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HomeMy Public PortalAbout1996/05/06 A Special Meeting of the Mayor and Council ofthe Borough ofCarteret was called to order by Mayor Peter 1. Sica on Monday, May 6, 1996 at 7:30 P.M., Council Office, Municipal Building, 61 Cooke Avenue, Carteret, New Jersey. Upon individual roll call the following were noted present: Councilmember Deborah Bialowarczuk " James Failace " William Feingold " James O'Brien Noted absent was Councilmember Jack Fazekas. Also noted present were Borough Attorney Robert A. Hedesh and School Board Members Janet Santoro and Pat Crilley. Mailed to The Home News & Tribune, The Star Ledger and posted on the bulletin board on May 3, 1996. a) Payment of Bills b) Discuss school budget. Mayor Sica said we should get the payment of bills out of the way. He said to put on the payment of Daumann. He said it is a normal monthly payment. Upon MMS&C, by Councilmembers Bialowarczuk and Failace all bills appearing on the prepared list, properly audited and signed, were ordered to be paid. Upon individual roll call voted, Councilmembers Bialowarczuk, Failace, Feingold and O'Brien voted in the affirmative. Councilmember Fazekas was noted absent. 1 Mayor Sica said before they go into the budget, he wanted to explain to everybody what he talked to Jimmy (Failace) about today. As Head of Finance, Jimmy knows where he is coming rrom. He said the U. S. Metals property is at a standstill because no one is building anything. He talked to Victor Paulius and they are proposing to build a 160,000 square foot rerrigerator there. They don't have any tenants. MAY 6, 1996 SPECIAL MEElING ROLL CALL STATEMENT OF MEEIING NOTICE PURPOSE PAYMENT OF BILLS DISCUSSION Paulius - Tax Incentive MAY 6, 1996 Paulius - Tax Incentive Con't. When they built White Rose they already had White Rose. When they built DB.Brown, they already had D.B. Brown. When they built Garden State, they already had Garden State. When they went across the street to Direct Container they had all those people. This 160,000 square foot building is going to cost somewhere between Four and Five Million Dollars to put up. This is going to be a public rerrigerator. You rent space in there from Victor Paulius on a month to month, week to week, whenever you have stuff to go in. Like the ones in Newark. Mr. Paulius is putting out all the money himself, which means as soon as he comes in he has to pay a $50,000 building fee just for that permit. That is automatic. So he is looking for..... we have given a tax break of Zero, Twenty, Forty, Sixty, Eighty and One Hundred. He is looking for something better than that because he is putting out all his own money until he gets somebody in there. He is looking for something like Ten, Twenty, Fifty, Eighty and One Hundred. The ten to start as soon as he gets his first tenant in there. He said he did some research on what White Rose is paying right now. White Rose is paying $206,136.00 this year. D.B. Brown is paying $38,820.00 this year. D.B. Brown's building is an 80,000 square foot remgerator. So a 160,000 square foot refrigerator will be paying double that when it come on. He said he projected it out for five years, from 1996 to the year 2000 using a normal 5% increase, which is kind of normal when you take the school tax, the local tax and the county tax. That means in the year 2000, White Rose will be paying $912,000.00 in taxes. DB. Brown will be paying $112,000.00 in taxes. So, if we give a tax incentive to Paulius to build this remgerator, somewhere, around the year 2001, they will be paying a considerable amount in taxes. Even the first year, based on these projections, even at only 10%, they will be paying pretty near $30,000.00 a year, just the first year they are paying taxes. And, again we get the $50,000.00 for the building fee. When we gave White Rose the incentive the first year, we got $224,000 for the building fee, but that building was a $23,000,00000 building vs. a Four or Five Million Dollar building. He said he told Paulius he would bring this up to the Council tonight and we will discuss it at the end of the meeting if you want any further information on it. Councilmember Fazekas Noted Present At approximately 7:33 P.M., Councilmember Jack Fazekas was noted present at the conference table. Borough Attorney Hedesh said we can't take any action on it. Mayor Sica said no, we can't take any action on it, of course not, but he wants the Council to know where it's at and where it is coming from and they can make a determination whenever they want to. School Budget Mayor Sica said in going through the school budget. .. He asked if everyone had a copy in front of them? Councilmember Failace said he put some things down if the Mayor wants to look at them. He said basically these questions are for discussion. 2 Mayor Sica said he thought they were good questions, but they are questions that they wi\! have to ask the Board to explain. ,."'..... ."j.-'~, Councilmember Failace said most definitely. He put these together for the Council to have. He said he didn't think they had any answers to those. Mayor Sica said Number One, he thinks it is a good question, but he thinks there is a bigger loaded question that he will give them later on that has to be addressed before anything goes past line number one. He said he is not sure his numbers are correct yet, but he will discuss it with Mr. Failace tomorrow after he gets.....someone is doing it on a computer for him. Councilmember Failace said he will not be able to get him tomorrow, he will be with the President. Mayor Sica asked Councilmember Fazekas if he heard that? He said he had someone working on this with a computer. Councilmember Failace said he took a lot of the items they had last year and looked at them and questioned and when the Mayor went through the budget he probably saw the same thing, and a lot of those pieces were addressed throughout, (inaudible) areas he really went towards. Mayor Sica said he thought their big problem will be....and he thinks it should be addressed to the Board. They can take notes if they want. If you look at what we are paying in interest. He said he would give them a "for instance" if he remembered the numbers off the top of his head. There is an anticipation of making approximately $390,000.00 in interest on the money that is in the bank right now. Of course, that money decreases every day that we pay the contractor some dollars. What's going to happen next year? This budget only reflects a portion of the problem. He is saying if we don't have money to make $390,000 in interest next year, we automatically have a $390,000 budget increase next year. Not counting any other things that might arise. We're starting $390,000 in the hole next year. Unless we can see where there is some light at the end of the tunnel, that number can't go down, it can only go up. Looking at the overall capital work that they are going to do..... Councilmember Failace asked what can they do at that point....for that number. That's money that has already been borrowed or is being used. 3 Mayor Sica said unfortunately, the law says that you have to show a 3% savings in order for it to become economical for this purchase agreement or this lease agreement to be rolled into a purchase agreement. He said he was proposing that the city take over the debt of that bond. In other words, if there is $14,200,000.00 owed in bond money, that the city would assume the debt of the $14,200,000.00 and bond for it. We would then be owners of record of the schoo\. Just like whoever loaned them this $14,200,000.00, whatever lending institution or individual or whatever it was. We should be able to get it at a lesser rate, because he didn't care how you looked at it, somewhere along the line, somebody has to make money. There has to be a middleman. It's like selling apples. If he sold them right off the tree, he sells the apples cheap. Councilmember Failace said, so the Mayor is saying we bond and give them the money? MAY 6, 1996 School Budget Con' t. MAY 6, 1996 School Budget Con' t. Mayor Sica said we bond it and payoff the holders of the notes right now. Councilmember Failace said right. Pay off that at a lesser interest rate. Mayor Sica said then we own it at a lesser interest rate. We then lease it back to the city for the exact amount of money it cost us. He asked if they understood what he was saying? '- Councilmember Failace said so the savings is in the lower interest rate and the way the Borough of Carteret breaks even, basically. . Mayor Sica said the savings is in the lower interest rate and perhaps the way we would structure it. Unfortunately, as it's coming in right now the people he has working on it... there's not enough of savings. There's a savings, but there is not enough of savings right now to do it legally. So, he is working on another avenue or another way to do it. He is not sure it will come to pass, but he has been working on it. It may even take some special legislation, for all he knows. If that be the case, that's what he will have put through. If he can turn around and show, over the life of the bond, it's twenty-five year they have it for, right? School Board Member Pat Crilley said fifteen. It's either fifteen or twenty. Mayor Sica said he thought it was twenty twenty-five, but he could be wrong. Mr. Crilley said he knew it wasn't twenty-five, It's either fifteen or twenty, Mayor Sica said okay, whatever it is, if we can, over the course of that period of time, let's say for argument's sake it's $14,000,000.00, and the leasing is going to double it to $28,000,000.00, just using those numbers, it may be a little more, it usually doubles itself. If he can show over the course of the twenty years, fifteen years or twenty-five years, whatever it is, that we are going to save $1,500,000.00 over the course of that whole thing, we should do it. But, ifhe can only show we are going to save $500,000.00, even though we should do it, we can't do it. Unless, he has some kind of special legislation passed to allow us to do it. The problem is we paid a lot of up rront money to get this money. Part of the problem with borrowing the money, and he doesn't think Mr. Crilley was there when it was first done, was he? Mr. Crilley said no. He said he believes it was $588,000 in up rront fees. Mayor Sica said it's like points. He said they got ripped terribly. Not just that, there is about $600,000 that has to be put in an account that we are not getting any use out of We have the right to get the interest that it is going to draw, which is going to be peanut money in the long run. The problem is that money is just sitting there. We don't have the use of that money. That's part of the problem. He is working on it with some pretty sharp financial people that may be able to come up with a way that we can save enough money to do that. He told Ms. Santoro that he is looking into the possibility of the city 4 buying the note out. As it sits right now, it doesn't show enough money under the existing state laws that will save enough. It has to save 3%. We can save better than 1 % right now, but there may be another way to structure it. Even if 1 %, 1 % over the cost of a twenty year bond is a lot of money. The only problem is the up rront money that costs. .01<'&._ MAY 6, 1996 Mayor Sica said It will also cost us to restructure in some money. So that has to be taken into consideration. It's not something that can just be done overnight, but he is working on it. What he will propose, let's say we can structure this bond somewhere and over the course of twenty years we are going to save $1,500,000.00, being that the bond would be a little less, he is not proposing that. He is proposing that we use that $1,500,000.00 to do some of the projects that we should have done with this bond issue. The numbers come out the same, but we get more for our dollar. He asked if they understood what he was saying. School Budget Con't. Councilmember Failace said the obvious choice is the high school. Mayor Sica said the obvious.......if he can show that he can save $1,500,000.00 over the course of twenty years and he turns around and says, "listen, instead of getting $14.2 million dollars, we are going to get $15.2 million dollars", taking into consideration the half a million dollars that we need to pay back to even the one more million that we get and use that million dollars to do what has to be really be done at that high school. He said he said it at the Council Meeting and he will say it again, he might no agree with a lot of things, but he firmly agrees that work has got to be done and it has to be modernized If it takes more money, than that's what it is going to take and who doesn't like it can move. Janet Santoro said the only problem with redoing, will we still remain within our cap, doing it? Mayor Sica said he knows they are paying $1,060,000 in interest and principle in the 96'-97' Budget. He is telling them if he can still collect $1,060,000 rrom the School Board for $15,000,000, that is what we are going to do. So, that's built into their cap anyway. If on the other hand it comes in low enough and I save $60,000 and still get that, then I'm bettering your cap, I'm giving you $60,000 to play in the cap. There would be no stipulations that if we come in below this number that you have to suffer in your budget. You use that $60,000 for something else. This way we can ger more money at a cheaper rate and in the long run we are paying the same, he wants to take that more money and he wants to do it right. Mr. Crilley asked if the town does what he is proposing by bonding for it, it still has to stay on cap even though... ... Mayor Sica said you show on paper that you're debt rree, but you're debt rree but you don't own the schools. The schools that are actually worked on, there will be a memorandum of understanding that you sold us the school for a dollar, plus we assume the expense, when the expense is completed, we sell it back to you for a dollar and you own it back again. That's the only way we can borrow money against it. That much we go now in tax so far. ) Mr. Crilley said the only other thing he might suggest on that too, is with this new funding that's coming out in September, everything pretty much has to wait and see. You don't know what they are going to do as far as all of that. They have addressed it in their proposals as far as money for buildings that need work but.... MAY 6,1996 School Budget Con' t. Mayor Sica said if we had not lend-leased this stuff, we would have got 25% of the cost back from the state. Ms Santoro said if we had passed the bond. Mayor Sica said he thought if the Board would have done the proposals that he is telling them right now, because it's the same pair of pants, it might be a different pocket, we might have been able to get that 25%. He said he doesn't know that for a fact, he is looking into that too. Ms. Santoro said (inaudible) look back and think we could have held the bond during a snow storm. Mayor Sica said he is not casting aspersions on anybody. He is sitting here trying to say, this is a problem that he is trying to address and what he gets, he already talked to Mr.. Torre and Mr. Panigrosso about this, ifit comes in his way, fine Ifit doesn't, well then what are they going to lose, he tried. It's not costing us a penny. Ms. Santoro said the only thing that is strangling them is the million dollar payment up rront for twenty years within our cap, whatever we're paying it out is hurting us. Outside our cap to a bond where we then have a million dollars to move ahead with, is a lot easier. Mayor Sica said of course. Mr. Crilley said (inaudible) figures, they had just recently discussed that about (inaudible) so he might want to check with them. Mayor Sica said once he gets the logistics to how it has to get done.... Mr. Crilley said one of the things that did happen to their advantage is when they did lock this in the rates were very favorable and that is why we are not getting the savings that is 3%, because it has an excellent rate on it and that is why (inaudible), it's cheap money. Mayor Sica said of course. What was the percentage that they paid. Mr. Crilley said 5 or 6. Mayor Sica said we just sold the last one in the town for under five. Four point something. That was unbelievable. That alone would have been a one percent savings. In the course of twenty years, it's a lot of money. It's not a lot of money tomorrow, but when you have to pay that $1,060,000.00 every year, if that got cut down by $60,000, it's a bunch of more computers or something. He told Councilmember Failace with what he has here, he should submit this to the Board tomorrow. He directed the Municipal Clerk to make sure it got over to Mr.. Panigrosso and My. Torre so they can address these questions. He asked if Councilmember Failace wanted him to read the questions into the record? 6 Councilmember Failace said everyone got a copy. Mayor Sica said then he didn't have to read it. He said some of these things he could explain, but let them. '.'-" MAY 6, 1996 Mayor Sica said one thing he is glad about is that the things he asked them to do last year is showing a considerable savings. He asked Ms. Santoro, as the President ofthe Board, if she could answer one thing for him. We have a decrease in employees, how many employees are they decreasing? Twenty- four? School Budget Con't. Ms. Santoro said twenty-four positions. Mayor Sica said twenty-four positions and we are hiring eight new, right? Ms. Santoro said there are twenty-four decreases in titles and positions it might warrant a twelve person lay-off There is still bumping and (inaudible) going on, so we don't have..... Mayor Sica said but we are hiring these new too. Councilmember Failace asked if it was eight or four? Mayor Sica said four, two and two. Ms. Santoro said she thought it was four. Mayor Sica said four new positions and four kindergarten. Mr. Crilley said they are going to be existing teachers. Mayor Sica said two foreign language and two math. Mr. Crilley said the two foreign language and two math are hirees. Mayor Sica said the kindergarten teachers are the existing teachers. Councilmember Failace said rrom what he understands, that is what brings the twenty-four down to twelve or fourteen. Mayor Sica said it's not twenty-four jobs. Councilmember Failace said no it is not. That is exactly right. He asked Ms. Santoro if it was only twelve or fourteen actual positions. Mr. Crilley said it is not set in stone, they are still a work in progress. Councilmember Failace said it was X amount of reductions in levels, a supervisor is not a supervisor any more. Mr. Crilley said it is still a work in progress. Mayor Sica said he understood they were going to be changing positions and titles, but how many, because looking at how many employees they have now.....this is what is confusing to him. We have 322 current employees. Correct? 7 Ms. Santoro said she didn't have it in rront of her. MAY 6, 1996 School Budget Can't. Mayor Sica said that's what this is, 322 current employees. On the next one it says, budgeted minus 10, minus 1, minus 1, minus 1, minus 2, minus 6, minus 1, minus 5, and then he doesn't know how, if we have twenty-eight and then we only have a total minus of 14. Ms. Santoro said some are retiring. Mr. Crilley said some are moving out of supervisory titles. Some are just title loses. Ms. Santoro said if they have it down they have to have it correlated to a position. Mayor Sica said that is what he is saying. They do. For instance, it says teachers, he told them he was on the first page on B...... Ms. Santoro said she thought he did sit down and went over this with Lou and Joe (inaudible). In all fairness, she would want them here to explain it again. She said they are the ones that did the positions. Mayor Sica said what he went through with Joe and Lou were dollars, not positions. Ms. Santoro said they would be the ones to talk to about this. Mayor Sica said when he went looking through this it just struck him. What she is telling him now, is if they are just eliminating positions.... Ms. Santoro (inaudible) from Principal to Vice-Principal. Mayor Sica said okay. He understands that. Here it says 206 teachers, just teachers. That's how many we have employed right now and we're going to minus that by ]0. So that means we will be down to ]96. Mr. Crilley asked if the 206 the Mayor was looking at from 95-96 or 96-977 Mayor Sica said it's current, so he's getting it from 95-96 and it's showing there is going to be a decrease in tins budget. It says current 206 then it says budget plus or minus and then it says minus 10. Mr. Crilley said they would have to make a note of that for Wednesday. Mayor Sica said they are here so he might as well give him what they are going to need when they get there. Mr. Crilley said to make a note, he was sure there was an answer to it. It all rounds out in the end. Mayor Sica said it says we have six nurses now. 8 Ms. Santoro said right. Mayor Sica said and we are decreasing it by one. Mr. Crilley said right :>''''''¡'-- MAY 6,1996 Mayor Sica said it says we have ten guidance and we are decreasing that by one. School Budget Con I t. Mr. Crilley said that was correct. Mayor Sica said it says six child study team and we're decreasing that by one, but then there is a notation down here further where that might not be so. He said he didn't know about that. Ms. Santoro said that is increase. Mr. Crilley asked the Mayor if he said increase or decrease. Mayor Sica said this says a decrease by one. Mr. Crilley said he thought that was a typo. Ms. Santoro said that was a supervisor. Mr. Crilley said that was just a position change. Mayor Sica said it then says Supervisor ofInstruction, we have three and we are not decreasing that. Librarians, we have three, no decrease. General District Administrator, we have three, it says minus one. Then it says Principal, Principal Assistants, we have eleven and we're minusing two. Twenty-seven Operating and Maintenance, we're not decreasing any of them. We have zero on the transportation and Aides, twenty-seven, we're decreasing that by one. Clerical Staff, twenty-one, we're decreasing that by five. He said if he takes all the minuses it comes up to twenty- eight. Mr. Crilley asked Clerical Staff by five? Mayor Sica said that's what it says. Mr. Crilley said in the principals and vice-principals, where it says minus, they bump down. It's a minus two in that department, but they bump down. Mayor Sica said he understood that. He said he has no problem with that. Mr. Crilley said so, it's not a total of 28. That's the only one he is familiar with. He said he understood he was adding all the minuses rrom each department. Those two people are not going. Those two people are going down into the (inaudible). Councilmember Failace it may be hard to read. Does that mean they are minusing maybe a one or a two a plus. Mayor Sica said he read through the whole book and they are all minuses The only change in this list here is where it says Child Study Team, six minus one, he thinks it's really seven total and they are not minusing any. Where it might be seven total and they are minusing one, the supervisor into one. There's a footnote on that. Here it is. Child Study Team corrected, seven, not six. This should be a seven minus one. MAY 6, 1996 School Budget Con' t. Mayor Sica said it then goes on to name ten teachers that we are letting go. It names the nurse. It names the guidance. It doesn't name the principals or anything like that. It doesn't name any of the secretaries or anything like that. There is a total of 27 or 28, whatever way you want to look at it, that are minus, but on the bottom it only shows 14. He was assuming that we were going to lose] 4 positions because of this bumping that they are talking about Mr. Crilley said it was close. (inaudible), but it's in that neighborhood. Mayor Sica said okay, just so he has it tomorrow because some of the numbers he is working on are based on what he just told them, so he doesn't want to have numbers if he is not right. Mr. Crilley said the 28 changes, some are position changes. Bumped down and different titles and stuff like that. Mayor Sica said when they bump down they still have a net loss of ] 4 people, give or take one or two. Mr. Crilley said guessing, he would say between 12 and 14. Mayor Sica asked them to have Lou and Joe explain this Wednesday night. Why he needs that explained to him is because where it says, for instance, Clerical Staff minus five, if he looks over to Clerical Staff on D........ Mr Crilley said that looks strange to him, the Clerical Staff minus five. Mayor Sica said what made him look at it was because going through all this, he looked through the salary guides to see if there was somewhere it was picked up that they are being eliminated. He went over to the D column and it says Secretaries and then comes up with a total of27 including the ones that are put under the Board Superintendent's Office, which he doesn't understand why it was separated, but that is neither here nor there. He counted and said he didn't know where....it didn't show where they were eliminating, say a principal, for instance, Testa, Lowen, he guesses it must be one of the people that were not retained, it says not rehired. L. Ryan not rehired. Mr. Crilley ~aid he didn't think the Mayor should be mentioning the names. Mayor Sica said why not? Mr. Crilley said personneL Mayor Sica said that has nothing to do with it, we're discussing the Budget. We can mention them. He asked the Borough Attorney if he could mention them. It's a matter of public record. Ms. Santoro said they are told they have to issue notices when they discuss ~s W Mayor Sica said okay, he won't mention any names, anyway, in here it says exactly what you are saying, position adjustment, position adjustment, not using any names, not hired, not hired, it goes on to show exactly who's not being hired. Looking aL.... MAY 6, 1996 Borough Attorney said salary is public information. School Budget Can't. Mayor Sica said it doesn't' t matter. Borough Attorney Hedesh said the only time you have to notice someone is if you are (inaudible). Purposely calling their name for disciplinary or something, but when you are suggesting a general salary, salary is a public record. Mayor Sica said he didn't have to mention any names, it was not necessary. He is saying that when he looks back there where it says the ten teachers that are not going to be rehired, he could find it in the worksheets, but when it came down to the five clericals, he can't find it in this thing. Ms. Santoro said she wasn't going to answer on that. Mayor Sica said this is not supposed to be a meeting between us, but as long as they are here, so Wednesday maybe it will expedite things and he has to go to dinner Wednesday night. He said the other thing that he has to ask for some clarification on is, you know we are going to close down a school and convert Washington School to the Board Office or Administrative Office. He said there are two janitors there now. Ms. Santoro asked where Mayor Sica said in Washington School. Ms. Santoro said we actually have one, because the other one has been out on disability. Mayor Sica said it's still two. It's still a position. He said he was sure that once it becomes a Board Office that won't be necessary to have two. Ms. Santoro said nobody will be in Nathan Hale. Mayor Sica said he was talking about Washington School. Ms. Santoro said there is one in Washington School. Mayor Sica said then Nathan Hale? Ms. Santoro said there are presently two in Nathan Hale, one out on disability. Mayor Sica said he didn't show any reduction in any staff here. Ifwe're not going to have Nathan Hale School.. .1 Ms. Santoro said she didn't know, but there could be a retirement in that position. Mayor Sica said when you say could be or might be you're talking about $45,000 from a $50,000 savings. We're not looking at tomorrow, we are looking at a budget that is going to go into effect in September ~1AY 6, 1996 School Budget Con't. Mayor Sica said basically, it starts in June, but you don't really spend dollars, per se, until September except in custodial staff because they are twelve month a year people. Ifwe anticipate shutting down Nathan Hale School the last day of school in June, then at that point in time we should make the determination that somebody has to go. Right then and there it's a $50,000 savings. Ms. Santoro said actually not, because bumping and everything else (inaudible) which is a $17,000 -$18,000 savings. Mayor Sica said the cheapest janitor they have...... Councilmember Failace said $27,900. Mayor Sica said no. You take the $27,900 and add the 2,740, your talking $30,670 plus $8,000 for hospitalization, plus 7.6 for unemployment, plus 1.5 for state, your talking about a $40,000 guy. Mr. Crilley said the only answer to that is we still have the same square footage with the new buildings. We're losing a building, but we have extra square footage going to the other buildings. However, that is something again that is being looked at with the pending retirement and everything else. Mayor Sica said if you taking the pending retirement, you're talking about somebody that could be as high as $40,000 and throw the benefits on there and you're talking $50,000. If you're talking one less schoo!..... Mr. Crilley said you still have the same square footage with the new buildings. It might be one less school, same square footage. Mayor Sica said but that's not the thing You also have, in this budget, other janitors that come in, other cleaning people that come in, other services that are rendered. Just because you are increasing the footage doesn't mean you have to necessarily increase or keep the same amount because you are maintaining two separate buildings that you don't have to maintain anymore. There's no one that is necessary there because of the boilers or lights, or this or that or the other thing. Somewhere we should look into this. If you know there is going to be a retirement or you anticipate that there is going to be a retirement and you anticipate you can get by with one less, even after the retirement that is a total of two, you're talking $80,000 or better. Possibly up to $]00,000. Ms. Santoro said again there are a lot of possibilities. How about if there is no change with it. Then we go back to square one. Mayor Sica said no. The only unknown thing she knows is that she doesn't know if the guy is going to retire. The known thing she knows is that they're going to have at Jeast one complete school less to maintain, but you are saying we need the same amount of janitors. Ms Santoro said it is the same square footage. 12 Mayor Sica said most of it is because there is a boiler, etc. You are not going to have any of than anymore, because that school is going to be completely out. , Mayor Sica said there i\1 be no more outside maintenance, no snow shoveling or anything because that building is going to be completely out of the picture. If you want, for arguments sake, say okay, we are going to keep one out ofthe two. That's one thing. Keep the guy you think is going to retire and the other guy goes. If the guy retires you have a net savings of two. If the guy retires and you need another one, then you hire one at the lesser rate so all away along the line you're saving money He asked if anyone had anything they wanted to add to this. Councilmember Failace said he would like to see the answers to (inaudible). Mayor Sica said that is another thing we are going to want to know tomorrow night, do you have any contracts with any of the employees in the school system at present. He asked if their contracts are all up. Ms. Santoro said you mean our teachers.... Mayor Sica said your teachers, your janitors, whoever. Borough Attorney Hedesh said everybody. Mayor Sica asked if they got any proposals rrom them. Ms. Santoro said yes. Mayor Sica said he wasn't asking what they proposals are, because we got proposals rrom ours and as fast as they came in we threw them out of here. Ms. Santoro asked if he was asking if we had contracts. No. Mayor Sica said he knew there was no contract, but you did get proposals. Again, it might not be a popular position to take, but we have taken it here in the city and we have settled our first contract for zero raise. Ms. Santoro asked if they changed their benefits. Mayor Sica said we gave them a prescription plan. That's it Ms. Santoro said ifthey looked at what the contracts said, in all fairness, our CM our administrator's contract was 2% last year which was the lowest in the area. Mayor Sica said that's administrators. How about the teachers themselves. Ms. Santoro said are better than five. That was negotiated three years ago. She asked if they are aware of what they need to go forward. 13 Mayor Sica said that wasn't what he was going to say. He understands that. That's something that is done, it's over with and you can't do anything about, but he wants the Board to understand that the city is taking a strong position that we will chop heads.. MAY 6, 1996 School Budget Con't. t1AY 6, 1996 School Budget Can't. Mayor Sica said all the Council has taken the same position and we are not going to waiver. We are going to stick by that. We are going to chop heads before we give a raise. We firmly believe that public employees, including teachers, janitors, groundskeepers, administrators, rrom the top on down and rrom the top paid person in the city of Carteret to the bottom paid person in the city of Carteret has outstripped the private sectors ability to pay. Years ago we were always behind, that was the cty. Now, they are so far ahead that the private people can't even catch up. He said he can't find anyone out there who could tell him they could find a job out there for $14 or $] 5 an hour. Let alone $60,000 a year for ten months. Ms. Santoro said they are aware of what they need to do and are definitely not arraid of what we have to do. That shows them what we have done. Mayor Sica said again, he firmly believes that this is a position that we have to take Wednesday night, a strong indication of where this Council goes, is going to be a firm belief that the Board of Education is going to stand there and say there will be no raises and you're going to eat the bullet, just like the rest of the Borough employees are going to eat the bullet or it is going to cost somebody their jobs. He asked if everyone agreed with that. Councilmember Failace said if this creative financing were to go through, the money set aside for the high school, is that for the roof.. ... Everyone spoke at once and could not be deciphered. Councilmember Failace said his point is if this creative financing was done, that maybe that extra money could be used to do those type of things. Ms. Santoro said no. They have to keep that money for what they budgeted for. Councilmember Failace said he is not saying to do away with it, he is saying they would get the funds to do those type of things. Ms. Santoro said there is a list of other things. Mayor Sica said the kitchen, heating system, handicap improvements, repairs to the buildings. That's just on the high school. Ms Santoro asked if that is the only one that would..... Mr. Crilley said the best thing to do would be to bulldoze the whole school and start all over, but we can't do that. Mayor Sica said there is Columbus School, Minue School, Washington School. Ms. Santoro said they still would have their own sections (inaudible). 14 Mayor Sica said what he is saying is if they can refinance this thing somehow, that those savings we made, we're looking to invest those savings, aside from these projects, this financing can't......it would be four or five months before we get definitive answers on it. We're working on the current problem and that is $700,000 that is in this budget. Mayor Sica said we have to understand that out of the $700,000, $475,000 or $575,000 or $525,000 to be exact, is necessary improvements that have to be made to these other schools because the $175,000 is needed to pay the principle payment. Mr. Crilley said $100,000 of that $525,000 is the computer fee. Is that in that fund. He said it says $100,000 somewhere for computers. Mayor Sica said it gives a detailed breakdown on computers. Councilmember Failace said on page 2 of Capital Equipment. $45,000 for 6th through 8th,. $38,900 for 9th through 12th. Mayor Sica said you are talking about $]00,000 and again, that's the program he said they had to institute years ago. He asked if anyone else had any questions. He said they all got a list of Councilmember Failace's questions. He told them to go home and familiarize themselves with it, so that when it is answered Wednesday night, they will have some kind of understanding of what it is all about Upon MMS&C, by Councilmembers Bialowarczuk and Fazekas and unanimous affirmative vote ofthe five (5) Councilmembers present, there being no further business or discussion, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:20 P.M. Respectfully submitted, /¥/¿L~ØJ.~:;;7 KATHLEENM. BARNEY, -,. Municipal Clerk KMB/sj 15 MAY 6, 1996 School Budget Con't. ADJOURNED t1AY 6, 1996 SPECIAL ~1EITING 16 COUNCIL MEETING BUILDING ESCROW -none- PUBLIC ASSISTANCE -none- TOTAL CHARGES TO 1996 BUDGET A.B. Dauman Inds. TOTAL CHARGES TO 1995 BUDGET TOTAL CHARGES TO CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS TOTAL CHARGES TO TRUST ACCOUNT TOTAL CHARGES TO LIBRARY RESERVE TOTAL CHARGES TO OTHER RESERVES TOTAL CHARGES TO GRANT FUNDS TOTAL CHARGES TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TOTAL CHARGES TO DOG TRUST FUND TOTAL MAY 6.1996 $0.00 0.00 72,833.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 $72,833.33