Politics & Government

2010 Scotch Plains Budget: What's Ahead

The town manager recently spoke on what work is being done to prepare for the next year.

There's no question that this past year was a hard one financially for the township of Scotch Plains. A tight 2009 budget led to layoffs, service reductions and the new sewer utility bill, all impacting residents and government operations in some way.

With the New Year right around the corner, the township will soon be facing many of these tough decisions again as they work to finalize the 2010 budget.

Patch recently sat down with Scotch Plains town manager Christopher Marion to reflect on the past year's woes, and to inquire about what's ahead.

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When you started your job as town manager in July, you said you planned to get busy on the 2010 budget right then. What work was done?

 Marion: I started in July trying to take a look at the previous year's budget, reviewing the line item expenditures, getting a handle on the history of the budget, getting up to speed. I spent about four or five months doing that. The 2009 budget was basically a lot of things — layoffs had an impact, there was an impact on service, we had the sanitation sewer utility, service reductions, we eliminated the fall branch and brush pickup, we had leaf collection operation issues, limitations on overtime, we eliminated the fall newsletter.

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 What's your overall impression of the decisions made prior to your start here?

M: Well, I think a lot of good things happened in the past. It's important to look at budget trends, what's been done before. We need to learn from our prior experiences so that we can be aware and put together a plan to address our needs now.

Have meetings on next year's budget already been taking place?

M: I sent a memo to the department heads in October regarding their 2010 budget operations. Between Oct. 26 and Oct. 28, I had my initial meetings with them, and I'll be following up with them between now and the end of the year.

I did have a meeting for residents on Dec. 10. Now, I'm hoping to have the manager's budget done by January or February, then start meetings with the council in February or March.

What are your goals going into next year as you plan the budget?

M: I'm trying to create a baseline budget that looks hard at every line item, our contracts, our opportunities for savings. With our public contracts, I do think there's some decentralized purchasing here that we could get more organized.

Do you think the 2010 budget will be better or worse than last year's?

M: I'm cautiously optimistic that next year will be less challenging given the tough decisions that were made this year — cost reductions, the impact of the sanitary sewer utility, the elimination of services.

Do you think we face further layoffs and service reductions?

M: It's fair to say that we need to look at all services. We've got to look at the full picture in January and have the opportunity to discuss things with department heads. It's difficult to say what specifically will happen. Will there be layoffs? I can't say at this point. Hopefully no.

The question of can we restore services like the branch pickup and the newsletter? I don't know.

The community part is very important. On the front line we're the provider of services, and we need our resources and manpower, especially public works and the police department.

The goal going forward into next year is to go in and not increase costs, and to make better use of our resources.

Are there any positives to come next year?

M: "Well, we'll have the shared services study, which will help us see both short-term and long-term savings.  We're also looking to do more cooperative purchasing. We just bought a police cruiser off through the Cranford Cooperative Pricing System. We've got the health services with the county.

The budget this year definitely had an impact on our operations, there's no doubt. But, our goal next year is to maintain our services while minimizing any further tax impact on the residents.


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