Proposed Ordinance #1383 - Justification?

At the April 7 Public Meeting around the 20'30" mark (feel free to take a look and listen below), the borough CFO steps to the microphone to provide expert testimony on the justification of raising the appropriations cap (ordinance #1383 starts on page 18). She indicates that the cap needs to be raised because the inflation rate last year exceeded 4%.

Sounds reasonable enough, except that the folks over at the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Consumer Price Index (CPI) for calendar year 2008 experienced a gain of 0.1%. Since the borough CFO explained that the appropriations included employee salaries, a look at the total compensation costs for calendar year 2008 experienced a gain of 2.4%.

At this point, readers are probably suspicious that this blog writer is using national data, which may not fully account for regional differences...

Fair enough.

Looking at the data published by the NY regional office, the CPI for NY-NNJ area in 2008 experienced a 1.6% gain. Total compensation costs for the NY Metro area increased 1.9% for 2008. The default appropriations cap of 2.5% (not requiring an ordinance) appears sufficiently adequate to cover these costs.

Consumable costs and staff compensation do not appear to justify raising the appropriations cap, leading to the question: Do our elected borough officials appear to be stimulating the economy (here and here) on the backs of borough taxpayers?

How about YES to banking any leftover appropriations and NO to raising the cap? If you feel perfectly comfortable with paying more taxes without apparent justification, DO NOT call your councilperson and DO NOT attend the borough hall meeting Wednesday evening. Your silence will ensure that this public-reviewed tax increase will be adopted.

Federal Mandate for Municipal Radio Services

The United States Federal Commissions Commission (FCC) is tasked with ensuring that communications needs of the nation are met. With regards to Public Safety Radio Systems, this means that communications down to local police, fire and public works services are met. Just as civilian radio services have grown from simple walkie-talkies to Cell Phones, Wi-Fi and GPS just to name a few, the needs of local public services have as well.

In December 2004 the FCC has mandated that Land Mobile Radio (LMR), which includes Public Service Radio service move to narrowband voice chanels in order to provide more room for more traffic and expanded radio communication services. What this means is that:

- Existing radio equipment, including base stations, in-vehicle radios and handheld units must be upgraded;
- Licenses for voice services must be either modified or added to operate the radios under narrowband voice channels.

The challenges are tremendous. The cost of upgrading the equipment is not trivial as a nearby town has budgeted $500,000 to upgrade the equipment. Even without the economic pressure municipalities are currently under, it is a sizeable budget item. Unfortunately, buying equipment is the easy part. Radio frequencies are obtained through authorized frequency coordinators; there is no guarantee that existing services can be maintained, let alone expanded, if the request is placed at the last minute.

References:

Pamphlet - "When They can't talk, lives are lost"
Narrowbanding Brochure
APCO Article: The VHF/UHF Narrowband Mandate
Department of Justice Document
APCO Primer

02/17/2009 Borough Hall Public Meeting

This is part 1 - Awards Ceremony



This is part 2 - Borough Business



Please answer the new poll question on the bottom of the page before you leave. Feel free to look at previous poll results as well. Thanks!

Credential Verification for Tree Workers

Credential Verification for certified tree workers can be found:

NJ Board of Tree Experts - Committee for the Advancement of Arboriculture
International Society of Arboriculture - Verify a Certification

Sources for credentialing can be found in these flyers:

Better Business Bureau - How to Choose a Tree Care Company
New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services

Please let me know if there are any industry certifying bodies I have overlooked.

Agree? Disagree? Discuss online or write a letter.

02/03/2009 Mayor & Council Executive Session

A short recording this evening. Combination of my arriving late to borough hall and a very brief public session.