North Plainfield Photo Site

For all those shutterbugs out there, Morgan Shevett has requested photos for his site.

http://npphoto.wordpress.com/

New Municipal Tax Rate – Frank D’Amore

Many North Plainfield residents have asked what the new municipal tax rate will be. Until the budget is completed that question cannot be accurately answered. A major portion of the municipal budget revolves around salaries.
Currently the Borough is in negotiations with the unions representing municipal employees. These negotiations are super secret, and the tax payers have no say in what is agreed on. We will find what has been agreed to when the contracts are signed, this is standard procedure.
If you would like to see the 2007 salaries of our Borough employees go to c-n.com then click on data universe,
click on public payroll, you will get a drop down menu, click on NJ Public employee then fill in the blanks.
The salaries you will see are base salaries and do not include about $11,000.00 we pay per employee for medical benefits, nor does it include the Boroughs required contribution into the pension systems.
It is unknown when Data Universe will update the base salaries, but it is certainly worth watching.

NPCCR Monthly Meeting – May 7, 7pm

Second Anniversary Of Unfinished Construction At Borough Hall – Frank D’Amore

“Congratulations North Plainfield,” April 7, will mark 2 full years that the completion of construction at Borough Hall is overdue.
In the contract signed by The Borough of North Plainfield and the Dauti Construction Co.Inc. of West Orange, N.J. it was agreed that the construction/renovations, of the municipal complex, be completed 378 consecutive calendar days after the notice to proceed was signed. This notice to proceed was signed March 24, 2006. According to this contract the work should have been completed around April 7, 2007. On April 7, 2009 we will celebrate the second anniversary of a series of in my opinion, poor decisions made by North Plainfield that leaves us with the construction still not completed. One of these poor decisions has to do with not having a penalty clause in the contract. With a penalty clause the contractor would have to make some type of financial compensation for each day that exceeded the agreed on completion date,unless there were extenuating circumstances,ineptness is not considered and extenuating circumstance.
It is a common practice on multimillion dollar constructions jobs, such as this one, for a fiscally competent purchaser to include a penalty clause, that is probably why Norh Plainfield did not have one.
Another poor decision by the Borough was not to collect on the $3,999,500.00 performance bond that the Dauti Construction Company secured from the Great American Insurance Company of Cincinnati, Ohio (bond # 4583439). When posting a performance bond the contractor agrees to adhere to the provisions of the contract it has with the purchaser. It was pretty obvious after the first 6 months of attempted construction, by the contractor, that the 378 completion date would not be met. But the North Plainfield decision makers made no attempt to collect the performance bond so that someone more competent could complete the job before our second anniversary of non completion.
It is interesting to note that it took 420 days to complete construction of the Empire State Building. Construction started March 1930, and was completed May 1931. Apparently a choice of competent contractors, and a series of good decisions made by the property owners brought the successful completion of this magnificent edifice to such a rapid completion.

Municipal Clerk position finally filled

… by a Borough resident, Richard Phoenix, who has been the Deputy Clerk for many years and DOES have the RMC certification. I’m wondering what took them so long since the last clerk retired before the New Year?

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090328/NEWS/903280307

So the First Aid Squad is reopened…

I found this article and thought I had posted it from March 24th but apparently I hadn’t:

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090324/NEWS/90324038/1001/rss

There are apparently no follow-up articles; but I did see the squad ambulance flying past my house yesterday (since the front of my house serves as a launch ramp to most emergency vehicles of the borough).

Start Small

by Greg Hatala

Since there’s been talk about cooperation between council members and residents, reflecting the talk we heard a lot of about “open communication” in the run-up to last year’s elections, I’m suggesting a few small, simple actions that could get the ball rolling.

This blog obtained … by paying for it … a copy of the borough’s 2007 check register. At least one accounting professional reviewed that register, and found quite a few questionable practices; others noted expenditures and payments that smelled fishy.

Perhaps one of our council people could step up to the plate and obtain the 2008 version of this documentation, and provide it to the blog. Doing so would possibly help answer a few small questions I’ve had for a while.

What, for example, is the purpose of that large red storage building across from Vermeule Park? Two months before last November’s elections, it was rapidly built, though I don’t recall hearing anything publicly announced about it. Little expense was spared, from watching as it went up. At this time, though (pretty much half a year later), there’s little if anything actually stored in it. Who’s controlling the purse strings on spending like this when other monies aren’t being collected?

Similarly, I was always curious about an expenditure of approximately $1,000 for “scheduling software” for the Recreation Department, software which certainly appears to be available to, shall we say, recreational departments other than North Plainfield’s. Again, who’s holding the purse strings? Is it out habit to buy things that other communities then use gratis?

And we never heard back from the mayor on the topic that was raised at the debates concerning the borough providing vehicles to employees for personal use. If we exclude police and fire officials (who, obviously, regularly respond to emergencies), what happened to any respectful response to the question of other employees in the zoning department and public works? The sensible suggestion was made that the mayor, who stated his belief that such vehicles were “necessary” because of the need to respond to emergencies, could instead provide mileage allowance to those employees if and when they actually had to respond to an “emergency.” Back then, the very basic request was made for documentation related to how many of these “emergencies” there were that required such response; to date, that basic request has been ignored. Open communication?

We can’t leave the Board of Education off the hook. That $125,000 “school athletic field refurbishment” project from years back, the one that voters rejected but which was done anyway, certainly appears to have refurbished little more than the contractor’s bank account. Not long after that work was done (poorly), the fields were in the same condition as before. Was there any actual oversight on this or similar projects? Is there anyone from the Board of Ed that could honestly say they were satisfied with the outcome of the expenditure of all that money?

These are just a few small examples of the kind of information that SHOULD be readily available, especially at a time when money isn’t growing on trees. With people throughout the borough losing their jobs or having their hours cut, any continuation of unnecessary or wasteful spending by the borough becomes even more problematic. This is a time to be finding costs that can be ELIMINATED, and the way to do that isn’t to talk about having to cut jobs. The way to do it is to have the person holding the purse strings treat the money as if it was his or her own, and find the WASTEFUL expenditures. Nickels and dimes add up to dollars.

Housing Rehabilitation Grants Available

from Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders, April 2, 2009

Public Information Contacts: Linda Van Zandt / Joanne Vuoso / Lisa Krueger
908.231.7020    publicinfo@co.somerset.nj.us
Low- or moderate-income residents who need to make home renovations may be able to get assistance from the Somerset County Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Housing Rehabilitation Program.

Residents from any of Somerset County’s 21 municipalities may apply, but applicants are being sought particularly in Bedminster, Bernards, Bernardsville, Bound Brook, Branchburg, Far Hills, Peapack-Gladstone and Rocky Hill.

“The CDBG Housing Rehabilitation program provides assistance to eligible homeowners who need to renovate or replace substandard heating, electrical or plumbing systems,” said Freeholder Patricia Walsh, human services division liaison.
“Program funds also can be used to make structural repairs, alterations to correct code violations, improvements designed to reduce operating expenses and other repair work necessary for upgrading existing homes to standard condition,” she said.

Block grant funds are used to provide as much as $18,000 of rehabilitation assistance to homeowners who meet household income criteria. Funding for the program is provided by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

For more information, prospective applicants should call Tracey Rizk at the Somerset County Community Development at 908-541-5756.

Housing Rehabilitation Program Brochure

[editor's note: while they are clearly looking to help in the boldfaced towns, they DO state that residents in ALL municipalities may apply and frankly, when you look at census data for the towns they are highlighting the odds don't support all that many people falling into the eligibility guidelines for the program in most of those municipalities.  So certainly, if you qualify--APPLY!]

Board Of Education 2009-2010 Budget Review – Audio

Audio

Here’s a summary of what was presented (the  details are on the audio). I might be able to eventually scan the handout and post, but the anyone can get a copy of the handout from Board of Education.

1. 2009/2010 tax $ decrease on average assessed home value ($265,663): -$286.60

(I think the following was what  was spent in ‘08)

2. Total Revenue: $57.6M

Coming from:

a. State and Federal $27.2M

b. Local Tax $27.2M

c. Prior year savings $3.1M (usually around $1M, but larger given more state aid received than expected and more carried over into ‘09/10 budget)

d. Other (Debt Service, Medicaid Reimb, Misc. Income) $0.2M

 Note: Second year that State/Fed aid matched Local tax levy; Local Tax has exceeded St/Fed aid from 2003 – 2006

Expenditure:

a. Classroom Instruction $20.1M

b. Special Education $10.1M

c. Classroom Support $3.9M

d. Op&Maintenance $5.5M

e. Administration $3.2M

f. Debt Service $1.4M

g. Employee Benefits $8.3M

h. Capex $3.4M

i. Other Programs $1.8M

3. 08/09 and 09/10 Budget Comparisons

a. Fiscal Year Taxable Budget (08/09 09/10): $54.2M            $55.3M (1.93%)

b. Tax Rate at $100 per assessed value:  $3,269             $1,512   (-53.75%)

c. School Tax on averaged assessed home ($265,663) : $4,304           $4,016 (-6.7%)

4. Cost Per Pupil (08/09  09/10)

a. Classroom $8,003                $8,146 (2%)

b. Administration $1,213        $1,213 (0%)

c. Total $13,904             $14,099 (1.4%)

Other notes:

a. $1M grant for Krausche Field Improvements (no local tax dollars used); Completion Aug ‘09

b. Facility Improvements

c. Grants and Cost Containment Measures

d. New Jersey State Department of Education (NJQSAC) verified North Plainfield as a ‘High Performing School District’ based on a) Instruction and Program, b) Personnel, c) Fiscal Management, d) Operations, e) Governance

North Plainfield Lions Club Pancake Breakfast – Sunday, April 5

On Sunday April 5, (Palm Sunday) the North Plainfield Lions Club will have their annual pancake breakfast at the Italian American Club 403 Somerset St. Tickets can be purchased at the door from 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 noon, adults $5.00
Senior Citizens $3.00, children $2.00.
The proceeds from this event will benefit the blind, as well as the sight & hearing impaired.