News
Middletown Committee Suspends Its Salaries For 2009
By Ryan Fennell
MIDDLETOWN - After several weeks of deliberation, the Middletown Township Committee elected to suspend its collective salary for the remainder of 2009.
Members of the Committee were divided on the issue of what impact it will have on the Township's budget.
While Deputy Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger and Committeemen Anthony Fiore believed that the action set an example for the various departments to follow, Committeemen Sean Byrnes and Patrick Short stated that they believed it to be nothing more than symbolic.
Byrnes and Short argued that there are areas in the Township's budget that would have a far greater impact.
"We did this for several reasons," Scharfenberger said. "Under the current economic downturn we thought it was the least we could do even though in raw numbers, it's a relative drop in the bucket. As we go to discuss union contracts and other we increase our chances of getting a fairer deal if we lead by example and I think this will translate into greater savings by setting that example."
Short had a different opinion and believed there are many other ways to save much more than eliminating committee salaries.
"I think it's purely symbolic," Short said.
Short presented an example of how the Committee passed a temporary budget in January of $14 million dollars.
"I proposed putting limits on overtime for non-emergency services. I proposed a limit on discretionary spending," Short said. "That alone could have saved three or four times what we're going to save in nine months what we could have saved in one month."
During prior discussions regarding the suspending of Committee salaries, Byrnes was in agreement with Short that there are other areas that could produce greater savings.
"I don't agree that it's an exercise in effective leadership on the part of this Committee," Byrnes had said. "I think there are bigger items we can tackle."
During those previous discussions Fiore felt that it was a very valuable example to set for the rest of the departments and the residents of Middletown.
"I believe we are asking many people to make sacrifices," Fiore had said. "I think there is no better leadership position than to lead by example."
On Monday night, Fiore reiterated those sentiments.
"I think this is the right decision; to lead by example."
