December 22, 2013
Municipal Clerk Salary Increase
At the December 16th Pemberton Borough Council meeting, the prime item of business was Ordinance 2013-11. This ordinance increases the salary of the municipal clerk from $73953 to $89731 and treasurer from $6206 to $6827 (total from $80159 to $96558). Both positions are held by Donna Mull, so she receives a raise of $16399, slightly more than 20%. The raise was offered to prevent her from taking the municipal clerk position in Hainesport. Despite numerous public comments at the meeting indicating strong opposition, the ordinance was passed.
The controversial and very unpopular garbage collection fee (basically a tax) was instituted earlier this year. Per Mayor Kochersperger and council member Wilson, they had no choice as our financial situation was dire. The Borough was having a very difficult time trying to make ends meet. Despite instituting the garbage collection fee, the Borough offices remain shut down on Fridays and other employees are still laboring under a 10% salary cut. But somehow several elected officials felt that giving a 20% raise to one employee was something they should support. Basically, about 3 months worth of this fee is paying for the salary increase. The combination of the fee and raise amounts to unnecessary tax-and-spend behavior, supposedly anathema to fiscal conservatives.
Anyone voting for this kind of raise has lost credibility, especially in regard to being fiscally responsible. Who offers a raise of 20% in any economic climate, let alone today's? It is also ludicrous that the salary increase does not include reinstatement of a 40-hour work week. It opens up the possibility of resentment on the part of the Borough's other employees. Mayor and council were elected to serve the people of the Borough, not its employees (or one specific employee). To this extent, they have failed - badly.
At the November Council meeting, Gail Lake mentioned that the extreme closeness of the council election should serve as a wakeup call - many people are unhappy. Apparently some council members hit the snooze alarm. The next elections will not be as kind to those incumbents.
Read more on this issue from Bonnie Haines.
October 19, 2013
Sewer Main Replacement
Pemberton Borough is working on a Small Cities Grant for replacement of the sewer main on Hanover St. This would redirect to the main trunk in Pemberton Township, which extends to the sewage treatment plant in Birmingham. $303K is needed; the Borough would need to match 5%, or $15,150. The matching funds will need to be in next year’s budget. Besides needed replacement of an aging pipe, this would eliminate a siphon that is a maintenance nuisance.
School Site Redeveloper Indicted
Trenton developer Robert Kahan was indicted in July on 25 counts for allegedly diverting funds from three affordable housing projects for his own use. See the official US DOJ press release here. Kahan’s company, Tara Builders and Developers is working with The Salt and Light Company to redevelop the Borough’s old school site on Early St.
While Kahan has not been convicted, and Salt & Light is proposing a restructuring of the development agreement, it raises concerns that Tara Builders is still proposed to be the contractor for the project. See this report on the status of development.
Burlington County Parks Grants
36 Burlington County municipalities applied for a parks grant 2013, and all 36 were awarded at least $50,000. To no surprise here, Pemberton Borough was one of 4 municipalities that did not apply. The Borough’s failure to apply, for what was essentially a guaranteed minimum grant of $50K, was extremely disappointing and has cost residents the possibility of significant improvements.
This fits a disturbing pattern:
These issues are almost never brought up at Borough council meetings, except by residents during the public portion. A monthly status report should be provided, possibly as part of the old business portion of the agenda.
There’s no legitimate excuse for lack of applications and progress. Hopefully this will not be the case with the sewer main replacement grant. These jobs are not getting done, our water supply is in jeopardy if there is another lengthy power outage, and the residents of the Borough are being shortchanged on park improvements. The buck stops with the mayor, who needs to either step up and get things done now, or step down.
See the latest editorial cartoon - Cartoon20131019.jpg.
July 7, 2013
June Council Meeting
June 16, 2013
May Ordinance and Resolution Votes
The 5/20 council meeting was not as lively, lengthy, or well-attended as the previous couple. Major decisions included:
Other Items
May 19, 2013
Budget Approved
The 4/15 council meeting was similar to the March meeting - in attendance, in tone, and in subject matter. The controversy over the trash collection fee (basically a tax, but not deductible from your mortgage) came up again, but as expected, there was no change in outcome. The biggest news is that the controversial budget passed, by the not-surprising 4-3 margin (see the latest editorial cartoon - Cartoon20130330.jpg). The budget slide show presented at this meeting has been posted on the Borough website.
While the overall picture is somewhat gloomy, one positive story is developing: the court (with a new judge and a new prosecutor) pulled in approximately double the revenue from the same month last year. A fully-staffed police force helps.
First Aid Squad
The Borough is sending a letter to the Pemberton First Aid Squad #199 on Arneys Mount Rd informing them that it would be a violation to their contract with Lourdes in Browns Mills to support the squad as first responders. Because of cost, having the squad be the backup is probably not feasible. The real villain here is Pemberton Township mayor David Patriarca, who for less that $25K, decided to abandon quick EMS responses in the northwestern part of the township by withdrawing support for the squad's insurance. The Borough also is put at risk as a result. Hopefully no one will ever suffer because of a delayed response from Lourdes, or their distant backups, but it's clear where the blame will lie in that unfortunate event.
March 31, 2013
A Contentious Meeting
The 3/20 council meeting was perhaps the best attended, raucous, and contentious in years. Approximately ¾ of the seats were occupied (sometimes ¾ have been empty), and there were a lot of new faces.
One of the main draws was a trash collection fee ordinance. Narrowly voted in last year at $25/quarter per household (but never actually implemented), the amendment being voted on was to raise this to $30 (retroactive to January 1) in order to cover a budget shortfall. Lengthy discussion ensued, with many spirited and even angry remarks – both by the public and council. A number of good points were raised about this issue in particular, and about our budget in general.
In the end, the ordinance amendment passed 4-3, with council deadlocking (Mosher, Thompson, and Wilson voting yes; Emmons, Stockton, and Ward voting no) and the mayor casting the deciding yes vote. As an aside, this particular 4-3 split is fairly common. See this cartoon (coming soon) for our take. The vast majority of the public in attendance appeared to side against the ordinance.
Pemberton Borough Website
The Monmouth University Polling Institute and Graduate Program in Public Policy released a report on 540 NJ municipal websites studied. Pemberton Borough came in 535th. Websites were not rated on having pretty visuals, but on user experience – how information is conveyed to the audience. The Borough can do much better.
March 2, 2013
Special Budget Meeting
A special budget workshop was held on 2/26. It was contentious at times, but an excellent forum for the Borough Council and public to air and exchange ideas. The ample opportunity for attendees to express their opinions was appreciated. One hopes this trend continues.
A budget shortfall of approximately $66K was the main item of discussion. Returning full-time employees to a 5-day week, the rapid decline of the surplus, potential savings (view some ideas furnished by Council Member Stockton), and selling our available liquor license were among other topics. [View a memo regarding flower baskets.]
The outcome was a vote to have a $30/quarter garbage collection fee. This is essentially an allowable tax to work around the cap on property tax increases. It would close the budget gap, but not provide for the 5-day week.
This idea for fundraising (Cartoon20130302.jpg) wasn’t considered – at least not yet!
February 5, 2013
Best wishes to Mayor Kochersperger as he recovers from a serious illness.
Emergency Medical Squad
Pemberton Township will discontinue funding for the EMS squad closest to the Borough (#199) as of 4/1. A number of squad members appealed to the council at the meeting for assistance in covering their insurance. Without aid, they would be forced to close, and that would result in longer response times in emergencies, especially if Browns Mills was not able to respond.
Respect and Professionalism - Again
This issue has been raised in this space on more than one occasion (see July 8, 2012 for example). While the discussion regarding the EMS was taking place, and continually during the public portion of the meeting, Council Members Thompson and Wilson were repeatedly engrossed in private conversation. Prior to this, Mr. Thompson let out a loud exclamation apparently in protest of another council member’s statement. While the latter is just a sign of disrespect and lack of professionalism, the former is essentially contemptuous of the public. If elected officials cannot be courteous enough to at least pretend to listen (and one hopes this is not really the case) to their constituents, there is no basis for them remaining in their positions. For a related editorial cartoon, view Cartoon20130205.jpg.
Doing the Right Thing
Since 2011, the Borough’s sewer utility was charging one of our homeowners for a 2-family unit even though the residence was approved as single family. After a protracted battle to get the erroneous charges reversed, the council voted 4-2 to partially right the wrong and refund almost $1000. Not refunded were interest and penalties, which seems absurd given that the charges should never have been levied in the first place. The council may reconsider this. Also disturbing was having 2 council members (Thompson and Wilson) vote against the refund. No reason was given by either. It’s hard to imagine them not clamoring for a refund if they were the ones being overbilled.
Updates
There has been no movement on an emergency generator. The Borough’s engineer stated he would have something for the next meeting.
The parks grant is apparently a reimbursement grant – that is, the Borough would have to pay up front to complete work, then the county would compensate. How a small municipality like ours can be expected to front about 20% of its entire annual budget is puzzling. Council Member Norma Ward is looking into what options, if any, are possible. Burlington County has indicated we have 2 years to spend the money, so there is time to consider options like floating a bond.
Balancing the municipal budget is going to be a struggle and will most likely get contentious. Please consider coming out to upcoming council meetings so you can voice your opinion.
View older blog entries (from 2011-2012)
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