Essex County executive says upcoming budget to be free of layoffs, furloughs
By Philip Read/The Star-Ledger
December 30, 2009, 6:56PM
Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr., meeting with his cabinet in a year-end finale, today said his yet-to-be-introduced spending blueprint for 2010 includes neither layoffs nor furloughs.
In the coming year, too, homeowners, can expect a 2.4 percent increase in the county’s tax levy — the smallest uptick in 4 years in a county where homeowners bear a first-in-the-state tax burden.
"The reason we’re in good shape is because we prepared for it," DiVincenzo said with more than 2 weeks to go before the formal Jan. 15 budget unveiling.
The preview was a far cry from last year’s, when DiVincenzo issued a series of dire warnings before announcing 219 job cuts — 68 via layoffs — amid belt-tightening that reached into the sheriff’s and prosecutor’s offices.
Even then, the tax-bite was a heftier 4 percent, something that translated into about $90 more a year for the typical homeowner. The tax increase in the 2010 budget is expected to cost that same taxpayer an extra $57 a year.
The budget surplus — a $27.7 million "rainy day" fund slashed by $18.5 million in the 2009 budget — is actually being replenished in 2010, moving from $9.2 million to about $13 million, said Paul Hopkins II, the county treasurer.
That should reflect well on the county’s A-1 debt rating from Moody’s, which has been downgrading ratings on New Jersey municipalities tapping into their surpluses to make ends meet.
"To be able to increase your surplus speaks volumes," DiVincenzo said. "My goal is to make this county a triple-A county."
The preview did not sit well with some of the county’s 26 unions, whose last 3-year contracts expired Dec. 31, 2007 — two full years ago.
"It’s hard to accept there’s no money for raises," said David Weiner, who represents about 650 welfare workers as president of Communications Workers of America Local 1081.
A year ago, Weiner said, the county reneged on a new agreement and demanded a 3-year contract with a 3 percent raise the first year and "zero" percent increases in the next two years. His union, he said, had already accepted two "zeros" in DiVincenzo’s first term.
The strain, he said, is evident.
"Our clerks start out at $23,000 a year," Weiner said. "Many of our clerks are receiving food stamps. They go into the same office where they work and see their co-workers. In fact, Joe DiVincenzo is making Essex County the WalMart of local government."
In an hour-long cabinet session starting at 9 a.m., department heads took turns talking up revenue-producers covering everything from Turtle Back Zoo to the economic spillover from the filming of a Superbowl commercial at Brookdale Park.
One of those revenue producers, the Department of Corrections, free from a federal consent order, has been taking in Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, detainees, surpassing its $20.8 million "revenue target" by some $1.3 million.
"If it wasn’t for initiatives like corrections," DiVincenzo said, "we’d be in the hole."
This year, the county’s debt service — at $92.4 million — represented 14 percent of the budget. But since a refinancing in a low-interest-rate environment, without extending the loan’s term, that burden has lessened.
"Our debt service went down $1.5 million this year," Hopkins said.
With Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield rates projected to rise 32 percent, Essex switched to Aetna for "equal or better" coverage, cutting the projected premium increase in half but still resulting in an $8 million jump, to $55 million, officials said.
After this year’s cuts, the county’s employee roster stands at 3,558, a number expected to fall by 10 more because of attrition, Hopkins said.
The thinning ranks have been particularly felt at the Essex County Improvement Authority, whose primary role is overseeing the county’s general aviation airport in Fairfield and whose staff once numbered 21.
"How many now, Jim?" DiVincenzo said as he turned to James Paganelli, the ECIA’s executive director.
"Four," Paganelli said.
"We’re going to have to put you where?" DiVincenzo said. "In the hangar?"
"In the hangar," Paganelli replied.