There has been much confusion in city hall about property taxes. Since the Mayor introduced the budget back in March, the unanswered question has been: how does this affect my property taxes? Then the Council approved a budget in June with a reduced tax levy. Thus we knew the amount of the total city tax levy for 2013 (it is $50,228,583). Our budget consultant, David Kochel, calculated the tax rate. Knowing these numbers is all well and good. The total tax levy still has to be spread across all property owners based on the tax rate and the assessed property values. We asked our City Administrator the unanswered question: in layman's terms, how does this affect my property taxes? That means the dollar amount and understanding if it went up and how much. City hall has been unable to get an answer to City Council. I guess they think residents can wait to see their tax bills. But only the final bill, not the quarterly ones, have the break-out for city, school and county taxes and there is no comparison to the previous years bill or rate.
When I served on the Plainfield School Board, this was an easy question to answer. Our Business Administrator knew the school tax levy and the tax rate and applied the rate to the "typical home". That was a home assessed at something near the average assessed home value in Plainfield. The answer was given as soon as the school budget was proposed for the election ballot. It went something like this: "a home assessed at $100,000 will pay xxx in annual property taxes, up from xxx in the previous year."
That is what people want to know. The reason we can't get our senior finance people to tell people what they need to know is not a surprise. It's been a revolving door for City Administrators and long term vacancies for the CFO and other key administrator positions. If it were only a problem for one position or a few positions for a short period of time, it would be considered routine. Unfortunately, this has been a problem since Mayor Robinson-Briggs took office.
Sorry Mayor Sharon apologists. This is not a shared Mayor-Council problem. It was going on even in the Mayors first two years of office, when she got virtually complete cooperation from the Council (including yours truly). Her first city administrator left under of cloud of allegations and some other Director level appointments did not pan out either.
The problem started before her term began, when she convened a transition team. I wish I could recall who they were so I could ask them why? Why? Why did you wipe the slate so clean that there was no continuity or memory of good initiatives from the previous administration? Behind the scenes, people (including me) offered to facilitate discussions with senior decision makers who were removed and replaced. Not to plead for their jobs, just to help the transition to the new administration. These offers were met by a stone wall.
Lack of communication has been a hallmark of Mayor Robinson-Briggs administration. But it would be a good step to answer the property tax question for the sake of residents. Yes we only have a part time CFO, Glenn Cullen, whose time is so limited that I have only seen him once. But he could get us the answer easily. I will try to answer this myself. I am very busy at work and I don't promise a quick answer but it would be embarrassing if the Mayors people don't beat me to the punch.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Vote for Adrian Mapp for 3rd Ward City Councilman
A recent development illustrates why Adrian Mapp should be re-elected to the City Council. The Council held a budget meeting last Monday. The Council is on the verge of approving a 2012 city budget that will determine the the tax rate and level of services for Plainfield residents. The details of that meeting are ably documented in blog posts by Bernice Paglia and Olddoc.
It's the story behind the public scene that shows why we need Adrian Mapp as a city government leader. The previous week the Council Finance Committee (Mapp, Reid and myself) met with members of the city administration to sort out the mess created by omissions in the Mayors introduced budget. Omissions totaling $2 million that threatened to trigger massive lay-offs and tax increases. The Mayors people had only one solution: cut the library funding from $1.4 million to $920,000. Mapp said "no way".
When it was now clear that the confusion within the administration had not abated, Mapp challenged the meeting participants to come up with a solution that would not be on the backs of Plainfield residents. The city's budget consultant (hired at the initiative of Mapp, Williams, McWilliams and I) was able to find savings from unspent expense budget lines from the 6 month transitional budget in 2011. Thank you David Kochel.
That still left a huge budget gap. Mapp insisted we take a hard look at the city surplus. It turns out that the switchover from a state fiscal year to a calendar year generated a lot of surplus. So much that we could take enough for the 2012 budget that the tax rate proposed by the Mayor could be reduced by two tax points- that is a reduction of $250,000 in the Mayors tax levy. We can go from negative $2 million to positive $250,000. There is still adequate surplus for future years. The Council is poised to approve this amended budget.
One indication of who Adrian Mapp is - he was not willing to settle for a partial reduction of the $2 million budget gap. He insisted it be eliminated. And in the interest of our overburdened taxpayers, he took it a step farther - to reduce the taxes below the flawed budget proposed by the Mayor. And he wasn't willing to take the easy way out by slashing the public library hours and services to people who need them more than ever.
Back to the Council budget meeting last Monday - he didn't even ask for credit for what he has done for the people of Plainfield. I guess you only get noticed when you do something that people disagree with.
It's the story behind the public scene that shows why we need Adrian Mapp as a city government leader. The previous week the Council Finance Committee (Mapp, Reid and myself) met with members of the city administration to sort out the mess created by omissions in the Mayors introduced budget. Omissions totaling $2 million that threatened to trigger massive lay-offs and tax increases. The Mayors people had only one solution: cut the library funding from $1.4 million to $920,000. Mapp said "no way".
When it was now clear that the confusion within the administration had not abated, Mapp challenged the meeting participants to come up with a solution that would not be on the backs of Plainfield residents. The city's budget consultant (hired at the initiative of Mapp, Williams, McWilliams and I) was able to find savings from unspent expense budget lines from the 6 month transitional budget in 2011. Thank you David Kochel.
That still left a huge budget gap. Mapp insisted we take a hard look at the city surplus. It turns out that the switchover from a state fiscal year to a calendar year generated a lot of surplus. So much that we could take enough for the 2012 budget that the tax rate proposed by the Mayor could be reduced by two tax points- that is a reduction of $250,000 in the Mayors tax levy. We can go from negative $2 million to positive $250,000. There is still adequate surplus for future years. The Council is poised to approve this amended budget.
One indication of who Adrian Mapp is - he was not willing to settle for a partial reduction of the $2 million budget gap. He insisted it be eliminated. And in the interest of our overburdened taxpayers, he took it a step farther - to reduce the taxes below the flawed budget proposed by the Mayor. And he wasn't willing to take the easy way out by slashing the public library hours and services to people who need them more than ever.
Back to the Council budget meeting last Monday - he didn't even ask for credit for what he has done for the people of Plainfield. I guess you only get noticed when you do something that people disagree with.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Roni Taylor for City Council
Roni Taylor has decided to run in the Democratic Party primary for Council at Large. This is a great opportunity for Plainfield. Roni is the kind of person we need to represent the interests of all residents. She is a rarity in that while most City Council candidates come to election season with little or no experience in public service, Roni has experience and actually has successful experience.
Her twelve years of Plainfield School Board service occurred during the tenure of Dr Larry Leveritt. When she was first elected, the Board of Education was split and the Superintendents office had a revolving door. After one year, a turnaround began. Roni helped engineer a Superintendent search by insisting on a more professional presentation by the Board at its public meetings. This helped Plainfield attract qualified candidates, among them Dr Leveritt. With the support of the Board, he was the most effective schools Superintendent our district has had in decades. And he began the gradual process of school and school district improvement. It is sad to say that after Roni (and Dr Leveritt) left, the schools were unable to keep up the momentum and have struggled of late. Still, the limited progress we see is built on a foundation Roni helped create.
Roni was born and raised in Plainfield and has deep roots here. She was the Director of Housing for the Plainfield YMCA for many years and was known around Union County for running a tight ship. She is currently a teacher in the Plainfield Schools and has two children, both enrolled in the Plainfield schools.
Roni and I go back to our overlapping service on the School Board. I've known her to be a pragmatic and dependable public servant. She knows how to be an effective team member and how to compromise and disagree constructively. Do we need that in Plainfield! I know she will put Plainfield first when she gets elected.
I urge you to support Roni Taylor for City Council in the Democratic primary.
Her twelve years of Plainfield School Board service occurred during the tenure of Dr Larry Leveritt. When she was first elected, the Board of Education was split and the Superintendents office had a revolving door. After one year, a turnaround began. Roni helped engineer a Superintendent search by insisting on a more professional presentation by the Board at its public meetings. This helped Plainfield attract qualified candidates, among them Dr Leveritt. With the support of the Board, he was the most effective schools Superintendent our district has had in decades. And he began the gradual process of school and school district improvement. It is sad to say that after Roni (and Dr Leveritt) left, the schools were unable to keep up the momentum and have struggled of late. Still, the limited progress we see is built on a foundation Roni helped create.
Roni was born and raised in Plainfield and has deep roots here. She was the Director of Housing for the Plainfield YMCA for many years and was known around Union County for running a tight ship. She is currently a teacher in the Plainfield Schools and has two children, both enrolled in the Plainfield schools.
Roni and I go back to our overlapping service on the School Board. I've known her to be a pragmatic and dependable public servant. She knows how to be an effective team member and how to compromise and disagree constructively. Do we need that in Plainfield! I know she will put Plainfield first when she gets elected.
I urge you to support Roni Taylor for City Council in the Democratic primary.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
PMUA in the Spotlight
At last nights Council meeting I proposed four resolutions to be put up for approval:
1. thanking the PMUA Taskforce members for the hard work of researching the solid waste and sewer service rates and presenting the comparisons with rates of similar towns. The taskforce also presented findings and recommendations to improve transparency and accountability, food for thought for the Mayor, Council, Board of Education and other Plainfield boards and commissions.
2. directing the Mayor and administration to procure the professional services needed to conduct a dissolution study. This study would be sent to the NJ Local Finance Board whose approval is necessary if the City Council is to dissolve the PMUA. More on this in a future blog post.
3. urging the PMUA Commission to make immediate and significant rate reductions. This is appropriate because if the PMUA is dissolved, it will take considerable time and the rate payers need relief now.
4. urging the PMUA Commission to rescind the $1 million settlement with the retired PMUA executives.
A majority of Council members agreed to put all four resolutions on the agenda for a vote at next Mondays Council meeting.
The Mayor was asked to support the dissolution resolution and she responded by stating concerns, more like worst case scenario's should dissolution succeed. She is right to bring up concerns and ask for more information. She was given the contact information for attorneys who have successfully facilitated dissolution of other municipal authorities.
These attorneys met with Council President Mapp, Councilor Rivers and I and they explained that a dissolution study will only be approved by the Local Finance Board if:
1) a case can be made that ratepayers will benefit from the action,
2) that a viable plan is in place to guarantee that essential services remain in place and
3) that there is a plan to treat authority employees in accordance with applicable laws. I would advocate further that there is a plan to retain Plainfield residents to do the essential work of waste disposal. I believe my Council colleagues are with me on this.
I hope Mayor Robinson Briggs is ready to voice her support next Monday.
1. thanking the PMUA Taskforce members for the hard work of researching the solid waste and sewer service rates and presenting the comparisons with rates of similar towns. The taskforce also presented findings and recommendations to improve transparency and accountability, food for thought for the Mayor, Council, Board of Education and other Plainfield boards and commissions.
2. directing the Mayor and administration to procure the professional services needed to conduct a dissolution study. This study would be sent to the NJ Local Finance Board whose approval is necessary if the City Council is to dissolve the PMUA. More on this in a future blog post.
3. urging the PMUA Commission to make immediate and significant rate reductions. This is appropriate because if the PMUA is dissolved, it will take considerable time and the rate payers need relief now.
4. urging the PMUA Commission to rescind the $1 million settlement with the retired PMUA executives.
A majority of Council members agreed to put all four resolutions on the agenda for a vote at next Mondays Council meeting.
The Mayor was asked to support the dissolution resolution and she responded by stating concerns, more like worst case scenario's should dissolution succeed. She is right to bring up concerns and ask for more information. She was given the contact information for attorneys who have successfully facilitated dissolution of other municipal authorities.
These attorneys met with Council President Mapp, Councilor Rivers and I and they explained that a dissolution study will only be approved by the Local Finance Board if:
1) a case can be made that ratepayers will benefit from the action,
2) that a viable plan is in place to guarantee that essential services remain in place and
3) that there is a plan to treat authority employees in accordance with applicable laws. I would advocate further that there is a plan to retain Plainfield residents to do the essential work of waste disposal. I believe my Council colleagues are with me on this.
I hope Mayor Robinson Briggs is ready to voice her support next Monday.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Street Paving Update
City officials are saying that the South Avenue street paving project is scheduled to begin the first week in April. Atlantic and Pacific Streets will be done first.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
PMUA Taskforce Presents its Recommendations March 19
The taskforce will present its findings and recommendations at Washington School at 7 pm on March 19. The public is welcome. The charge to the taskforce was to analyze the PMUA rates and compare them to other towns. The taskforce also was given the latitude to take its research wherever the facts led it.
The controversy about the settlement for retired PMUA executives is bound to come up and whatever is paid out will have a negative effect on Plainfield residents' family budgets. This will be part of the discussion but the taskforce, the Council and ultimately the PMUA Commission must keep their focus on the big picture. That means the biggest costs: labor and fees paid downstream within the waste management system.
Having said that, there is a lot of buzz about a letter from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA)to the PMUA Commission. DCA Director Neff indicated that DCA and the Comptrollers office will be investigating the PMUA and actions of its commisioners regarding the $1 million settlement. I received a copy of the letter. Due to technical difficulties I could not copy the letter into this post so I will email it to other bloggers. Check to see if they will share it.
Mondays Council meeting should prove interesting as the Mayor's PMUA commission nominations are on the agenda.
The controversy about the settlement for retired PMUA executives is bound to come up and whatever is paid out will have a negative effect on Plainfield residents' family budgets. This will be part of the discussion but the taskforce, the Council and ultimately the PMUA Commission must keep their focus on the big picture. That means the biggest costs: labor and fees paid downstream within the waste management system.
Having said that, there is a lot of buzz about a letter from the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA)to the PMUA Commission. DCA Director Neff indicated that DCA and the Comptrollers office will be investigating the PMUA and actions of its commisioners regarding the $1 million settlement. I received a copy of the letter. Due to technical difficulties I could not copy the letter into this post so I will email it to other bloggers. Check to see if they will share it.
Mondays Council meeting should prove interesting as the Mayor's PMUA commission nominations are on the agenda.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Update on Local Government
Normally, my posts are on a single topic. Since I haven't posted frequently for many months, today I will cover a number of topics of interest to Plainfield residents.
PMUA - at the PMUA Commission re-organization meeting last month, there was an opportunity to permanently apppoint Duane Young as Executive Director. The City Council had not acted on new commission appointments so that the existing commission members, those with the most knowledge of Mr Youngs work, could take that action. They did not do so. I was particularly disappointed with Tracey Brown and Alex Toliver for declining to support Mr Young. I fear where this is going.
Also on the PMUA front, information has come to the attention of the public about how commissioners decided on the financial settlements with retired executives. Those who voted for the settlement have a lot of explaining to do on why they opted not to continue with arbitration that would have saved residents a lot of money.
The PMUA Taskforce, appointed by the City Council in 2011, will present their findings and recommendations to the public on March 19 at 7 pm at the Washington School. This should prove interesting and informative.
There is still an opportunity for the PMUA to lower its rates and thereby prove that it serves the residents first. I have always been a supporter of the PMUA in spite of its management and governance flaws and have opposed disbanding it. The way things are going, I am reconsidering my position on this.
City of Plainfield annual audit
The Council now has the audit report for the year ended June 30, 2011. It is not a positive report. There are what appear to be a record number of findings and repeat findings. Anyone who has questioned the Council on the cost of the WBLS investigation should think twice. The audit demonstrates the critical need for the City Council to increase its fiscal oversight on the Mayor and administration even more than it has done recently. WBLS is just a relatively small indicator of dysfunction at city hall. And there are no signs that Mayor Robinson Briggs intends to collaborate with the Council or change her management style.
I don't like to put the city in a negative light and for our Mayors first term, I generally held my tongue or softened my criticisms about missteps to give her a chance to learn her job. But I have not been as concerned about local government as I am now and I took office 8 years ago. The Mayor has generated so much negative publicity that I don't see any more downside to telling it like it is.
I will post soon on economic development. I want to end this post on a positive note and there are many non-governmental opportunities for sharing good news about Plainfield:
* the Van Wyck Brooks Historic District has received national recognition from This Old House magazine as "Best Old House Neighborhood". Congratulations to their neighborhood association and to Plainfield for this important designation.
* the Plainfield High School boys basketball team advanced to the state tournament section 2 group 3 final last night with a victory over Newark East Side. It has been a pleasure watching this team. They exemplify teamwork. Unlike most of pro basketball and a good number of college teams, the players aren't standing around watching their stars go one on one. They play like the team comes first. That is a credit to them, their families, coaches and to Plainfield. Go Plainfield - all the way to the state championship.
PMUA - at the PMUA Commission re-organization meeting last month, there was an opportunity to permanently apppoint Duane Young as Executive Director. The City Council had not acted on new commission appointments so that the existing commission members, those with the most knowledge of Mr Youngs work, could take that action. They did not do so. I was particularly disappointed with Tracey Brown and Alex Toliver for declining to support Mr Young. I fear where this is going.
Also on the PMUA front, information has come to the attention of the public about how commissioners decided on the financial settlements with retired executives. Those who voted for the settlement have a lot of explaining to do on why they opted not to continue with arbitration that would have saved residents a lot of money.
The PMUA Taskforce, appointed by the City Council in 2011, will present their findings and recommendations to the public on March 19 at 7 pm at the Washington School. This should prove interesting and informative.
There is still an opportunity for the PMUA to lower its rates and thereby prove that it serves the residents first. I have always been a supporter of the PMUA in spite of its management and governance flaws and have opposed disbanding it. The way things are going, I am reconsidering my position on this.
City of Plainfield annual audit
The Council now has the audit report for the year ended June 30, 2011. It is not a positive report. There are what appear to be a record number of findings and repeat findings. Anyone who has questioned the Council on the cost of the WBLS investigation should think twice. The audit demonstrates the critical need for the City Council to increase its fiscal oversight on the Mayor and administration even more than it has done recently. WBLS is just a relatively small indicator of dysfunction at city hall. And there are no signs that Mayor Robinson Briggs intends to collaborate with the Council or change her management style.
I don't like to put the city in a negative light and for our Mayors first term, I generally held my tongue or softened my criticisms about missteps to give her a chance to learn her job. But I have not been as concerned about local government as I am now and I took office 8 years ago. The Mayor has generated so much negative publicity that I don't see any more downside to telling it like it is.
I will post soon on economic development. I want to end this post on a positive note and there are many non-governmental opportunities for sharing good news about Plainfield:
* the Van Wyck Brooks Historic District has received national recognition from This Old House magazine as "Best Old House Neighborhood". Congratulations to their neighborhood association and to Plainfield for this important designation.
* the Plainfield High School boys basketball team advanced to the state tournament section 2 group 3 final last night with a victory over Newark East Side. It has been a pleasure watching this team. They exemplify teamwork. Unlike most of pro basketball and a good number of college teams, the players aren't standing around watching their stars go one on one. They play like the team comes first. That is a credit to them, their families, coaches and to Plainfield. Go Plainfield - all the way to the state championship.
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