FY 2011 Opens with Debt

The city entered the 2011 fiscal year Thursday more than a quarter million dollars in debt, a tab that may go higher when winners of FY 2010 legal judgments press for payment.

The biggest chunk of the debt came from an emergency appropriation of up to $200,000 in March to take down a failing historic building on North Avenue. While the demolition took just one day, the cleanup went on for a month. At this time, City Administrator Bibi Taylor said no additional bills for the work have yet come in.

In addition, because budget transfers were not approved before the end of FY 2010, various salary payments totaling $82,275.69 must be made up in FY 2011, Taylor said.

Corporation Counsel Dan Williamson said motions are being filed by people who won lawsuits in 2010 but have not yet been paid.

Taylor stressed that Thursday’s transfers were the first of the new fiscal year, but others may be made up until Sept. 30.

The council made adjustments to the $460,700 transfer total to allow for possible payment of a repair bill for Drake House Museum, a city-owned building where programs are administered by the Historical Society of Plainfield. The repairs were made with a $50,000 loan from a trustee, in anticipation of city funding. But Councilman William Reid opposed the amendment, saying the council had no documentation of the cost and no assurance that the work was done in accordance with New Jersey contract law.

Discussion of the amendment took up most of a “special emergency meeting” with the transfers as the sole item.

The council also held a separate special meeting to allocate funds for the first three months of FY 2011. Most of the proposed costs represented about a quarter of last year’s funding, but a few – the Independence Day celebration and a summer youth program, for example – were “front-loaded,” Taylor said, and needed to be paid at a higher rate.

The July 4th celebration cost of $50,000 will be expended this week, with fireworks on Friday and the parade on Saturday.

During the lengthy discussion of transfers, Williamson reminded the council that “the responsibility of approving or rejecting certain items” goes through the chief finance officer and director of Administration & Finance. Though possible, council involvement in such decisions could be “inappropriate,” he said. But the city has not had a CFO officer since the end of 2007 and there is currently no director of Administration & Finance. The situation has led to some sparring between the governing body and the administration over finances. A closed retreat Monday was meant to increase cooperation between the two branches.

--Bernice Paglia

Library Cuts Upheld

Hopes to restore library funding were dashed Thursday when budget transfers were approved without consideration to what speakers at the June 21 council meeting called a community gem, a necessity and a vital source for education.

The ostensible reason was that a resolution on budget transfers referred only to expenses incurred in the 2010 fiscal year.

Once the 2010 city budget passed in February, the library found itself operating at a budget reduced from a proposed $1.9 million to $1.556 million. The result was numerous staff reductions, curtailed hours and other deficits.

Thursday’s council vote on a temporary three-month budget for the 2011 fiscal year retained the current funding level, although Councilman Adrian Mapp held out the possibility that future temporary emergency allocations month-by-month would be at the discretion of the governing body and could include restorations to past funding levels.

The library also suffered from an administrative decision to turn back $300,000 in employee benefit costs from the city to the library. Plainfield Public Library Director Joe Da Rold said the council restored half the cost, but questioned whether the same rule would apply in FY 2011. City Administrator Bibi Taylor said after the meeting that as of the present time, no change was contemplated, but she said the FY 2011 budget was “still in its infancy stage.”

In a presentation on June 21, Da Rold and others spelled out the losses that would occur from funding cuts, while citing the current administration’s view that the library was not part of municipal government.

The next round of arguments on support of the library therefore may not take place until September or October, by which time staff cuts and other reductions will have been ongoing for about a quarter of the 2011 fiscal year.

--Bernice Paglia

Instant Reaction

Interesting that a blog post published technically at one hour received a response within seconds of its actual appearance at quite a different hour.

Somehow I have not yet figured out how to have the publication date match the posting date. Probably due to my technical ineptitude.

As for the content, the fine points remain to be seen.

--Bernice

Emergency Council Meeting Thursday

Image: Liberty of London piggy bank. Happy New Fiscal Year!

The City Council will hold a special emergency meeting Thursday (July 1, 2010) at 7 p.m. in City Hall Library.

The meeting is being held to adopt a resolution "authorizing approval for transfers between the State Fiscal Year 2010 appropriations of the general Fund of the City of Plainfield."

As presented at the June 21 council meeting, the resolution calls for transfer of a total of $690,200. The biggest item to be reduced is $340,000 in employee benefits. Another $130,000 in salary and wages is to be taken from the Division of Public Works. Items to be increased are workers' compensation for $275,000 and police salary and wages for $200,000.

The council deferred the item to Monday's (June 28) special meeting in order to seek ways to shift some funding to the Plainfield Public Library, but it was not on Monday's agenda. The special emergency meeting was announced today.

At the June 21 meeting, Library Director Joe Da Rold gave a presentation detailing the harm that proposed cuts could do to library operations. The library already had its budget cut by $300,000 in the 2009-2010 fiscal year to $1.556 million, resulting in cutbacks in hours and staffing. If continued in the FY 2011 year, the ongoing reductions would force layoff of six fulltime employees and eight part-time employees, eliminate on of two custodians and demote two fulltime employees.

(Note: The cuts only kicked in after the FY 2010 budget was passed on Feb. 16. If maintained, the cuts will affect the full fiscal year beginning July 1.)

Based on talks with the city administrator, Da Rold said, a likely scenario for FY 2011 is reduction of library funds to their legal minimum, about $1.2 million. That amount would eliminate 12 of 19 fulltime employees,6 of 12 part-time employees, cause closing at 5 p.m. every day, close Literacy and Local History programs and make the library unavailable for community meetings or programs, among other effects.

Da Rold called for a restored $1.9 million budget in FY 2011, which would still have some repercussions.

Da Rold said on June 21 there was "a movement afoot to disenfranchise the library from city government" by the administration. After his presentation, numerous people testified on the need for the library and its value to the community. But Councilman Adrian Mapp insisted the governing body had the right to restore funding.

The split over the library as a priority is one of several bones of contention between the council and administration recently. A four-hour retreat including both sides was held Monday afternoon in an effort to air the differences.

--Bernice Paglia

Tunnel: An Opportunity for PMUA?

At Monday's special meeting, Plainfield Municipal Utilities Authority Executive Director Eric Watson made a passing reference to the "tunnel dig" as a possible revenue enhancer. Watson was responding to council questions about the authority's long-awaited expansion to providing solid waste services to other municipalities.

For the past 15 years, PMUA has provided solid waste and sewer services to Plainfield through an interlocal services agreement. Since its early days, there has been mention of increasing the authority's income by contracting with nearby municipalities for various services. Watson said Monday the authority is working with six other municipalities on such arrangements, but could give no details as agreements were in negotiation.

The "tunnel dig" is a whole other story.

This massive project is expected to double rail capacity for NJ Transit and Amtrak lines into New York City and is estimated to cost $8.7 billion. Local entrepreneur Malcolm Dunn was tapped early on as a consultant for the project, and he and son Jeffery have created a web site on the project with the aim of educating prospective contractors to the opportunities of participating in the project.

So what role might a local solid waste and sewer authority play in this venture? Plaintalker understands that there will be a great need for removal and disposal of soil as construction proceeds. Obviously, this would be a new venture for PMUA outside its original mission.

When and if this opportunity comes about, the City Council and all interested citizens should be given an explanation of how it will affect the authority's bottom line and what impact it might have on local ratepayers. The same goes for any new solid waste contracts.

This should be an update question for the next joint meeting of PMUA and the governing body, tentatively scheduled for September.

--Bernice Paglia

Heat is Exhausting

The recent spate of days with temperatures over 90 degrees has worn out this senior.

This trend began back in April, with a record-breaking hot day. State Climatologist David Robinson detailed the unusual heat in April and May in his report on Spring 2010 weather. I can't wait to hear what he will report for June.

Up until recently, July was the month where stretches of 90 degree weather prompted health warnings and setting up of "cooling centers." It is definitely a challenge to carry out daily activities on extremely hot, humid days without air conditioning.

As I write, it is still about 84 degrees in the room, but down to 70 degrees with cool breezes on the former sleeping porch that was enclosed sometime after the 1976 revaluation. Thank heavens for the porch!

--Bernice

Trees Are Ungirdled

Thanks again to Michael Townley, Signal Bureau, John Louise and anyone else who helped get the banner cables removed from trees at Park & Sixth. We hope the trees will heal in time.

Across the street, the cables seem to be cut but still embedded in the trunk.

The current banner at this high-traffic spot advertises the Fourth of July celebration. This year, fireworks will begin at 9:30 p.m. July 2 in Cedar Brook Park. The parade will begin at 10 a.m. on July 3. The route is along East Front street to the Park-Madison plaza.

--Bernice