Wildwood Advisory Board Offer Cost-Cutting Suggestions

WILDWOOD — Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr., said although he has been elected to represent the city’s residents’ best interests, he realizes he doesn’t have all the answers when it comes to the city’s budget.
That’s why the mayor said he was thankful to the Wildwood Budget Advisory Board for submitting cost cutting recommendations to the city on March 16.
The board is a budget review committee, represented by businesses persons, members of the Hotel & Motel Association, bank officials and homeowners that began meeting in October 2008.
“The role of the committee will be to review the municipal budget and look for ways to possibly reduce expenditures and increase revenue in order to relieve the burden on Wildwood property owners,” according to the city.
Concern over the financial condition of the city has spiked since rumors of a 45-cent tax increase began to spread.
Troiano has called that rumor “bizarre” but Commissioner Gary DeMarzo said he was “standing behind his numbers.”
Residents filled City Hall on March 11 for some answers regarding the 2009 budget. In-stead, City Clerk Christopher Wood told the audience that he had spent the last week trying to diffuse tensions in the city government by delaying a budget presentation that may be premature. And then received a challenge from Troiano to come forward with their ideas on how the city can save and better spend its money.
The Budget Advisory Board submitted both immediate and short-term suggestions to the governing body. Long-term ideas will be ad-dressed at a later date, according to the board’s recent memo. Many ideas, the board noted, were based on conclusions made in the 2002 state budget review of the city.
Recommendations for immediate action include:
• An immediate hiring and wage freeze for all employees in all departments.
• General improvement bonds should be considered in the context of what they will cost the taxpayers in matching funds.
• Police and fire union contracts should continue to be aggressively renegotiated using an outside representative.
• Reopen collective bargaining agreement with UAW union to aggressively renegotiate their contract.
• Creation of the position of a Business Administrator.
Short-term suggestions include:
• Critical review of all professional service con-tracts.
• Research different healthcare options each year for all City employees and consider employee contribution to health insurance.
• Staffing levels and job descriptions should be reevaluated. Study staffing levels to deter-mine the minimum re-quired job personnel needed to fulfill daily functions. Consideration should be given to: reduction of forces, furloughs, buyouts, early retirement, and attrition.
• Consider privatizing many city functions including trash pick-up, fire inspections, EMTs, etc.
• Volunteer fire companies should be revaluated for consolidation and excess equipment, if any, should be sold.
• A public relations manager position should be created to enhance communication between the city and taxpayers.
Troiano said he was “thankful to the group” and appreciated the amount of time that was taken in preparing the budget recommendations.
“There is so much be-hind the numbers,” Troiano said of the budget. “You have to really understand the issues.”
Many of the remarks made by the advisory board the city had already had implemented or we’re working to-ward, Troiano said.
“They saw a lot of the same things that we were seeing,” the mayor added.