Move along man move along

Recently, the Governor signed Bill S3148 which "Establishes procedures for districts, municipalities, or voters to opt to move the annual school election to November and eliminates vote on school budgets for such districts, except for separate proposals to spend above cap." For the first time, School Board elections that are held in April each year can be held at the same time as the November General Election.

Some statistics from the Clerk's office shows the staggering differences in voter turnout between April (Board of Ed Elections) and November (General Elections) over the past few years:

2011--April: 9.68%....November: 29.39%
2010--April: 8.01%.... November: 39.69%
2009--April: 1.21%..... November: 47%

On the surface, that is a very compelling reason alone to move the election to November and ultimately where I wound up. However, it is worth noting that there are multiple dimensions to this issue that need to be carefully considered:

• Agreeing to move the election to November, allows the Board of Education to create and pass a budget WITHOUT approval of the Board of School Estimate (or the public), as long as it is within CAP. There are currently enough exemptions, such as healthcare, debt service and loopholes, such as CAP banking that conceivably could result in tax increases far greater than the 2% CAP. (Currently, the Board of School Estimate is responsible for approving ALL budgets and bonding of the BOE, and acts as a natural "check and balance".)




• On the flip side, holding elections in November will likely engage more voters, particularly ones who are concerned about fiscal issues (not JUST education issues), so the election could act as the same "check and balance".




• Moving the election to November will inevitably result in more costly campaigns. Currently, candidates can easily target voters who have previously voted in BOE elections with limited mailings etc. The pool of voters in November is much larger and will require larger mailings and more money.




• A campaign for the April 2012 election is already underway and to shift the date at this late date would be unfair.




• While Maplewood already passed a resolution supporting the move to November, the Board of Education declined to do so. Ultimately, the timing of the Board of Education election SHOULD be the responsibility of the Board of Education.

In the end, myself and the majority of the BOT agreed that Board of Education elections should be moved to November, but not until 2013. South Orange will be communicating our desire to have the election moved to November starting next year and would like the Board of Ed to take the initiative to do so.

Next up for discussion is the consideration of a similar move of MUNICIPAL elections from May to November. While I think there are different "risks" to be considered, such as the potential influence of partisan politics in a non-partisan election, ultimately, I think the increased engagement and turnout of voters has to trump that. (and may be less of a risk if ALL elections, including Board of Ed, are held on the same day)

As always, I'd love to hear what you think.

We Take Care of Our Own

With 2012 well underway, there are quite a number of recent personnel changes in the Village that are worth sharing:

At the end of last year, Mario Luciani formally retired as the Director of Public Works after many years with the Village. We thank Mario for all his years of service and wish him the best as he begins the next chapter in his life. To fill the shoes left by Mario, we recently promoted Tommy Machetti as the new Director of Public Works. Tommy was previously the Assistant Director and is well versed in all aspects of the department. We know he will do an outstanding job and wish him lots of success in his new role.

Earlier in 2011, our previous IT Manager, Mauricio Garcia, left the Village to work for a private company. Our Media Technician, Stan Wilkinson, immediately stepped up to the challenge to take over Mauricio's responsibilities. He did such a great job, that recently, we formally promoted Mauricio to the title of IT Manager and we will now be looking for a part-time media technician to fulfill Stan's prior responsibilities. Likewise, we know Stan will do an outstanding job and wish him lots of success in his new role.

In mid-December 2011, Deputy Clerk, Sherri Golden went out on a temporary medical leave. Her husband, Derek, was to be receiving a kidney transplant and Sherri, in turn, graciously and unselfishly volunteered to become a kidney donor for another individual. I am happy to share that both surgeries and recoveries were successful and Sherri will be returning to the Village on January 30.

Lastly, as everyone already knows, Village Administrator John Gross resigned in August and Reagan Burkholder has been acting as Interim Administrator while a search was underway for a new Administrator. After a thorough search, including numerous interviews, the BOT appointed Barry Lewis as our new Village Administrator on January 23 and he will be officially starting work on January 30. Barry comes to us from Mountain Lakes, where he served as their Administrator, and Spring Lake and Mine Hill before that. Mr. Lewis has a BA in Political Science from the University of South Florida and a Law degree from Florida State. In Mountain Lakes he created a budget in 2010 which had a 2% increase (but would have been 0% without the loss of state aid) and in 2011 had a 0% increase. He also successfully obtained more than $20M in grants and funding partnerships and negotiated many interlocal agreements during his tenure in Mountain Lakes, Spring Lake and Mine Hill. I welcome Barry to South Orange and look forward to working with him!

I hope everyone will joining me in congratulating all of these employees on their recent achievements!

The Price You Pay

On November 8, 2011, you will have the opportunity to vote on a referendum to determine if The South Orange Board of Trustees should begin to receive PAYMENT for serving the Village. I urge you to vote NO on this referendum for a variety of reasons:

Serving as a volunteer is a longstanding Village Tradition

Since the Village was settled, serving as a member of the Governing Body has been an honor and a privilege for those who want to serve the community. In all that time, this honor has been done by VOLUNTEERS who were not paid for their service. People served the community because they wanted to do the right thing for the Village, not because they were looking to supplement their income. This tradition is an important part of the culture and history of South Orange and should not be changed.

Providing compensation is not necessary

Serving the Village on the Board of Trustees is a part-time position. The Village already has a large payroll of full-time paid staff that handle the day-to-day operations of the Village. As a member of the Board of Trustees, I can say firsthand that serving on the Board of Trustees does not require a financial outlay for any mandatory expenses. In fact, the Board of Trustees already receives complimentary admission to many political fundraisers, a complimentary parking sticker to park in any permit space downtown and other perks. No compensation is required for the Board of Trustees to complete their duties.

Changing the Charter opens a Pandora’s Box

Altering the Village Charter to provide monetary compensation to the Board of Trustees will open a Pandora’s Box that can never be closed. What begins as a modest “stipend” today, will inevitably grow over time. Simply view the graph of Congressional salaries over time as an example of how, when given the opportunity, politicians love to pay themselves more and more money over time.

Our Taxes are already overly excessive

In this time of flat incomes, reduced services, reduced staff, and skyrocketing property taxes, we simply cannot afford a new expense added to the budget. The taxes in South Orange are outrageous and we need to find ways to REDUCE the budget, not INCREASE the budget by adding an additional expense to pay volunteers for serving their community. We simply cannot afford it.

VOTE NO ON MUNICIPAL QUESTION #3

Please share this with your friends and neighbors or go to http://nopayforpoliticians.wordpress.com/ for more information about the election.

Real World

At what point will people say enough is enough with the offensive tax bill in South Orange, specifically and Essex County, in general? After all the recent debate and discussion about the Municipal Budget, the certified tax rate has been released showing an overall tax increase of 4% - increasing the average homeowner's tax bill by almost $600 this year to a total of $15,260.

The breakdown of your tax bill for 2011 is as follows:

The County portion went from .389 to .413 (a 6% increase)
The School portion went from 1.486 to 1.546 (a 4% increase)
The Municipal portion went from .729 to .749 (a 2.7% increase)

County Open Space remained at .015

Municipal Open Space remained at .01

Total rate = 2.733 per $100 of valuation

While most people are seeing their incomes remain relatively flat and we continue to see the challenges every day of the ongoing recession, the taxpayers of South Orange are being told to support a 4% increase to their already excessive tax bill. To make matters worse, there were very clear options this year for both the School tax and Municipal tax increases to be much lower: The School District recently received a $1M "rebate" from the state that could have been used for tax relief and the Municipality received a similar amount when the arbitrator's ruling for the Police union contract came in significantly less than was budgeted (and paid by taxpayers) over the past 3 years. That savings could have EASILY been used for tax relief, but wasn't. In addition, no structural changes were made to the budget at all this year - rather small discretionary spending items (like a business recruiter, holiday decorations and downtown concerts) were cut this year, and will simply return to the budget next year. As a result, I voted "no" for the Municipal Budget and likewise voted "no" on the School Budget.

When the average South Orange homeowner already has a tax bill over $15,000, it is completely unsustainable to raise it by over $600 each year - especially in light of the 2% CAP mandated by Governor Christie and the State of NJ. This budget crisis was further highlighted during the recent controversy over the retention of the CFO and Administrator. As I stated at the time, the financial terms that were proposed were not in the best interest of the taxpayers. Yet, no consideration on how the proposed deals would impact the budget was even discussed.

We all moved to South Orange for different reasons - including our housing stock, our proximity to NYC, our people and our sense of community. However, unless something is done to hold the line on taxes, our community will become far less desirable as a place for people to come to live or as a place people choose to stay. In the meantime, I will continue to scrutinize every expense we are asked to approve and will continue to vote "no" when I feel an expense is excessive or unnecessary. As always, I welcome your thoughts and input.

All or Nothin' At All

Washington, D.C is not the only place with a budget stalemate. Here in South Orange, we are currently facing our own stalemate, with the Board of Trustees evenly split over the proposed tax increase for this year. Myself, Trustee Gould and Trustee Bauer are advocating for a 0% municipal increase. Trustees David Ford, Levison and Rosner are advocating for a 2% increase.

While I cannot speak for my colleagues, I can certainly share MY opinion.

1. While there is now a 2% "cap" in place for tax increases, I do not think that maximizing increases should be our goal. We have such an enormous tax burden to begin with, every increase on top of that is "real" money and we should do what we can to minimize the increases.
2. We can actually accomplish a 0% increase this year, without ANY additional cuts in services. The most significant source of the revenue is from our recent settlement with our Police and Fire Unions. Over the past 3 years, we have been budgeting "x" for Police/Fire increases. However, until the arbitrator provided their ruling this year, that money has been accruing. The arbitrator's ruling was quite a bit less than had been budgeted, so the "excess" taxes that had been collected over the past 3 years should rightfully be returned to the taxpayers. We can accomplish that and STILL have additional funds in "surplus" to deal with any unexpected events next year.
3. This year Maplewood passed a budget with a 0% increase and it is important that we stay in close parity to them since our towns are so comparable in many ways.
4. Lastly, although we are being told we need a higher increase this year so as to not face a steep increase NEXT year, let me share that we have heard that same argument for each of the past 3 years, as per the following table. Things always look bad for the subsequent year and somehow, we always manage to significantly reduce the looming increase:

Year	Initial Tax Increase Estimate	ACTUAL Tax Increase
2008	13%	6.5%
2009	27%	3.9%
2010	29%	1.94%

Taxes have been spiraling out control for way too long, in South Orange, and throughout New Jersey. The time is finally right to take a stand and hold the line for once.

As always, I'd love to hear what you think.

From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)

As many have heard, earlier this year, the Board of Trustees created a Special Improvement District Advisory Committee. This Committee was formed after several business and property owners came forward to express concerns about the state of the downtown. (I blogged about this last Summer http://trusteegoldberg.blogspot.com/2010/08/dirty-boulevard.html) They provided hundreds of photographs of litter, poor maintenance and unsightly conditions all around the downtown. After discussing a variety of options and realizing the limited financial and human resources available to the Village to address the problem, the idea of creating an Improvement District was raised and the BOT created a committee to study the feasability.

The Special Improvement District Advisory committee, consisting of representatives from Main Street, the Parking Authority, Board of Trustee liaisons and a majority of business/property owners, has been meeting every other week since April. Since that time, the committee has prioritized potential goals for the Improvement District, outlined a potential boundary for the District, created a potential budget and is now ready to share the findings with the business community at large and residents. While all meetings have been open to the public, the committee wanted to hold a special open forum where they could present what they have been discussing and solicit input from the wider community.

The public forum will be held on Wednesday, July 20 at 8pm in the SOPAC loft. All business and property owners are invited to attend. In addition, the committee would like residents to also attend since they also have a vested interest in the success of our downtown. Please mark your calendar and join us.

For further information, you can visit http://www.southorange.org/downtown/or send an email to downtown@southorange.org your comments or questions.

When the Lights Go Out

Is a gas lamp near you malfunctioning? As I travel around town, I notice MANY gaslamps that do not have all 3 mantles glowing and it would be incredibly helpful if everyone pitched in to report them.

South Orange’s signature gas lamps offer less illumination than a normal street lamp, so it’s important from a public safety perspective that they always work at maximum capacity.

The Village is asking residents to take an active role by being aware of how to recognize a problem and report it to PSEG. If there is a gas lamp in front of your property, we would like you to adopt it. Keep an eye on it and report any malfunction. It takes only minutes to save $'s and gas.

Here are the basics to know:
• All gas lamps operate with a triple mantle burner.
• Each lamp should have three glowing mantles 24 hours a day. In addition, the globe should be clean and clear. Reporting a malfunction or dirty globe is easy. Simply go to the Village website, http://www.southorange.org/, and from the opening page, top left, under “Easy Access,” click on “Report Streetlight Outage. ”You’ll be connected to a PSE&G Customer Service form, where you can report your observations.
• Or call 1-800-436-PSEG (7734) to give the location of the gas lamp, and the nearest cross street.