News
Committee Mulls Suspending Salaries
By Ryan Fennell
MIDDLETOWN - At Monday night's Township Committee meeting Middletown Mayor Pamela Brightbill proposed that the Committee members suspend their salaries for the remainder of 2009. Brightbill's proposal was met with both praise and skepticism. In total, suspending the Committee's salaries would save the Township $20,000.
"I would like to make that distinct effort to show everybody that we are serious" about making sacrifices in order to remain at 2008 budget levels or below Brightbill said.
Committeeman Anthony Fiore and Deputy Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger were in favor of the salary suspension, while Committeemen Patrick Short and Sean Byrnes considered it an "attention getting" tactic.
"I'm also in favor of that proposal for several reasons," Fiore said. "In my view this is a very difficult time. We're asking department heads to make sacrifices. We're asking residents to make sacrifices. I think it is important and it sends the right message to suspend our salaries this year."
"That's a nice offer," Short said. "I'd rather have something more substantial rather than glossy headlines. I've been a strong advocate that we should take a strong leadership from this board and drive it down to the departments rather than expecting the departments to say what they need."
Fiore agreed with Short that the Committee also needs to take a line-by-line approach to this year's budget.
"I think we need to take a micro-level approach, I don't disagree with that but these are macro-level things that we can do," Fiore said. "I don't believe this Committee isn't going to look at this budget with a fine-toothed comb.
Fiore not only was in favor of Brightbill's proposal to suspend the Committee's salaries but also had several other suggestions that the Committee should consider.
"I'd also like to see a freeze on all non-essential hiring, a freeze on all union and non-union salaries, evaluate all non-essential, non-revenue generating programs for elimination, seek out additional shared services agreements," said Fiore.
Fiore also suggested that the Committee consider looking into selling any of the Township's surplus property and assets.
Short took issue with Fiore's suggestions stating that nearly every one of them had been proposed last year by himself and Byrnes but had been dismissed by the Committee.
"Leadership of this budget is absent," Short said. "I implore everyone to take a leadership role and drive the budget down to the department heads."
Byrnes agreed that there should freeze but was skeptical that the Committee would be able to perform a line-by-line analysis of this year's budget.
"I think it's frankly too late this year to get into line-by-line cuts to the budget unfortunately," Byrnes said. "If we're going to have a chance to save money, we're going to have to look at limiting our spending to 2008 levels or even cutting it by five percent and leave it to the department heads to figure out how to do that."
Regarding the Committee salary suspension, Byrnes was unsure of its effectiveness.
"It would be very easy for me to say 'yeah, I think this is a great idea'. I really do think it's more of an attention getting thing," Byrnes said. "I think we have a lot bigger issues and a lot bigger ways we can save money than to propose cutting $20,000 in salaries. I don't think this is a leadership position. I don't know how I'll vote on it, but I don't think it is a meaningful step."
Scharfenberger thought the opposite and said that he thought the suspension of salaries was a "tremendous leadership role."
"Twenty-thousand dollars being shrugged off as nothing. I can't believe my ears that this is being fluffed off as glossy headlines," Scharfenberger said. "It's not a glossy headline, it's common sense. This is us putting our money where our mouth is. As the saying goes, walking the walk. To laugh it off is really hard to believe."
