Sea Isle City Budget – On the Money or Missing the Mark?

SEA ISLE CITY — It’s budget time again! Typically, once our Mayor announces the budget, there are many public meetings and much discussion but almost no Council changes. So, in all likelihood, there will be an 11% tax increase based on a spending increase of 7.5% (that’s a new $1.8 million, folks) and no reform of water & sewer rates. We’ll let you be the judge on whether the priorities are appropriate in this “tax and spend” budget.
First, some positive news. Government understands that our south end needs sand and plan a beach replenishment project. They will also eliminate a few full-time positions through attrition, and plan a Beach-to-Bay project to enhance our entryway. Government has also strengthened the town’s financial surplus for emergencies. Good stuff! However, there are questionable priorities underlying this budget:
Do they understand this economy? In case anyone cared to look, we’ve got a recession going on right now. Everyone is tightening their belts. Many folks are out of work. Social Security payments are staying fixed. State Government is about to unload some combination of tax increases and spending cuts on all of us. Is the City budget proposal out of step with the times?
Beach-to-Bay is full speed ahead! The project planning started almost two years ago, and our Government sees no need to alter course now and slow this down. Even the quickly developing, high priority need for a $7M south-end beach project did not cause a priority reevaluation of Beach-to-Bay and all of its components. Let’s just do it all!
Desi-Dome to the rescue! At the 11th hour, Mayor Desiderio proposed adding a new dome over a portion of Dealy Field. Construction, maintenance and staffing costs are unknown, but the proposal also creates a new Recreation Department Head position. None of this was mentioned during months of Capital Planning, but it’s now being thrown into the mix due to parent complaints about lack of kid activities. Kids need recreational activities, and they should be a high priority. However, we already have a recreation department with its own commission and trust fund. Why can’t they provide the wintertime services needed for after-school and weekend hours and, why not use our half-empty school, community lodge and new library to provide them?
Water & Sewer Rates need reform badly! The MUA charges us over $16 for sewerage treatment in the summer, but our excess rates are only $1.50. Politics are overruling the facts to protect the largest water users from paying their fair share. Adding insult to injury, the City is considering a program that pays them to replace their high-flow fixtures. If these high-cost users were paying their own way, they’d have plenty of motivation to replace their ice machines themselves.
Contracting/Sharing Services, not in Sea Isle! Other cities have used these tools to provide high quality low cost services for areas like police dispatchers, municipal courts, trash pick-up and water. Our City has studied these, but has a long list of rationales against pursuing any of them.
Taxpayers pay, all others go free! While taxes may be up 11%, there will be no increase for Beach Tags, Parking Meters or Marina Boat Slips fees. While it’s important to be tourist-friendly, economic reality suggests that non-taxpayer costs have to be raised a bit, too. Rental permit fees are increasing from $84 to $125.
Union Contracts are sacrosanct in Sea Isle! While attrition and buy-outs have reduced positions, underlying salaries march onward to the tune of 5-6% every year. Employee pension and health insurance costs continue to skyrocket. Family insurance now costs us over $32,000 (twice the cost of State plans), and employee prescription co-pays are still only 50¢. Retiree health benefits have already created a $40 million unfunded/unrecorded liability for us. Other towns have opened up contracts so that everyone shares the pain together!
To put our contracts into perspective, here are 2009’s Top Ten Sea Isle City Salaries based on employee W2’s (line 16):
1) Thomas D’Intino Police Chief $132,471.22 6) Kirk Rohrer Sergeant/Det $112,028.31
2) George Savastano Administrator $125,131.24 7) John Milburn Sergeant $111,960.72
3) James Terruso CFO/Comp/Dir Pur $124,237.74 8) Daniel Campbell Supvr Mechanic $109,804.58
4) Michael Jargowski Police Captain $124,235.98 9) Rosemary Milano Lt./TAC $108,802.77
5) Dennis Felsing, Sr. Police Lt. $114,205.97 10) Jon Gansert Police Officer $106,992.23
Some of you might agree with these budget priorities, and some not. So we ask “Is the budget on the money or missing the mark”? Write our Mayor/Council and let them know your opinion.
Submitted by SICTA – Sea Isle City Taxpayers Association
(ED. NOTE: This report is from Sea Isle City Taxpayers Association, which is solely responsible for its content.)