Last week, the North Arlington Mayor and Council passed a resolution that authorizes the borough to request proposals from outside consultants who ultimately would issue a study about the feasibility of shared services between North Arlington and Lyndhurst. The Board of Commissioners in Lyndhurst had a similar resolution on its agenda for this past Tuesday, March 13.
North Arlington Council President Richard Hughes said the company hired to explore the feasibility of shared services between the two towns will do a "soup to nuts" examination. Neither municipality wants an outright merger of the two departments, but some services may be combined or shared after the recommendations.
"We want to… take a look at the strengths that each department has, what we can share with one another and what we could utilizing to benefit the residents of both communities," Hughes said.
This is the second round of consolidation studies the two municipalities have approved. Last June, the governing bodies of Lyndhurst and North Arlington passed resolutions requesting grant funding to commission a study about consolidation of police departments. The two municipalities jointly requested $38,000 from the County Police Consolidation Grant Program, run through the Prosecutor’s Office.
This study, according to local officials, has not been completed, and the towns have yet to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for that study. Lyndhurst will be the lead agency on the police department study, and will issue its own RDP for that study.
Lyndhurst Mayor DiLascio said the police consolidation study took a backburner to other budget problems within Lyndhurst.
"You can see that North Arlington and Lyndhurst face a number of issues," said DiLascio, citing back taxes on former EnCap properties and budgetary issues. "They kind of take precedence."
Under the program, towns receive funding, which was seized during criminal investigations to hire consultants to examine consolidation. Municipalities taking part in the program are required to accept or reject the recommendations made by the consultants, and if the Prosecutor’s Office finds that governing bodies rejected the findings of the consolidation study for "arbitrary and capricious" reasons, towns are required to repay the money they received.
Hughes said North Arlington will be the "lead agency" on of the DPW study. North Arlington issued the RFP for the study of the DPW, and that work will be solely funded through the North Arlington budget.
Hughes said that although the police study will be paid for through a grant, North Arlington will pay for the DPW study through its budget. The cost of the study has not been determined and the resolution does not contain a maximum amount.
Lyndhurst Mayor Richard DiLascio said the two municipalities examining the departments of both towns is "a natural fit." But he was quick to point out that he wants to avoid commenting on the outcome.
"I don’t want to limit the scope and I don’t want to define the scope for the consultants doing the study," he said.
DiLascio is also the head of the town’s Department of Public Works.
North Arlington appropriated $3.8 million for police salary and wages in 2011, and estimated to spend $180,000 in police department expenses. The budget laid out a total of approximately $928,000 for public works salaries, and more than $520,000 was laid out for other expenses, and that figure includes maintenance of public buildings and grounds.
Lyndhurst set aside about $5.98 million in police salaries and wages. The township appropriated approximately $1.37 million for salaries within the Public Works Department, and approximately $614,040 in other expenses, excluding contracts for garbage and recycling collection. Both Lyndhurst and North Arlington use private trash and recycling haulers.
As of last week, neither governing body had introduced a preliminary municipal budget for 2012.
With insurance and fuel costs escalating, towns must find ways to save money.
"In municipal government, we travel on gasoline tanks," said North Arlington Mayor Peter Massa, so increased fuel costs impact a municipality’s budget and eat up tax dollars.
Massa commended Hughes, who spearheaded coordination with Lyndhurst.
"This is a watershed agreement," Massa said. "We will have here, in my expectation, a very comprehensive report by a management consulting firm about how we can best and most effectively use the resources in both communities to service the taxpayers in both communities," the North Arlington mayor said.
Hughes said, "We may adopt it, we may not. But at least we’re going to look at it."
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Brian Anderson
Quelle/Source: NorthJersey, 15.03.2012
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