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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2000/02/15 An Informal Meeting was held by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Carteret on Tuesday, February 15, 2000, Municipal CourtJPolice Facility, 230 Roosevelt Avenue, Carteret, New Jersey. The following were noted present: Councilmember Patrick Crilley " James O'Brien " Remy Quinones " Janet Santoro " Buddy Sohayda Noted absent were Mayor James A. Failace, Councilmember Jack Fazekas and Borough Attorney Craig Coughlin. Also noted present were Business Administrator Nicholas Goldsack, Borough Treasurer Patrick DeBlasio, Tony Neibert, Brian O'Connor, John Pieczyski and Ted Surick. Statement of Meeting Notice was mailed to the Home News Tribune, the Star Ledger, and posted on the bulletin board on February 11, 2000. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the 2000 Local Municipal Budget. Borough Treasurer Patrick DeBlasio said he gave everyone a booklet which included a summary of what is going on. He said it also included a comparison tax rate that shows where we came from and where we are going. He said if you look at 1999 for the local tax rate you will see a certain number there, and if you look at the year 2000 you will see where this budget stands today. He said as far as he and Business Administrator Goldsack are concerned this budget is a working document that can be changed. He said this does not mean we are going with these numbers, this means that this is the point we are at and we can work at this document and help "'tweak it" clean. He said the effect of that tax rate on the average household is listed on the next line. He said net valuation tax hold basically shows the growth of the town. He said it went from nine hundred thirty two million (932,000,000) to nine hundred thirty four million (934,000,000) so the growth is relatively stable. He said the more the town grows the lower your tax rate goes. He went on to discuss the surplus numbers. He said in 1998 the number was one million nine hundred thousand (1,900,000) and in 1999 it was one million four hundred thousand (1,400,000). He said the Finance Committee anticipated using eight hundred fifty thousand (850,000) of that number in this year's budget to keep taxes at the level it was presented at. Mr. DeBlasio also stated this budget does not include three hundred thousand (300,000) dollars of state aid that we received last year. He also stated the state requires you to introduce your budget without the aid and then they will determine later if you will receive the aid. February 15,2000 INFORMAL MEETING February 15,2000 PRESENT STATEMENT OF MEETING NOTICE PURPOSE OF THE MEETING DISCUSSION 'ebruary 15,2000 )ISCUSSION CONTINUED Councilmember Patrick Crilley asked if the eleven cent (.11) increase would go down if we received the three hundred thousand (300,000) dollars in state aid. Borough Treasurer Pat DeBlasio agreed. Councilmember Janet Santoro asked how much it would go down. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said three cents (.03). Borough Treasurer DeBlasio went on to say that every ninety three thousand (93,000) dollars cut out of the budget will cut the tax rate one cent (.01). He said if you increase the budget by ninety three thousand (93,000) dollars it will increase the tax rate by one cent (.01). He said that the anticipated collection rate is being maxed out. Council member Patrick Crilley asked why the Borough Treasurer went down on that number in comparison to last year. The Borough Treasurer explained that you can not go above the number you were at last year. Councilmember Crilley then asked if the revenue reflected any additional taxes that we are getting from the new industry in town. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said no. He said that comes in as an added assessment in October, if it hits the books this year at all. He said you can not anticipate collecting future revenues. Councilmember Crilley said this is based on the actual value of properties as of today. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said he had highlighted some larger items, namely salaries. He said medical insurance is basically the driving force behind this budget. He said the insurance numbers went from one million eight hundred thousand (1,800,000) dollars in 1999 to two million three hundred thousand (2,300,000) dollars in the year 2000. He said LOSAP is what has been voted on by the public to fund the pension for the volunteers. He said this includes (inaudible) Councilmember Crilley asked if this was the second year of the volunteer fire department. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said yes. He said we did not pay a penny out for the first twenty five thousand (25,000) (inaudible). Business Administrator Goldsack said there is still an IRS problem with that. Councilmember Crilley asked if it was encumbered. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said yes. He said it was set aside in last year's budget, but we did not layout a penny yet. He said the IRS is saying not to pay it. Councilmember Crilley asked if these people are not getting their pensi on credits. 2 Business Administrator Goldsack said that was correct. Councilmember Crilley asked if it would be retroactive back to 1999. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said yes it will. He then went on to say the budget shows new hires. Councilmember Crilley asked who this concerning. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said it was only four part timers in the Parks Department. Councilmember Crilley asked if it was in the summer. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said about ten thousand (10,000) to twelve thousand (12,000) dollars. Councilmember Crilley said there were two last year. He then asked if those were on the list. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said anyone that was full time is on the budget now. Councilmember Crilley said we had two part timers last summer. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said he thought there were four part timers last summer. Councilmember Crilley said actually he was going to have four kids at twenty hours each, instead he did two kids at forty hours each. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said that was fine. He said the budget anticipates four part timers for the amount of ten to twelve thousand dollars to help out in the summer time. Councilmember Crilley asked if that would come out of the Recreation salaries. He said that is what it came out of last year. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said this was set up in the Parks Department. Councilmember Santoro asked how much money are we talking about for the four part timers. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said ten to twelve thousand dollars. Councilmember Crilley said last year they took the money to pay the summer time kids out of the recreation salary budget that we use to pay the summer high school kids. He said that kind of left us (inaudible). He said what we are doing now is to budget separately so that the money is still there for the kids. Councilmember Santoro asked if we are all right. She wanted to know if Councilmember Crilley anticipated hiring any and all of the kids for the summer program. 3 February 15,2000 DISCUSSION CONTINUED 'ebruary 15,2000 )ISCUSSION CONTINUED Councilmember Crilley said yes, for that program we hire any body that comes in to fill out an application. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said the more important point is if we anticipate hiring someone else during the year, it is budget time and it needs to be discussed so the money can be put aside. Councilmember Crilley said what about (inaudible). Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said that is what we need to discuss. Council member Santoro said this means any new hires in any other areas. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said we have a listing of every employee, their salary and showing exactly where they're at. He said if we are going to add to that list we need to budget for that. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio went on to speak about severance pay. He said there is about three hundred and ten thousand (310,000) dollars sitting in the budget. He said that this is down about one hundred fifty thousand (150,000) dollars from last year. Councilmember Santoro asked is this what we know now, or at least what we anticipate. Councilmember Crilley said they have to put it in by February 1, otherwise they could put it in after February 1, but we do not have to pay them in this calendar year. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said we meet our CAP, that we do not have a CAP problem. He reiterated this budget is a working document, we can amend this budget any time prior to adoption. He said we have thirty thousand (30,000) dollars in the fund balance of our capital account, one hundred and one thousand (101,000) dollars in capital improvements, twenty two thousand (22,000) dollars in reserve for sewage. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said to complete the picture we have four hundred thousand (400,000) dollars that will be going back into the sewer account for the year 2000. He said that would bring the number for sewer projects to four hundred and twenty two thousand (422,000) dollars, and this budget is showing that we will be putting in two hundred thousand (200,000) dollars more into the capital improvement fund, so we have three hundred thousand (300,000) dollars in capital projects. Councilmember Crilley asked how much did we purchase (inaudible), forget the sewer, but for capital projects last year. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said without going through the ordinances he did not know. He said we did some library projects, so it was up there. He said we just did the five hundred thousand (500,000) dollars for phone (inaudible), so that was set aside. Councilmember Crilley said no I'm not talking about that, what did we budget. 4 Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said we put two hundred thousand (200,000) dollars in last year to transfer over to the capital account, and that's what we are doing this year. Councilmember Crilley said and then we put the additional five hundred thousand (500,00) dollars in there. He then asked where did we get the five hundred thousand (500,000) dollars. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said temporary funds. Councilmember Crilley said so that did not come out of capital (inaudible). Business Administrator Goldsack said just a down payment. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said just the down payment of five percent (5%) came out of the capital fund. Councilmember Crilley said he would like to have a break down of the capital account. Councilmember Santoro asked what projects are you looking to do, what are you going to do with this money. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said this will probably be one of the toughest things to do this year. He then went on to talk about the budget summary. He said the budget is extremely confusing this year. He said this is because the State came out with this thing called Flexible Chart of Accounts. He said basically this means they did not like the accounts we had before, so we have to reassess them to make them more acceptable. The State came up with this Chart of Accounts, so this really changes our budget a lot. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio went on to say this year's budget will be very confusing to the public because of the one line items. Councilmember Crilley asked if this was the GAP system. Business Administrator Goldsack said it's getting there. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said yes it is getting there, but it is truly not GAP. Councilmember Crilley said it looks like it. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said all utility charges have been pulled out of all these accounts. He said you will see some accounts coming down by ten or fifteen thousand dollars, people will think their budget has been cut, but they really have not. He said they have just pulled utilities and put them in a separate account. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said he would like to discuss revenue. Councilmember Santoro asked if revenue is what we collect. Business Administrator Goldsack said it is every line item. He said it is state aid, fees that we collect, licenses, plus (inaudible). Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said it is all income. 5 February 15,2000 DISCUSSION CONTINUED ~ebruary 15,2000 )ISCUSSION CONTINUED Councilmember Santoro asked if that would show any money like in (inaudible). Councilmember Crilley said no, that is expenditures. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio asked Business Administrator Nick Goldsack if he wanted to call the departments one at a time, to go through what their budgets are. Councilmember Santoro said (inaudible) Business Administrator Goldsack said what has occurred is due to a major project that is coming into the Borough. He said we are getting an additional two hundred thousand (200,000) dollars, so we called the State for some direction. He said we want to anticipate those dollars. In order to anticipate those dollars this years, what the State told us is that they had no problem with us realizing the revenue, as long as there was sufficient dollars being set aside in the construction office to take care of the project. Councilmember Santoro said we were concerned when we were asking the difference of (inaudible), whereas we must not have as much choice if we have to spend (inaudible) that we are over. She said she would rather see it spent on personnel or something within that department. Councilmember Crilley said but that's revenue, that's in the budget. Councilmember Quinones asked if they are talking about the money they just mentioned. Councilmember Crilley said yes. Councilmember Quinones said you are saying that you can add it to the budget. Business Administrator Nick Goldsack said we can add it to this year's budget, only if we reflect on the appropriation side that portion of those dollars are being utilized by the Construction Office. Council member Crilley said this is always the case because you have their salaries and their (inaudible). Business Administrator Nick Goldsack said there are additional monies that came in this year that we are requesting that we can anticipate in this year's budget. Councilmember Crilley asked if we are talking about 1999 or 2000. Business Administrator Goldsack said 2000. He said it's over two hundred thousand (200,000) dollars for a specific project. He said what occurs with the Construction Office is that the State allows you to anticipate what you have brought in, in the previous year. Councilmember Crilley asked if they collected more than we anticipated. 6 Business Administrator Goldsack said no. Councilmember Crilley said generally permits and fees are general revenue. He asked Business Administrator Nick Goldsack if we know we have projects coming in, can we anticipate the money. Business Administrator Goldsack said only if we get approval from the State. Councilmember Crilley asked if we have enough time to do that. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said yes. Council member Santoro said she was concerned where we are starting off. She said we are only in February, just basing on where the rest of the year is going and maybe (inaudible). Councilmember Crilley asked if this two hundred and twenty eight thousand (228,000) dollars is reflected again in our eleven percent (11 %) increase. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said yes. Councilmember Crilley said so if we did not have that two hundred and twenty eight thousand (228,000) dollars, we would be going up to thirteen percent (13%). He said that he wants to remind everyone this is general revenue not Tony's budget. Councilmember Santoro said I understand it goes into general revenue, my concern is if they can bring that much additional revenue in it should justify us possibly looking at that different position. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said that Construction Official Tony Neibert's budget went from twenty six thousand (26,000) dollars to sixty six thousand (66,000) dollars. He said the main difference is there are two vehicles in the account we are figuring out to be about twenty thousand (20,000) dollars each. Councilmember Crilley asked Mr. Neibert what vehicles. Construction Official Tony Neibert said to my understanding It IS Charlie's truck, which we are going to trade off to the custodial department. Councilmember Crilley asked Mr. Neibert what year is that. Construction Official Neibert said he thinks it is around seven years old. He said he believes it is a 1993. He said he would like to continue the conversation regarding revenue. He said in the year 2000, the department (based on the permit from Meridian Square) brought in a two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) dollar anticipated revenue. He said he knew the Council was aware that CRP received approval for a large warehouse. He said also there has been approval for thirteen hundred (1300) Federal Boulevard putting in another facility in that is similar to MCI World Com. Mr. Neibert said the Port Carteret Project has been passed. He said the anticipated 7 February 15,2000 DISCUSSION CONTINUED TONY NEIBERT CONSTRUCTION OFFICIAL ~bruary 15,2000 ISCUSSION CONTINUED )OLICE DEPARTMENT rEHICLES revenue for building fees are about one hundred and fifty thousand (150,000) dollars. He said the Lager Brothers is another large building which will probably bring in about fifty thousand (50,000) dollars, MCI World Com was approved last month for a six thousand (6,000) square foot addition. He said right now in his office there are permits outstanding of over seven thousand (7,000) dollars, and the new building (inaudible). He said we also have a major inquiry in the old Carteret Lumber area for approximately eight to ten, two family houses. Mr. Neibert said He anticipates this year that the Billing Department will bring in revenues between five hundred thousand (500,000) to seven hundred and fifty thousand (750,000) dollars based on these proposed projects. Construction Official Neibert then spoke about hiring a Technical Assistant. He said with a clerk retiring that would compensate for a portion of the new position salary. Borough Treasurer Patrick DeBlasio said the budget does include this new position. He then went on to talk about the Police Department Budget. He said the budget last year was two hundred thirty eight thousand (238,000) dollars and this year it is two hundred fifty nine thousand six hundred and twenty (259,620) dollars. Police Officer John Pieczyski said they need three new vehicles. He said those vehicles, two Police vehicles and one SUV, preferably a Ford Explorer. Police Officer Pieczyski said the second item he wants to discuss is training. Borough Treasurer Patrick DeBlasio said there was sixty thousand (60,000) dollars for vehicles last year and we actually spent seventy seven thousand (77 ,000) dollars. Police Director Chris Elg said they ordered two vehicles out of last year's budget and one vehicle out of this year's budget. Councilmember Santoro asked if these were replacement cars. Police Director Elg said yes, we currently do not have any four wheel drive cars. He said that is why they we want a Ford Explorer. Councilmember Santoro asked who was going to be using the four wheel drive car. Police Director Elg said anyone assigned to patrol. He said it will be a marked vehicle. Councilmember Santoro asked what would happen to the cars you take out of service. Police Director Elg said some of them have over one hundred thousand (100,000) miles on them. He said they will go to the graveyard or to another Borough department. Business Administrator Nick Goldsack said if they are useable. Councilmember Crilley asked if seventy thousand (70,000) dollars is enough to get three vehicles. 8 Police Director Elg said it will be nineteen thousand (19,000) dollars for one, twenty one thousand (21,000) dollars for the other one and about twenty four thousand (24,000) dollars for the SUV. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said Police Training was thirteen thousand (13,000) dollars in 1999. He said that they are requesting thirty five thousand (35,000) dollars this year. Council member Jack Fazekas was noted present at 7:50 p.m. Borough Treasurer Patrick DeBlasio said the Police Officers that retire now will not get their money until next year. Police Director Elg said there are people that are eligible to retire, but have not approached us. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said there are three people who have put in for severance. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said the Fire Department's Budget last year was one hundred seventeen thousand (117,000) dollars. He said this year it is three hundred thirteen thousand (313,000) dollars. Fire Department Superintendent Brian O'Connor said twenty four thousand (24,000) dollars would be used for equipment. He said they need pagers for the volunteers. He said they would like to purchase five pagers at about three hundred fifty (350) dollars each. Mr. O'Connor said they had eight men retire in about a year and a half. He said he is asking for one additional man. Superintendent O'Connor said the volunteer ranks are down from seventy to about forty. He said the new man would also work in the Fire Prevention Office with Captain Richert. Councilmember Remy Quinones asked what the first year salary for a fireman was. Fire Department Superintendent O'Connor said twenty nine thousand (29,000) dollars. He said the salary will jump ten thousand (10,000) dollars quite quickly. Superintendent O'Connor said in operating expenses last year he spent about forty five thousand (45,000) dollars, he is asking for an increase of about fifty five hundred (5,500) dollars. He said he wants to buy air tanks, approximately five each year. He said the tanks cost nine hundred (900) dollars each. Superintendent O'Connor said he is asking for a Fire Prevention Car. He said the car he is using was given to him by Police Director Elg and it has ninety seven thousand (97,000) miles. He said he would like to lease/purchase a vehicle at seven thousand (7,000) dollars a year. He said he is asking for ten thousand (10,000) dollars for gear, such as boots, helmets, jackets and masks. Business Administrator Nick Goldsack asked if anything was put into the budget in anticipation for the (inaudible) MAT for that helmet. 9 February 15,2000 DISCUSSION CONTINUED COUNCILMEMBER FAZEKAS NOTED PRESENT FIRE DEPARTMENT ebruary 15,2000 ISCUSSION CONTINUED PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT Fire Department Superintendent O'Connor said the thermal camera will be received for free. He said every Fire Department in the State of New Jersey will get a minimum of one free. Mr. O'Connor said the air conditioners are the originals to the building. He said they have bought one and it will be installed as soon as the nice weather sets in. He said he wanted the Mayor and Council to know that the air conditioners in the Seniors area and on the Career side can break down at any time. Business Administrator Nick Goldsack asked if the thermostats worked in Mr. O'Connor's area. Fire Department Superintendent O'Connor said yes. He said there are two other things for Capital Expense. He said one is the fire truck, which is constantly breaking down. Mr. O'Connor said the fire truck he would want is about four hundred thousand (400,000) dollars with equipment. H said without equipment the truck would be between three hundred twenty five thousand (325,000) dollars to three hundred fifty thousand (350,000) dollars. He said the other thing for Capital Expense is the Volunteer Fire Chiefs car. Mr. O'Connor said the present vehicle is constantly breaking down and in the garage. He said he is asking that the vehicle be replaced. Councilmember Crilley asked how much revenue we get out of inspections and things like that. Borough Treasurer Patrick DeBlasio said we get two revenues. He said we get uniform/fire safety money which is around fifty thousand (50,000) dollars and then we get the sell of fees which is approximately ten thousand (10,000) dollars. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said in regards to Street and Roads, there is fifteen thousand (15,000) dollars in salaries for snow removal. He said there is twenty thousand (20,000) dollars for salt and sand. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said basically last year there was a budget of five hundred thirty three thousand (533,000) dollars this year the budget would be six hundred thousand (600,000) dollars. Superintendent of Public Works Ted Surick said he needs a backhoe, air compressor, salt spreader and salt shed. Councilmember Remy Quinones said there is forty five thousand (45,000) dollars for the backhoe, and ten thousand (10,000) dollars for the air compressor. Ted Surick said he has two salt spreaders and he needs another one. Councilmember Crilley asked how much a salt spreader cost. Mr. Surick said they are eleven thousand (11,000) dollars and an additional thirty five hundred (3,500) dollars to mount it. Councilmember Crilley asked what Mr. Surick's department used an air compressor for. Mr. Surick said the air compressor is used for the street signs that need to be put up, jack hammer the road, jack hammer the concrete etc. 10 Councilmember Crilley said he agreed the Borough needed a salt shed, the problem was where do we put it. Mr. Surick said this has always been the problem. Councilmember Santoro asked if Mr. Surick's department was all right when it came to vehicles. Councilmember Crilley said Mr. Surick's department had more cars than anybody. Mr. Surick said if the Maintenance Department needs a vehicle, he suggests they give them Carpenter's old truck and buy us a new truck. Councilmember Crilley said we already figured that. Borough Treasurer Patrick DeBlasio asked if anyone wanted to go over any of the smaller accounts. He said he would like to discuss the Buildings and Grounds Department. Mr. DeBlasio said he would start off with salaries. He said there are four people listed in that department. Councilmember Santoro said with the opening of the new building, we do not know if we are going to be able to clean all of the buildings. Mrs. Santoro went on to talk about the maintenance men and their schedules and responsibilities. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said he feels they have the maintenance under control, it is the cleaning end he is concerned with. He said with this in mind, he pushed the overtime a bit extra on this account. Business Administrator Nick Goldsack spoke about Recycling. He said there would be a meeting on Thursday with the County regarding Recycling. He said in the event that we do have the County do the Recycling we could utilize one of the men that normally did the Recycling for the Buildings and Grounds Department. He said presently it is costing us about one hundred forty five thousand (145,000) dollars more than we are taking in to do the Recycling. Councilmember Buddy Sohayda said so you are saying we are going to save that money. Mr. Goldsack said he did not know if we are going to save that money. Councilmember Sohayda said everyone would stay in tact as far as employees. Councilmember Janet Santoro asked doing what. Councilmember Crilley said if we privatized Recycling, people are going to go. He said we are not doing this just to get rid of Recycling, we are doing this to save money. Councilmember Remy Quinones said she does not think anyone is agreeing to anything tonight. She said we have to sit down (inaudible) like we did last year. 11 February 15,2000 DISCUSSION CONTINUED BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS RECYCLING ebruary 15,2000 )ISCUSSION CONTINUED MAYOR FAILACE NOTED PRESENT Councilmember Santoro went on to speak about Buildings and Grounds. She said the Annex is in decent shape. She said she would recommend in the Budget, that we keep the Annex in decent shape. She said if there is something they need, let's not wait until it breaks. Business Administrator Nick Goldsack said he needs to know what direction the Council wants to go in respect to the buildings. He said they are bringing in a Structural Engineer to do an assessment on Thursday. He said it is quite obvious that there are some serious problems. Councilmember Crilley said Borough Hall is the main concern right now. He said we can not leave that building the way it is. He said in the end we will save money because when the building is done, we can pull the people out of the Annex and the Recycling Office and put them all in one building. Business Administrator Goldsack said the needs for the sewer in the year 2000 is two million seventy five thousand (2,075,000) dollars. He said to keep in mind the fund pays for the bonds, and we do not have to provide a down payment. He said that money will take care of the whole list of projects that Killam gave us on the initial presentation. Councilmember Crilley told Councilmember Janet Santoro to get three architects to give free estimates on the buildings. Councilmember Santoro said if she has the Council's permission to do so, it will be done. Mayor Jim Failace was noted present at 10:00 P.M. Borough Treasurer Patrick DeBlasio said he felt we could operate the general maintenance of all the buildings for eighty eight thousand five hundred (88,500) dollars. He said this figure is for maintenance only, not improvements. Mr. DeBlasio said if this figure went up to one hundred thousand (100,000) dollars it would not affect the eleven cent (.11) increase. He said we do have one hundred and ninety two thousand (192,000) dollars of electrical charges and about one hundred and ten thousand (110,000) dollars is from the sewage (inaudible). Mr. DeBlasio then confirmed he was making Buildings and Grounds one hundred thousand (100,000) dollars. Councilmember Crilley asked why did the salaries of the Planning Board and Zoning Board go from five thousand (5,000) dollars to fourteen thousand (14,000) dollars, and from five thousand (5,000) dollars to fifty thousand (50,000) dollars. Borough Treasurer DeBlasio said they are looking at hiring a new secretary, which would obviously be an additional salary. He said the other reason for the increase is the Technical Assistant position for the Construction Office. 12 Mayor Jim Failace asked how much was being funded for retirements. Business Administrator Goldsack said three hundred ten thousand (310,000) dollars and that covers three people. Mayor Failace then asked where are we at in respect to the Municipal employees and hospitalization. Business Administrator Goldsack said we are meeting with Gartland on Friday, and he is coming up with the proposal on the self insured program. Councilmember Crilley said he wanted to put one hundred thousand (100,000) dollars for ten years on Capital Park Improvements. He said he wants to do it by putting referendum on the (inaudible) Open Space Tax. He said he wants to put it in this year and replace it next year with the Open Space Tax. Mayor Failace said we need to immediately bond at least two million (2,000,000) dollars for our sewers. He said we need to do this to prevent getting fined again by the DEP. Business Administrator Nick Goldsack said this is a self-liquidating account, it has no impact on the budget. He said in addition, Bonding Council says we will not have to provide a down payment for that. Mayor Failace said he felt very comfortable that we would get at least two million (2,000,000) dollars in Federal Money. Councilmember Jack Fazekas said they took about fifty (50) to sixty (60) thousand dollars for the Library telephones from the bond. Business Administrator Goldsack said Police Director Elg has some money for this year. He said he left the funds for the stand by and replacement radios however, he took out the thirty two hundred (3,200) dollars for painting the Police Department. He said the Document Imaging was not in this year's budget. Councilmember Jack Fazekas said twenty five thousand (25,000) dollars would cover new software, a training program, (inaudible). He said he felt the town needed about seventy five hundred (7,500) dollars for Fiber Optics. Mr. Fazekas said with this in mind he would suggest keeping the budget at fifty thousand (50,000) dollars. Mayor Failace said he has been working with John Riggio regarding Catholic Charities and he said he is meeting a ton of resistance from the Carteret Board of Health. Councilmember Janet Santoro said the Board of Health told her they have not been involved in the negotiations. Mayor Failace said there have been no negotiations. Councilmember Santoro said she knows there would be a letter from their attorney requesting that they be involved. 13 February 15,2000 DISCUSSION CONTINUED SEWER BOND LIBRARY TELEPHONES POLICE RADIOS FIBER OPTICS CATHOLIC CHARITIES 'ebruary 15,2000 )ISCUSSION CONTINUED ADJOURNED Borough Treasurer Patrick DeBlasio said the eleven cent increase is good for State Aid, however it is not good for the public. Mayor Failace said he would like to see it at nine (9) cents. He said he does not want to see this number increasing every year. Mayor Failace asked Business Administrator Goldsack to look this budget over and see what else the town could get in grants. Business Administrator Goldsack said he would formulate a Capital Project Program. Mayor Failace said we are looking for extra money for Ethnic Day. He also asked that everyone take a look at the Budget to see if there are any adjustments that need to be made within the next four to five days. There being no further business or discussion, upon MMS&C by Councilmembers Quinones and Fazekas and unanimous affirmative vote of the full membership present the meeting was adjourned at approximately 11 :00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, i:Æ:~7 Municipal Clerk KMB/par 14