City Hall
The long and tortuous 2015 budget process is slated to end tonight with a public hearing on amendments and likely final passage.
One curiosity is a last-minute change in the amendments. As listed in the agenda sent out on June 5, the "total amount to be raised by taxes for support of the municipal budget" reflected a $300,000 cut from the amount in the introduced budget.
But at the June 10 special meeting, another resolution was passed out reflecting only a $100,000 cut. Maybe someone will explain the effect on the tax rate.
Mayor Adrian O. Mapp's budget requests for his office, $199,050 for salaries and wages and $21,500 for other expenses, were reduced in the June 5 resolution to $159,050 and $19,000 respectively. On the June 10 resolution, about which Chief Financial Officer Al Steinberg said, "Some changes were only made about an hour ago," there were no cuts for the mayor's office.
It would appear that the governing body had decided not to cut the $40,000 recommended by their own budget consultant. The target was the controversial "chief of staff" position. The council approved creation of the position and also a salary band in late 2013, but once Mapp took office in January 2014, some council members began objecting to it.
The Citizens' Budget Advisory Committee also recommended elimination of the chief of staff position and said in their report that the mayor's budget should be $115,000 for 2015.
Other amendments that dropped off the agenda between June 5 and June 10 were cuts to Recreation, the office of the director of Administration & Finance and Telephone & Telegraph expenses. On June 10, the Health Division was newly listed for a $64,906 increase.
The city has been operating on monthly appropriations since January, so the amendments will only apply to the rest of the year.
The only major change between June 5 and June 10 was Mapp's election as chairman of the Democratic City Committee on June 8. On June 9, Assemblyman Jerry Green retained his leadership of the Union County Democratic Committee, of which the city committee is a subset. However, the tone of the agenda-fixing session that followed the special meeting on amendments did not reflect any new love between the legislative and executive branches. If anything, it showed a hardening of the council majority's animosity toward the administration.
The import of the revised amendments remains to be seen. It's possible that the constituency that handed Mapp 48 of 68 committee seats will demand more collegiality of the governing body, but anyone who views the June 10 meeting on television will see that the administration has to drop the work-arounds and be more upfront with the council majority. The discussion on National Night Out exemplifies the problem, The public will be watching to see what happens on Aug. 4,
--Bernice
It's interesting how Jerry's kids are still trying to derail the current administration and work for their own selfish interests. What was fine under Sharon is not fine now. I still can't understand how Sharon or Reid are qualified to be on the advisory committee. Soon and very soon we will see some of Jerry's kids go away thanks to a new Democratic City Committee.
ReplyDeleteBob the only one that should go away is you. You do nothing but criticize, everybody you disagree is labeled Jerry kids. I don't think you are racist like the majority of Black people do, but your hatred for Chairman Green, and anyone that supports him is out of control. You are such a hateful person when it comes to him, and really anyone who disagrees with your logic.You are not always right and your opinion is not the only opinion.You don't help Plainfield you keep it divided. You keep confusion going.I don't agree with most the stuff that Tom said in the past, although he is the golden boy now for his good imput dealing with the budget, but he was never nasty or hateful like you. You can learn a lot from him.
ReplyDeleteSo we are just supposed to sit back and allow jerrys kids as bob would like to call them I'd call them his puppets just try and derail this administration so we can have bridget attempt to run for mayor in 2 years with jerry financing her.
DeleteYes bridget we all know thats you and Jerrys intention but remember you didnt get very many votes in your unopposed reelection last time so a recall isnt that difficult
We had 8 years of stagnant to nonexistent development and now when we are trying to get this cities head above water jerry continues even after he and his minions agenda was completely rejected to railroad progress.
Does he realize that he has an election in november continuing to piss off voters after theyve already rejected your agenda isnt the best strategy
I do more to bring Plainfield together than you can imagine and I'm not afraid that people know who I am. I was re-elected for a third term by the people of my district for the Plainfield City Democratic Committee, because they know me, talk to me all the time, and know that I don't owe Jerry or anyone anything. I'm proud of that and nothing anyone says can change that. I love Plainfield and am tired of people using this city for their own ends and not that of the people who live here. Have a good day and thanks for paying attention.
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