Three ordinances, two for approval and one for introduction, held center stage at the Pennington Borough Council meeting on Monday
By: Catherine P. Moscarello
Three ordinances, two for approval and one for introduction, held center stage at the Pennington Borough Council meeting on Monday.
Introduction of an ordinance providing for a town center and buffer zone enticed about a dozen residents to attend the otherwise routine meeting that also featured an audit report touting a healthy state of borough finances.
Approval was unanimous for the ordinance allowing parking on Green Street, but there were some tense moments when Councilman James Lytle questioned wording on the second ordinance providing for acquisition of equipment.
Mr. Lytle maintained there was a discrepancy involving the appropriation for this ordinance, originally quoted at $5,000 for a police radar unit but revised to include computer hardware and software for borough administration.
The seesawing back and forth about whether the ordinance should be tabled to a future meeting brought Borough Administrator and Clerk Karen Waldron to make an impassioned plea to the council. "We must have this new server," she said.
She continued: "Currently there is no backup of the financial data for the borough and we have a critical need for an up-to-date computer to serve the needs of this borough. Right now we are using a borrowed server that is failing and cost us four hours of telephone time today alone, trying to get the equipment back up and running."
The ordinance passed eventually with one negative vote from Mr. Lytle.
Auditor Robert Morrison of Hodulik & Morrison gave council an upbeat report of the financial health of the borough. "This report breaks our company record for the number of recommendations but I’ve seen tremendous improvement in the past 10 months."
Mr. Morrison detailed some business practices that presented special challenges when he first began to perform the borough audits. She said that under previous administration, employees of the borough weren’t getting paid the same net amount each pay period, payroll deductions weren’t being sent to appropriate state and federal collections and there were no W-4 forms being used. "In what I saw as maybe not a crime but definitely a sin, funds were being held in non-interest bearing accounts. With that one modification, interest accrued to the borough in the amount of $80,000." Proper procedures concerning developers’ escrow accounts were virtually nonexistent and no documentation has surfaced for transactions prior to December 1997, he said.
Mr. Morrison concurred with Ms. Waldron’s plea for proper automated backup of the accounting system. "A manual reconstruction of records would be nearly impossible and costs would be astronomical to attempt it."
Mr. Morrison offered one bit of advice, "not really a recommendation since it isn’t mandated by statute." A change in state law in 1991 allows municipalities to charge an additional 6 percent penalty over and above interest on back taxes. "The borough should pass a resolution promoting this practice and may even want to consider twice yearly tax sales, instead of the current annual sale."
Mr. Morrison expressed concern that the largest taxpayer in the borough, Chancellor Gardens a health care facility with an uncertain future may be approaching tax-exempt status. "Loss of revenue from even two quarters of taxes on that property could set the borough back considerably."
In summary, Mr. Morrison reported that the general fund showed a balance of $50,000 in December 1999. That figure rose to $630,000 by December 2000. "This was achieved by tightening the ship, garnering additional revenues, clearing deferred charges and following good business practices." ($301,000 of this amount was used to balance the 2001 budget, according to Mr. Morrison.)
"Overall financial status has improved tenfold and continues to improve. Internal controls are better and different people handle different aspects of the budgets. This helps to increase accountability."
Stewart Schwab of South Main Street asked for the bottom line on borough debt. "It’s $4.9 million, including general bonds and utility bonds," Mr. Morrison replied.
Mr. Schwab also questioned how the town center ordinance read at the meeting would affect the Master Plan and discussion followed about the process of presenting the ordinance at the Planning Board meeting Sept. 12 (last night) and subsequent public hearings.

