February 21, 2010
Hon. Blonnie Watson, President
Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders
Hall of Records
Newark, NJ, 07102
Re: 2010 Essex County Budget
Dear Ms. Watson:
When I appeared before the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders at its January 21, 2010 public meeting I requested information regarding two ordinances then proposed by the Administration of Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo. One resolution in the amount of $1.5 million was for the County’s parks and one resolution in the amount of $1 million was for the County’s golf courses. These expenditures, especially within this decidedly difficult economic environment, have been precipitated in part by the profligate spending by the Administration upon a slew of non-essential undertakings.
What should be considered essential by the Administration, and the Freeholder Board, is a sense of alarm about the level of poverty within Essex County as witnessed by the increase of home foreclosures and the extraordinary escalation of the number of residents of the County applying for, and receiving, public assistance in such forms as TRA (Temporary Rental Assistance), food stamps, Medicaid, GA (General Assistance for single adults) and TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, nee AFDC).
A responsible and reasonable organization, CWA Local 1081 readily acknowledges and appreciates the positive policies the Administration and the Freeholder Board are planning, and have already undertaken, to help alleviate some of the concerns pursued by our Union on behalf of our members and their clients:
1) The Administration has publicly acknowledged that the Essex County Division of Welfare provides social services to one out of every five County residents. Actually, though, the number is two out of every nine County residents.
2) Members of the Freeholder Board will visit the privately-owned 18 Rector Street/10 Park Place, Newark site on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 in order to see for themselves the conditions within the eight floors of the Division of Welfare’s offices located within that building. Members of the Freeholder Board also plan to visit the County-owned 50 South Clinton Street, East Orange site in the near future where the Division of Welfare’s Food Stamp office is located.
3) The Administration plans to rent an additional 5,600 square feet of space upon the eighth floor within the 18 Rector Street/10 Park Place site in which to store clients’ case files and thereby free up additional client waiting room capacity. The resolution comes before the Freeholder Board at its February 24, 2010 public meeting.
4) The Administration has had constructed a new area within the basement of the 50 South Clinton Street site where the Division of Welfare’s Bus Card Unit and Food Stamp Home Visit Unit have been relocated. All that remains to be done is the installation of a Plexiglas window within the reception booth.
5) The Administration is seeking to secure additional space outside of the 50 Clinton Street site in which to store Food Stamp office files in order to reduce the overcrowding within that building.
6) The Administration has gained approval to have Food Stamp clients recertify their cases every two years, rather than every one year, in order to reduce the number of people visiting the 50 South Clinton Street site.
7) The Administration’s proposed 2010 budget calls for achieving a total of 821 Division of Welfare employees, compared to 786 last year. While far from anywhere nearly sufficient, our Union considers it a positive beginning to address our agency’s chronic understaffing.
8) The Administration has, to date, foresworn layoffs and furloughs due no doubt in most part to the fact that the County, especially the Division of Welfare, simply cannot operate on a four-day work week.
However, despite the acute amplification of our members’ client caseloads and their paltry pay compared to their counterparts within the State, Mr. DiVincenzo is insisting our members accept a miniscule salary increase. CWA Local 1081 has put forward a practicable counterproposal. As our Union has before noted, a number of our Clerk members make so little money they qualify for, and some are receiving, food stamps from the very same agency for which they work full time.
CWA Local 1081 implores the Board of Chosen Freeholders to seriously consider the substance of this letter when its members deliberate upon the County’s 2010 budget and while doing so urge Mr. DiVincenzo to negotiate a fair contract with our Union.
Sincerely,
David H. Weiner, President
CWA Local 1081