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Recommendations for
Fiscal Year 2011
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CBAC Members
Fiscal Year 2011
Lisa Casey
Jeanette Criscione
Lisa Cright-Bryant
Delores Decameron
Robert Darden
Shari Effman
Will Gill
Susan Kilduff, Chair FY11
Jan Massey
Charles L. McCrae
Advisors to the Advisory Committee:
Alan Goldstein
Lilas Borsa Donahu
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Introduction
The Citizens Budget Advisory Committee is convened by the Plainfield
City Council.
Members are selected by the Council from a pool of applicants and
typically serve a two year term.
Each ward should be represented by a committee member .
questions,
reviews budget and financial documents,
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This Year’s Focus
Broad actions to reduce costs now and preplanning in anticipation
of continued economic pressures in FY12.
Right-sizing Public Safety to achieve cost reductions without
compromising coverage or service.
Demanding performance improvements in areas that are well
funded but provide a questionable return to the public, such as
Recreation and Economic Development.
Improving administrative processes to eliminate waste and work
smarter, specifically in areas like Purchasing.
Suspending City budget support to programs that are not typically
funded by other municipalities, such as the Bilingual Day Care Program.
Questioning the City’s ability to manage its financial and
administrative operations with the prolonged absence of two key
financial positions.
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Recommendations
Reduce the city’s $1 million overtime budget.
Eliminate overtime in every area but Public Safety and Public Works.
Demand reductions in OT in Public Safety.
Freeze salary increases in bargaining units.
Offer time off in lieu of raises in FY11; structure a plan to make it workable in FY12.
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Recommendations
The 800 pound Gorilla in the room -
Address Public Safety and its 70% slice of the city’s compensation budget.
Increase civilians for the 911 dispatch department, replace police officer/manager.
Analyze the $500K “seasonal worker” budget for effectiveness and compliance.
Stop subsidizing some nonprofit programs; restructure others.
This program must increase the population that it regularly serves and
aggressively seek external funding.
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Recommendations
Implement revenue opportunities open to the City.
Public Works Parking Bureau should cost out and plan for parking pay stations
Expand parking meter times for high traffic after hours lots.
False Alarms - charge residents and non profit entities for repeat false
alarm calls.
If even 1/3 of the false alarms recorded in 2010 were assessed a fee of $100,
$40,000 would have been generated.
Increase the fee based on the number of false calls to location. More than 3?
Assess a $500 fee.
Increase fees for certificates issued and health inspections conducted by Health
Services. The fee structure has not changed in decades.
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Recommendations
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Conclusion
Final report to be submitted by the end of November to the Council.
Report and expanded Power Point presentation will be posted online for the
community.
Questions and comments are welcome and can be directed to the CBAC
blog at http://www.plainfieldcbac.bogspot.com.
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End of presentation
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Rationalization
POLICE – The 800 pound Gorilla in the room -
The FY11 Plainfield budget includes 650K in OT, a 30% increase over
FY11. We believe this is caused, in part, by so may officers at the high
end of the pay scale
Request a state audit by the Division of Local Government Services to
determine whether or not there are too many superior officers. Eliminating
2 sergeant positions would result in a cost reduction of a quarter of a
million dollars
Relocate the Parking Bureau from their free standing building to existing
office space to reduce costs associated with building maintenance
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Rationalization
RECREATION
We recommend restructuring the Recreation Department based on
the following information:
BILINGUAL DAYCARE
After researching other diverse cities in New Jersey, we found that
Plainfield is the only city that subsidizes day care. All other cities
have daycare programs that are either non-profit or for profit.
Based on that we recommend eliminating the city subsidy to
bilingual daycare, a reduction in cost of 325K.
This million dollar program services only a small portion of the
city’s children. Cost per child serviced is over 14K per
year.
The City should pay no portion of this program’s expenses.
WIC PROGRAM
This should be a completely self-sustaining program; there
should be no city cost for salary, benefits, or facilities’ costs.
Identify a nonprofit organization to host Plainfield WIC such as
the Elizabeth model.
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Rationalization
PAS
PAS costs to the city is 292K per year (after grants) and the estimated
number of people serviced is just 225. Costs cannot be justified by the
number of people serviced.
Eliminate duplication of services provided by PAS; establish partnerships with
nonprofit entities already in the city that are providing the same or
comparable services, such as food banks.
SENIOR SERVICES
Costs estimates for this program before grant support is 575K. The
program states that it services 140 people daily but the majority are
repeat visitors.
The program needs to revamp its programming and reach a
significantly higher number of Plainfield citizens to justify expenditures
in personnel and facilities costs.
Significant additional grant funding should be identified or the
program should reduce employee costs by 30%
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Rationalization
PURCHASING
There needs to be more accountability from the Purchasing
Manager and an audit of activity and productivity in purchasing
is recommended.
Increase the number of RFP, RFQ and sealed bids
Audit copier leases, use and cost
LIBRARY
Library has demonstrated a consistent, thoughtful and creative
approach to cost containment.
Integrate library resources with City Hall where appropriate to
increase efficiency and reduce overall costs. Example of this is
using library staff expertise to help train City Hall employees in
technology applications
The public library is a critical and cost effective element in the
city’s quality of life.
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Rationalization
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
This division continues to not be able to provide sustained improvements in
the city’s economy.
A review of this entire division, its staffing, its “performance measurements”
and its plan for the next three years is required.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
IT is vital to helping with efficiency in City Hall. It can also aid in increasing a
city’s bond rating. Its ability to perform successfully is hindered by the
following issues:
It has an unclear or inappropriate reporting line
It has an inadequate budget to undertake any substantive
improvements in media or technology services.
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