no amendment to the contract was ever approved by either governing body. With it went the City's strongest means of fiscal oversight. Why was it done, and who made this improper and unauthorized decision that looks remarkably like a bait and switch? Did PMUA director Williamson perjure himself when he neglected to mention the change when, as Corporation Counsel, he filed court documents in the Charles lawsuit, or was it naivete? Can Mitchell, Dunn, or Mapp shed any light on this, as they represent nearly half the City Council in office when the change was made? (Who says time flies and nothing changes?)
Part 2
ReplyDeleteAs for PMUA attorney Leslie London's legal opinion regarding adding a Middlesex commissioner, it may be as bogus as her opinion that benefits are not compensation.
The latter opinion shows the lengths PMUA legal counsel will go to aid and abet commissioners who have been stealing many $100,000s in healthcare and other benefits despite state law and the local ordinance that limits direct and indirect compensation to $4500 annually, an amount they already receive annually in cash. (NJSA 40:14B-17 and MC 3:35-7)
Of the former opinion, London will need another dose of legal creativity. NJSA 40:14B-4 (c) states "Whenever the municipal authority of any county shall certify to the governing
body of any county that it has entered into a contract pursuant to section 49 of this act
(C.40:14B-49) with one or more municipalities situate within any other county one
additional member of the municipal authority for each such other county shall be
appointed by the governing body of such other county as in this section provided. The
additional member so appointed for any such other county, and his successors shall be a
resident of one of said municipalities situate within such other county."
With all these legal improprieties and potentially criminal acts, along with possible election law violations coupled with hiring practices that buy political loyalty and may equate to 30-50% over-staffing, there is the questionable $1 million payoff to former executives Eric Watson and David Ervin who exercised day-to-day control of this behemoth.
No intelligent and forward-looking decisions concerning PMUA's status can be made barring a full-scale accounting of every penny received and every dollar spent from day one. Undoubtedly, Assemblyman Green and his clique will try to avoid this like the plague.
The entire state Municipal and County Utilities Authorities Act can be found here-
http://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/dlgs/programs/au_docs/40_14b_1.pdf
The Inter Local Agreement can be found here- http://www.dumppmua.com/files/PMUAInterlocalAgreement.pdf
Additional references to the $4500 compensation limitation for commissioners can be found here- http://www.dumppmua.com/files/CreatingPMUA092095.pdf
and here- http://www.dumppmua.com/files/PMUA-bylaws.pdf
It is so sad to think nothing will change in Plainfield without the intervention of the "Evil" Governor. Everyone... keep sending letters..at some point he may want to come in simply to slap Jerry around politically for a bit and they'll see the garbage that goes on in the city... and it's not just the Mayor
ReplyDeleteHas the new Director paid his PMUA bill yet?
ReplyDeleteI've written the governor and the Attorney General. I hope others will and we can get to the bottom of the PUMA and it's rabid spending and maybe that of City Hall.
ReplyDelete