Town Council Moves Forward With Plan to Spread Out Police Payouts

Mayor James Barberio is hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst when it comes to potential retirements this year in the .

A special meeting will be held on May 17 at 7 p.m., a half-hour prior to the regularly scheduled meeting, for the second reading of an ordinance that would appropriate emergency funds for police retirement payouts. A public hearing will also be held that night on the municipal budget and the council will consider adopting the 2011 spending plan.

According to Barberio, as many as 16 township police officers are eligible for retirement this year. While it remains uncertain exactly how many will file, Barberio said the best-case scenario would be about eight officers retiring.

With statewide retirements expected to continue to rise as health care premiums increase and pensions decrease, some municipalities are considering the option in Gov. Chris Christie’s toolkit to appropriate emergency funds, budgeted over five years.

"We could have deferred a year, but we decided to be conservative about it," Barberio said.

Barberio has decided to appropriate $895,944 to be paid out this year to those retiring police officers, but has budgeted it out over only the next four years as opposed to five.

The ordinance was unanimously approved by the council upon first reading Tuesday night, but will be read a second time at the May 17 meeting. 

The town council also decided Tuesday night to move $700,000 from the sewage treatment plant surplus over to the general fund. However, resident and council candidate Roy Messmer voiced his concern about the move during the public-comments portion of the meeting.

"When I write a check to water and sewer, it's not tax deductable,” Messmer said. “So that surplus money should be given back, instead of moved to the general fund."

Barberio and the council stood by their decision to move that portion of surplus over to the general fund in order to maintain services such as snow plows and police staff while not increasing the tax levy, they said. Barberio stated that if the money hadn't been moved from the sewage plant surplus, the tax levy would have increased from 2.6 to 4.3 percent. 

"Most people are on board with this move," Barberio said. "We checked and it won't affect our bond rating and it's the fiscally responsible thing to do."

According to Barberio, the sewage treatment plant now has a $5.3 million surplus—just five years after a 52 percent hike in sewage rates was needed in 2006 to overcome a deficit from 2005.

It has since undergone renovations for better efficiency, according to Barberio. That project will be finished in April 2012, and is considered by the mayor to be an investment that will pay dividends for the town and taxpayers in the future.

"The sewer treatment plant was in a bad position, it was neglected and now it's come to a head," Barberio said, also explaining that it is necessary to keep that surplus while the sewage plant renovation is being completed in case of emergency.