The past two months have been the most challenging and emotionally taxing of any during my thirteen years of elected service to our community.
A number of circumstances beyond our control have put the township in the painful position of having to tell almost 50 of our hardworking employees that they will no longer have a job. This process has taken – and continues to take – an emotional toll on all of those involved in this extremely difficult decision making process.
One of the principal reasons that these layoffs have become necessary is that the state of New Jersey has imposed a 4-percent tax levy cap on municipalities this year. All municipal budgets are composed of a spending plan and a revenue plan. The revenue plan pays for the spending plan. The revenue plan consists of the tax levy and revenues, which include state aid and grants.
In the past, this municipal government would increase the tax levy to the level needed to balance the budget. The new tax levy cap has created a situation where our municipal government is not going to be able to do this. No one likes to raise taxes even to levels permitted by the cap and many people agree with capping how much governments can raise taxes. However, raising taxes beyond the level allowed by the new state law is no longer even an option.
The tax levy applies to operating expenditures such as utility bills, fuel, insurances and employee costs in the form of salaries, health benefits, certain pension costs. Employee costs comprise the bulk of our budget. The tax levy cap does not include long-term capital improvements such as road and infrastructure repair, recreational facilities and other improvements that have a life expectancy of more than five years.
In Brick Township’s case, we had a tax levy of $46,903,758 for the 2008 budget. This means that the maximum tax levy we will be able to have in 2009 will be $48,779,908, an increase of $1,876,150. When you consider that we saw an increase of approximately $1.3 million in health care costs alone in 2008, you can easily see that the allowable increase is not sufficient to cover the increasing costs of government.
We have been working hard to reduce the costs of government. Since last year, when I was Township Council president, and since taking over the office of mayor, we have followed a reduction
by-attrition policy. We have identified certain non-essential positions that have been vacated through retirements or resignations. These positions have
not been filled. The impact of this policy is indisputable.
Since the middle of 2007, the township has reduced the work force by 35 people, which includes those employees slated to retire on Dec. 1. This translates into savings of approximately $2.5 million. By not filling these positions and restructuring and reallocating tasks, these savings will be realized and compounded annually in perpetuity.
Contrast this with the previous administration’s hiring practices. Between 1994 and 2006, 397 people were hired by Brick Township. They did this by creating many new positions and filling every single job vacancy. Had their hiring practices not been so aggressive and had they adopted a policy like our attrition policy, we would likely not be in the situation we are in today.
We are working to realize savings that will save taxpayer dollars and municipal jobs in the future. We are working toward reducing our energy and fuel costs through the use of renewable and alternative energy sources.
We are seeking health care contributions from all of our employees to offset the perpetually increasing costs of providing them with quality health, eye and dental coverage as required by their existing labor contracts. Beginning Jan. 1, department heads and unclassified employees will begin to contribute toward their health care as do many in the private sector – the first time township employees have done so. These employees are the only ones who are not part of a bargaining unit. Later this year, we are opening an employee wellness center with the goal of reducing our employees’ health care claims and decreasing our premiums through a healthier work force.
I have been disappointed by the reluctance of union leadership to appreciate the gravity of our financial situation and the nation’s economic climate while they took such an adamant stance against making health care contributions.
Most private sector employees – at least the ones fortunate enough to have health care coverage – pay a significant amount of their incomes for health care that is rarely as comprehensive as the coverage we enjoy as public employees. Public employees can no longer expect to enjoy these benefits without contributing. It is not fair to the taxpayers who are paying more and more of their own money to pay for their own health care costs to pay even more for our employees’ health care.
Despite our efforts to reduce costs – which have been successful – we are still in a position where we have to reduce staff. There are a number of municipalities in New Jersey that are reducing staff due to the tax cap and decreasing revenues. Unfortunately, in the coming years, many more towns will likely find themselves in the same situation we find ourselves.
What makes this situation so heartbreaking is that this is going to affect families, which is something that has pained me to no end. State mandates have left us with no choice and no other option to close the anticipated deficit of approximately $4.5 million in our 2009 budget.
My administration and I are going to work with state, county and local government leaders, as well as organizations such as the New Jersey League of Municipalities and our union leadership to try to change to New Jersey’s laws to help us continue to provide the services while protecting our taxpayers.
We are in uncertain times. What is certain is that we are going to do everything we can to get Brick Township through these tough times. Thank you for your time and God bless Brick Township.