Township, Borough slash budgets by another 5 percent

The public hearing followed a meeting of the Joint Finance Committee on March 19, when the group met to formulate proposals for reducing the budgets of nearly all municipal departments by 5 percent in the fiscal year starting July 1.

Agencies affected by this latest round of cuts include the Fire Department, Health Department, Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad (PFARS), Princeton Public Library, Human Services Commission (HSC), Sewer Operating Commission and Environmental Commission.

Several Borough public works and engineering employees have already been laid off, and workers in other departments have had their full-time jobs reduced to hourly positions, Borough Councilman David Goldfarb said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.

But the Borough does not anticipate having to lay off any more employees and will instead eliminate vacant positions, Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi said in an e-mail.

Borough officials have pledged not to raise taxes this year in an effort to lighten the financial burden on taxpayers. Instead, officials said they will cut funding to agencies to compensate for financial woes that resulted from the economic downturn.

The Borough had already cut its operating expenses by more than $1.8 million before Tuesday’s meeting, according to The Princeton Packet.

Health care cuts

Much of the public meeting centered on opposition to budget cuts for PFARS, the Health Department and the HSC.

PFARS President Peter Simon asked that his group’s budget not be cut, saying that the first aid squad is critically important to maintaining citizens’ safety. The Borough Council initially passed the proposal curtailing PFARS funding, but the vocal dissent of Township committeemen Lance Liverman and Chad Goerner blocked the proposal’s passage in the Township.

In the end, Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman’s request that the Borough and Township revisit the PFARS budget at a later date was honored, preserving the organization’s funding for the time being.

Goldfarb said he was “annoyed” by the protracted discussion of PFARS funding, noting that both the Borough Council and Township Committee were present at the finance committee meeting in which the budget cuts were first outlined.

If council or committee members were unsatisfied with the portion concerning PFARS, they should have brought it up then, he said, specifically citing Goerner.

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“We hadn’t expected the issue to be raised,” he said. “It’s just not the right way to do business, pulling something like that at the last minute.”

Health Department officials also presented their case to the joint session to keep their budget unchanged, arguing that the staffing reduction necessitated by the proposed cuts could be “catastrophic” for the department.

Health Officer Dave Henry explained that, if the department’s budget were cut, it would only be able to operate for three days per week instead of five.

“Essentially, [the budget proposal] is going to close the department,” Regional Health Commission Chairman Bruce Topolosky said.

Following heated discussions, the Borough and Township passed the cuts for the Health Department, but Bruschi agreed to examine its finances further, noting that the proposal’s passage was not necessarily a final solution.

The third contentious proposal item concerned the HSC. With the planned reduction in the commission’s budget, all staff at the HSC would be laid off except for its director, Cynthia Mendez, Bruschi told the Packet.

After Mendez presented the HSC’s case before the council and committee, Liverman and Township Mayor Bernard Miller both acknowledged the commission’s usefulness.

But Goldfarb debated this claim, saying that private companies are often better at executing the services provided by the HSC than the commission itself.

Trotman and Borough Councilman Roger Martindell also expressed doubt in the commission’s capacity to adequately help the community it’s supposed to serve.

“We have a paper commitment, but where’s the beef? … I’m not convinced that Human Services is giving the right amount of services to the right people,” Martindell said.

Trotman added, “I could guarantee you that there are other departments where these services could be rendered.” She explained that she doubted the joint task force, created to explore the commission’s capacities and actions, would help as planned.

The Borough and Township both eventually passed the proposed HSC budget with the provision that the task force members report back by July 1.

After the meeting, Goldfarb expressed pointed criticism of the decision. “I’m sorry that others felt that we should give Human Services one last chance,” he said.