Is Dudley House Rent Too Low?

Of all the many figures on the newly-released 2012 audit report, the one that caught my eye was $14,544 in rent for Dudley House. Considering that I am paying more rent for a very small apartment than the operator of Dudley House is paying for a 15-bed facility, maybe it's time for the city as landlord to review the rental agreement.

For those who don't know about Dudley House, also formerly known as Project Alert, it was a city-operated residential program for male recovering substance abusers, serving Union and Middlesex counties. It  developed problems with state licensing and phased out in 2008, despite public testimony of many men who successfully turned their lives around through the program. The Putnam Avenue residence was extensively renovated just before the program closed. In 2010, Sunrise House of Lafayette became the program operator, leasing the building from the city.

Besides having operational issues before the program closed, Dudley House became the subject of an increasing concern that the city should get out of the social services sphere. Members of the governing body and the public questioned the need for the Bilingual Day Care Center and the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program to be under city auspices. Most of the costs for these programs are covered by grants or federal funding, but staff members are city employees entitled to benefits.

Some wanted the WIC program, now in the City Hall Annex, to be relocated to the county building at Park & Front. The Bilingual Day Care Center is in a city-owned building and was once the primary means of assimilating Latino families, but now that the Latino population is over 40 percent, there are many early child education or day care programs that serve the community. Although the issue has come up every year during budget deliberations, no action has been taken to shift the programs from city control.

Regarding the Dudley House rental, heaven knows nobody wants a rent increase. My rent shot up when a new landlord in 2000 demanded a 17 percent increase. For various reasons, mainly the location, I decided to stay on, even after subsequent annual increases. In the case of Dudley House, there may be a long-term lease for all I know. It just seems comparatively low for a whole house to go for that amount.

The city recently looked into condo fees it pays for the Senior Center at 400 East Front Street and got a lower rate, as I recall, after asking for actual costs of common area maintenance as opposed to a flat percentage. It pays to ask, apparently, and even though the Dudley House rent is a tiny fraction of the budget, every bit counts. If the fair market rate is higher than the current rent and there are no other factors, the city as landlord might at least look into an increase.

A lot of the audit report is too dense for the average person to analyze, and as the auditor states, the figures are provided by the city. A summary of the report was published last week, with recommendations that were mostly repeats of past recommendations. The auditor can only point these things out; it is up to the city administration to resolve them.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Purchasing:
*That all City purchases be made through the Purchasing Agent.
*That the encumbrance accounting system required by the Division of Local Government services be adequately maintained.
*That open purchase orders be reviewed periodically and cancelled if no longer valid.

Tax Collector:
*That all tax receipts be deposited within 48 hours of receipt.
*That a detailed analysis of outside lien redemption balances at year end be maintained.
*That third party lien redemptions be remitted to the outside lienholders in a timely manner.
*That the Tax Collector's monthly reports be filed with the Finance Office on a timely basis.
*That the detailed billing ledger be reconciled with the actual tax requirements.
*That the tax collector maintain adequate bond coverage.

Finance:
*That the Current Fund General Ledger be accurately maintained.
*That the City obtain the necessary actuarial information required to report the long-term liabilities related to its Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) Programs.
*That grants receivable and appropriated grant reserves from prior year be reviewed and cleared of record where appropriate; the grant appropriation ledger should then be reviewed for proper disposition.
*That Dedication by Rider approval be requested from the State of New Jersey for Trust reserves and that Trust reserves not eligible for rider approval be cancelled of record.
*That interfund balances be cleared of record.
*That unsupported balance sheet items in the sewer utility fund be cancelled of record.
*That efforts be made to collect delinquent Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) receivables.
*That all the County portion of PILOT payments be remitted to the County of Union.
That the City's fixed asset ledger me maintained on a current basis.

Departments:
*That monthly animal control State reports be reconciled with license fees collected.
*That all City Departments maintain accurate records of monies collected.
*That receipts collected by the City's Departments be reconciled with the amounts recorded by the Finance Office.
*Unresolved prior year recommendations