Local Mayors Ask Christie: ‘Where’s the Toolkit?’

VILLAS — “The wolf is at the door,” said Lower Township Mayor Michael Beck, looking ahead to next year’s township budget and a lack of help from Trenton.
Municipal officials were promised a toolkit from Gov. Chris Christie to cope with a 2 percent cap on property taxes, but-to-date, little help has come from the state house.
Beck told the Herald the result of no toolkit would be devastating to the budgets of all towns in the county. He said many towns supported the 2 percent cap with the provision the state would provide something that would allow towns to live within the new cap.
He said even if state lawmakers passed the toolkit in its entirety, it would not go far enough. Beck said the toolkit focused too much attention on the workforce and gives towns little or nothing to help balance their budgets in relation to the 2 percent cap.
“We’re not going to be hiring for a long, long time and we are facing a severe shortage,” he said.
“If you can’t control costs, you have to control numbers,” he continued.
Beck points to labor contracts signed by the previous township council two weeks before the current administration took office. The contracts were with Teamsters Local 676, Lower Township Supervisors Union, Lower Township Superior Officers Association PBA Local 59 and PBA Local 59 for police rank and file officers.
The township’s contract with the Teamsters covers public works employees and groundskeepers and running from Jan. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2010. It offers raises of 3.8 percent the first year and 3.7 percent in years two and three.
The township supervisors’ union contract, which covers department heads, runs 2009-2011. It offers raises of 3.8 percent the first year and 3.7 percent in the second and third years.
The police superior officer’s contract covers captains and lieutenants and runs from 2008-2011. It offers raises of 3.8 percent the first three years and 3.9 percent in year four.
The rank and file police officers contract runs from 2008-2011. It offers a raise of 3.7 percent the first year followed by 3.75 percent raises each year for the next three years.
“While the rest of the country is experiencing deflation and we’re sitting back and giving out 3.75 percent contracts,” said Beck. “It just doesn’t work.”
The governor’s toolkit allowed a 1.5 percent increase in healthcare costs while the township expects a 12 percent increase next year, he said.
Beck said the state needed to “get out of the business of telling us how to conduct our contract negotiations.”
He asked if residents wanted 40 police officers earning $100,000 a year or 50 officers earning $80,000.
He said if the township paid the next generation of police officers minimum wage, it still would not pay the bills. Beck said pension debt was “astronomically high.”
He said the median W-2 form for police officers in the township last year was $95,000. A pay increase at the end of the year will approach creating $100,000 per year officers, said Beck.
The number of township employees has been reduced by attrition by 10 percent in the past year and a half, he said. The next reduction would be in services to residents, said Beck.
A number of municipalities passed resolutions endorsing a 2.5 percent cap. Lower Township’s resolution had some conditions including statutory reforms relating to binding arbitration, civil service, public employee pensions and benefits, disciplinary procedures, school and special district elections.
The resolution noted the cap must allow local units some flexibility to deal with pension costs, utility costs, disaster and emergency response costs and other costs beyond the control of local leaders.
Beck sent a letter to Christie in which he said the interest arbitration system in our state needs to be drastically overhauled or eliminated.
“It is the number one municipal economic problem,” said Beck.
Business Dictionary.com defines interest arbitration as “submitting (those) disputes for arbitration that arise from disagreement over what terms or conditions should be included in an agreement.”
The only way to reduce the cost is to allow the municipalities to seek reductions through collective bargaining without having to worry about the hammer of interest arbitration, said Beck.
He suggested a minimum retirement age for police officers of 50 years old instead of 45.
“When a police officer retires at age 45 with a health benefit package costing close to $20,000 per year, it adds another $400,000 for each officer before you even factor in the additional increases plus the cost of benefits past age 65. Accordingly, there needs to be legislative reform that limits the amount of post retirement benefits that municipalities can provide,” said Beck in his letter to Christie.
Beck asked Christie if it is fair to correct past problems on the backs of the future workforce.
“Do you want a workforce where people are paid differently for doing the same job? And is it fair to ask the other unions to share a larger part of the burden than the police who are protected by the binding arbitration? Should the other unions alone pay 25% of the health care premium cost? Binding arbitration not only inhibits our ability to control police contracts, but those of all the other employees,” said Beck in the letter.
Beck said about 70 percent of the cost of government is generated by the cost of employees.
At a Wed., Aug 25 Borough Commission meeting, West Cape May Mayor Pamela Kaithern said while the public seems to be rallying around budget cuts and a 2 percent cap on the raising of property taxes by towns, Gov. Chris Christie has not provided the tools needed to maintain its operations.
“Part of the job has been done but the sentence hasn’t been finished,” she said.
“Towns such as ours who run on bare bones and work with minimal staff, the tools aren’t there for us to continue to operate as we do without some help from the state,” Kaithern continued.
She said residents that are happy with the 2 percent property tax cap, should push their state legislators and governor to finish the job with help to municipalities so the borough can at the least offer the current level of services residents have become accustomed.
Kaithern said without additional tools from the state, residents will see a cutback in services and funding for new projects will not be available.