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Council tightening boro's belt
(by Karen F. Mrnarevic - September 10, 2008)
The Montvale Mayor and Council has, over the past year, focused on projects aimed at minimizing municipal spending, recently ramping up its efforts to trim the fat within borough departments. In some cases, it has meant the elimination of salaried positions, while in others, it has been accomplished through reorganization. Council members and department heads have also been asked to conduct analyses of spending practices to see if small changes can be made that will have a positive impact on the borough’s taxpayers.
On Jan. 15, the council voted to not reappoint Construction Code Official Ray Dressler to two of his formerly held positions, a move that made him a part time employee. While his salary remained largely intact, the borough was relieved of having to provide him with benefits.
Earlier this year, Municipal Clerk Maureen Iarossi-Alwan took over the duties of borough administrator, combining two jobs into one position. According to Mayor Roger Fyfe, Iarossi-Alwan’s new appointment saves the borough approximately $100,000 annually. “[Former Borough Administrator] Jack Doyle was a good administrator,” said Fyfe in a recent phone interview, “but it was just time to make a change.” The borough hired Deputy Clerk Fran Scordo, whom Fyfe calls “quite a find,” to assist Iarossi-Alwan in her duties as Municipal Clerk. Additionally, said Fyfe, the borough bumped a part time administrative assistant into a full time position, and now have that employee doing double duty as a secretary to the mayor, with a net result of a decrease in administrative spending.
Spending by the Department of Public Works has also come under scrutiny in recent months. On May 13, the council voted unanimously to eliminate a DPW position, thereby saving the borough an estimated $70,000 annually. This summer, the council asked DPW Mechanic Brian Cirelli, who has been working with the borough for nearly 10 years, to prepare a detailed explanation of what it costs for him to service borough vehicles, including the police fleet, versus sending the vehicles to a dealership or outside garage for service. According to Mayor Roger Fyfe, “The finance committee wanted to find out that we couldn’t save money by sending stuff out to get fixed.”
Cirelli presented his findings at the Aug. 26 meeting of the mayor and council, and the members of the governing body were largely complimentary of the quality of Cirelli’s work. Cirelli went over the vehicle maintenance jobs he had analyzed in his report, saying that in some cases his comparisons showed that “the cost savings is just astronomical,” both for labor and, even more dramatically, for parts. For police car tires, for instance, Cirelli said, “we have the ability to buy under state contract which dramatically reduces our operating cost.”
Fyfe calls Cirelli “one of the best employees we have,” and is confident in the accuracy of Cirelli’s finding that the borough saves a significant amount of money by having vehicle maintenance done in house. “When you send stuff out all the time you are at their [the dealer’s] mercy,” said Fyfe. “You take your car to a dealership and it costs $100 an hour.”
But Cirelli’s report was met with a certain amount of skepticism, especially on the part of Councilman Chuck Wehrle, who independently calculated what he believes is the actual cost to the borough of employing Cirelli, including benefits and pension payments he would receive if he lived to the age of 80. “Everybody speaks very highly of you, but the problem I have is… I like to deal with real numbers,” said Wehrle, before presenting an elaborate calculation for what he believes is Cirelli’s more accurate hourly rate. The figure was still significantly lower than the estimated $100 hourly labor fee for outsourcing vehicle service.
The council is also currently undertaking an effort to more closely monitor department spending. Historically in the borough, as is common practice in many municipalities, if a department needs to purchase something and there is enough money in the budget, the purchase is made with little interference. According to Fyfe, “The council people think there should be some oversight, especially for very expensive [purchases]. Just because there is enough money in the budget doesn’t mean they need it.”
Now, Fyfe said, the council would like to be able to tell whether purchases are necessary before approving them. However, since in certain cases purchases must be made quickly, as with a recent emergency replacement of the Municipal Clerk’s laptop computer. Fyfe said the council has considered different changes that can be made to borough policy, but it would be more practical to consider approval of expenses on a case-by-case basis.
In the end, said Fyfe, “We agreed that the department heads would talk to their liaisons if they anticipate an upcoming expenditure. Sometimes it’s an emergency, and you have to have one, so the expenditure gets approved after its been made. But [only if] it was within her general budget.”
It remains to be seen whether the mayor and council’s efforts will have a measurable impact on property owners’ tax burden.
Karen F. Mrnarevic's e-mail address is Mrnarevic@northjersey.com.
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