Budget Hearings Police and DPW
PERTH AMBOY – Councilman Fernando Gonzalez questioned the 22% increase in the budget for the Police Department from $83,000 to $102,000.
Deputy Police Chief Larry Cattano explained, “These are carbon monoxide units for the firefighters. In the past, Code Enforcement got most of those carbon monoxide units. These units have audio and vibration signals. The individual cost is over $300. We got a discounted rate of $155 each. There are 130 units. We have a shared radio system with Woodbridge Township.”
Gonzalez mentioned an increase in dispatcher personnel of 3%.
CFO Jill Goldy explained, “This is per the union contract from July 1st to December 31st, 2018.
Council President Petrick questioned the line item concerning Narcon doses.
Cattano explained, “We went from 6 to 12 kits and we get replacements from the hospital. This is supplemental.”
Gonzalez questioned the number of officers. He was concerned about the future, because of their starting salary of $39,000. “We’re at our maximum number of police at 134. When they become senior members, what kind of impact will it be for our future budget cost?”
CFO Jill Goldy responded, “We are replacing retiring officers who are at the top of their salary with those who are at a lower salary.”
Gonzalez then cautioned, “In 5 years, those officers who are at the bottom will be at the top salary. Can we afford this? We may have to plan ahead to avoid layoffs. There’s a 7 to 9 year cycle when the economy falls off.”
Cattano responded, “A lot has changed, and a lot of officers are retiring earlier. Layoffs are never good.”
Gonzalez then questioned, “When those guys get to the top salary in 5 years, there will be a problem. Analyze where we are heading. Do an analysis of the Police and Fire Departments.”
Goldy responded, “We don’t have binding arbitration and we have to get parameters.”
Petrick said, “We know that staff is needed. I don’t know how long records can be kept on file for people to OPRA.”
Gonzalez continued, “Bargaining may change.”
Petrick reminded him, “As people retire, we have to replace them.”
Gonzalez, “My taxes doubled in one year because of the Water Deal. Let’s not get caught in this situation again.”
Councilman Helmin Caba commented, “We have to keep in mind the population we have in town.”
Petrick then asked about the $1500 electrical line item for the marine division.
Cattano answered, “That is to charge the boats from the Marina.”
Gonzalez then said, “The Marina makes money to give to us.”
Cattano then responded to a question about the cleaning supplies. He stated, “There’s one employee that cleans and we also use people who are on a work release program. People come on weekends to help.” He answered the questions about thermal plastic materials for $7000. “Code Enforcement and the DPW work with those materials for road repairs. The thermoplastic helps with the patchwork. It takes about 4 years to show wear and tear. With rough winters and conditions such as by the hospital which has heavy truck traffic, there is a high cost up-front, but in the long run it saves.” Cattano also said, “We have to increase the school safety guards.”
Petrick responded, “At least they have decent coats now. It’s a positive thing. Also, the Fire Department and the Police Department have better clothing and equipment.”
DPW Director Frank Hoffman came up next. “We’re focusing on training. I have a young man in college who is an intern. We hired one person to a $118,000 contract for the Public Safety Complex. With the training our people can work on all different types of traffic signals. With the Youth League Complex, the field management and training, we save $8000 with doing $1000 worth of training. Our vendors can help with any questions that we have (concerning traffic signals). We have a cabinet on hand to do work inside the box. We spent $75,000 on 1500 tons of salt. Some of the salt-spreaders do not have an automatic turnoff switch. We use calcium chloride liquid which is mixed with calcium (solid) and makes the calcium work better. The amount of $150,000 was used for snow material removal. As far as the lighting, we have to decide what we want to do. It’s a large ticket item.”
At this time, B.A. Adam Cruz made a comment, “We looked at the lighting in Garwood. Ours is a little bit better.”
Hoffman then explained, “Garwood LED’s are only on one side of the panel. It’s a wider light and not yellow. I will sit with Danny (Cleaver) about lighting solutions.”
Petrick then mentioned about the vendors at the League of Municipalities that were working with PSEG. “We should get lighting samples from them.”
Hoffman said, “You have to pay for samples.” In closing remarks, Hoffman said, “Our budget is close to what we had last year. In these past few years, we’ve gotten great workers and supervisors and I can’t say enough about them. We’ll be getting a second one arm bandit (for garbage pickups) in either November or December. We may need to change parking on some of our streets. We expect to be fully automated in the next 5 years. We’re trying to get a salter and some of our pickups are starting to show age. We have a 5-year plan to replace equipment.”
Cruz then mentioned some of the tight corners in the Budapest section of town, “We may have to eliminate 5 to 6 parking areas. We may have to strip one side of the street for no-parking. People may have to bring their garbage to one spot. In certain areas, we can pick up garbage at some homes if they have apartments (not exceeding 4 units).”
Hoffman came back to explain, “If we ask those homes to do their own garbage pickups we may have to reimburse them for the cost.”
After DPW finished talking, Jill Goldy stated that the Excel files, there were a handful of the Departments requests did not load into documents. She explained that the departments that were affected were: The Office of Aging, Tax Collector, Recreation, and the Planning Board. There were some documents that did not load into the correct line items and she would give the changes to the Council. She then stated the total adjustments would come out to $48,448.
Councilman Fernando Irizarry was absent due to illness and Councilman Joel Pabon was stuck in traffic.
