Crest Holds Public Meeting on Budget

WILDWOOD CREST — Borough Commission held a public meeting on the 2010 municipal budget May 12 and got some feedback on the 6.6-cent tax rate increase included in its $21 million spending plan.
Taxpayers are being asked to provide $12.8 million of the total budget compared to last year, when the tax levy was $11.4 million.
About half a dozen local taxpayers raised concerns and asked questions on certain items in the budget.
Alan Seijas, of Seaview Avenue, asked about a reported $450,000 increase in medical benefit, pension and salary costs.
Steve Ritchie, borough chief financial officer, noted that police salary and benefits are some of the biggest challenges for municipal governments. He also noted large inequities between police and other municipal employees.
He noted that taxpayers pay approximately $2,100 a year for each of the borough’s 76 non-uniformed employees, while the cost for each of the 21 police employees is $12,000 per year or 500 percent more. He said that police receive 65 percent of their salary in retirement after 25 years.
Ritchie noted that the average salary for Wildwood Crest police officers is over $80,000.
He noted that the borough is part of the New Jersey State Health Benefits program, for which premiums increased 18 percent this year. He said that until a few years ago under that plan the state required that municipalities offer only one option for employees with no employee contribution to the plan.
“There was no deviation, everybody had to get the same benefits,” he said. “We didn’t write the rules, but we have to live by them.”
He said that some borough employee contracts in place now were bargained at that time.
“As these contracts are renewed, the municipality is seeking co-pays from employees to reduce costs,” he said.
With the huge increase this year, why not get out of the state plan?
Ritchie said in general the state plan provides stability with minimal increases over the past couple years. He said that the borough could move to “Joe’s Insurance Company” for lower premiums now, but those prices would only be good for two years and could go up dramatically after that.
A recently implemented state mandate will require all municipal employees to begin paying at least 1.5 percent of their salary towards medical insurance costs.
Borough Clerk Kevin Yecco told the Herald that most non-police city employees are contributing 5 percent of the cost of their medical benefit plan. Employees hired after Jan. 1, 2010 pay 10 percent. For a single person the plan costs about $8,000, and about $20,000 for a family, Yecco said.
Currently, 21 police employees, four dispatchers and nine emergency medical technicians are not contributing, Yecco said.
“In contract negotiations, the governing body is seeking the same contributions from the remaining employees,” Yecco said. Police officers have been working without a contract since the beginning of this year and contracts for the other two groups will be expiring at the end of this year and next.
Since police do not have a contract, on May 22 the 1.5 percent minimum will be deducted from their salaries for health benefits. Yecco said the state police unions are fighting that deduction.
According to Ritchie, one of the biggest challenges in negotiating with police unions is that their contracts are eligible for binding arbitration. The borough can ask for wage freezes and 5 percent health insurance contributions, and the union can say “no” to concessions.
“It will go to arbitration and historically arbitrators have sided with the unions not municipalities,” he said.
Bob Young, of Louisville Avenue, said he’s been paying taxes in Wildwood Crest since 1950.
“Taxes here have always been reasonable, but with this budget it’s now coming to an end,” he said.
Young noted the tax levy has increased $3 million since 2007. He also noted the borough’s debt has grown to $29 million.
Groon told Young much of the debt has come from the ongoing $10 million Seaview Avenue reconstruction project, which included related roadwork on side streets, outfall lines and storm sewer mains. Over half of this year’s budget increase, about $780,000, comes from principle and interest payments on that debt.
“Four years ago our engineer told us of the Seaview Avenue problem,” Groon said. “It came on our watch, we made a decision to fix it and not to put it off.”
He said the borough worked unsuccessfully for grant funding to reduce the costs, but was able to get loans at .85 percent.
“That rate doesn’t come along often, it made sense,” he said.
Young also brought up the borough’s trend of declining revenues — anticipated revenue, $243,000; state aid, $107,000; and miscellaneous revenue, $56,000.
“The revenues with the largest percentage increases are the ones we don’t want to see increase,” Ritchie noted. “Interest on delinquent taxes and delinquent sewer rents.”
He said it was a sign of the difficult economic times that people can’t make their payments.
Another sign of the times Ritchie noted was the huge reduction in the 1.85 percent occupancy tax on motel rooms. He said it’s dropped $69,000 in the last three years. Since half of that goes to the state and the other half is shared equally between North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and Wildwood, that’s a $417,000 drop in that time.
“That’s $22.5 million less in revenue being reported by hotels and motels between 2006 and 2009,” he said.
Jim Johnstone, another resident, suggested implementing beach fees, placing meters on the west side of Atlantic Avenue, cutting overtime, making staff reductions and implementing a four-day work week in order increase revenues.
“You’ve don a good job over the years, but you have to try harder,” he said.
Groon said that the governing body was “bound and determined to look at every department separately.”
Yecco added that he has a fully developed layoff plan that can be implemented next year if the economic situation for the borough continues.
“Nobody wants another big tax increase,” he said.
At the start of the meeting, Bruce Hamlin, of West Cardinal Avenue, said he hadn’t been to a budget hearing before but he’s been affected by the tough economy and felt he should attend given the large tax increase this year.
Hamlin wanted to know how to provide input to the 2011 budget process.
“How can the public get involved?” Hamlin asked.
Groon told Hamlin that the borough deals with budget issues on an ongoing, year-round basis, but budget talks begin in earnest in November.
Commissioner Joyce Gould called on the public to come to meetings and get more involved. She said the borough holds one day and one night meeting per month, dates and times are listed on the borough website (www.wildwoodcrest.org).
In the end with the public hearing closed, the governing body wasn’t able to adopt the 2010 budget. Yecco said the state Division of Local Government Services (DLGS) hadn’t reviewed it yet. Barring any amendments, final adoption was set for Commission’s May 26 regular meeting at 7 p.m. in Borough Hall at 6601 Pacific Ave.