Your Tax Dollars at Work

Want to know where your tax dollars go?  Sometime ago I submitted a letter to the Sentinel outlining salaries in Public Works.  I now have updated salary information for all city employees, the subject of this letter.

Approximately $30 million of the almost $70 million budget goes directly towards compensation for city employees.  Of the 366 salaried employees working for the city (one for each day of the year) 105 are making 6 figures in total compensation … $100,000 or more.  Around 200 are making $70,000 or more.  Non-exempt employees of course make far less.  With overtime they might make a third of what their salaried counterparts make.  Clearly it’s a case of the haves and the have not.  If you know the right people the sun will shine on you here.

Some departments are notorious.  The Fire and Police departments account for $13 million in salary costs, or almost 20% of the budget.  Overtime paid out in those two departments alone is over $1 million.  The average total compensation for a fully vested police officer / fireman is around $112,000 to $113,000 a year.  And boy do we have a lot of them … 58 fulltime police officers and (according to cost center) 58 firemen.  By way of comparison we have far more police per capita than the national average.  Oh you say that’s understandable; we’re a seasonal resort community.  Maybe so but we’re still fat.  I had a number for staffing in the Sea Isle City police department of 29.  I’m trying to get current info but no one is talking.  Stay tuned.

Then there’s the other ways the city spends your tax dollars.  There are far too many non-competitive, no-bid contracts handed out.  I mean if you’re going to get work done on your home wouldn’t you 1) shop around for the best price 2) get an estimate before the work begins?  Oh it’s different if it’s your money?  What the City spends is your money.  And correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t the CFO state in a council meeting that we wait to issue a purchase order until after we receive an invoice?

What we seem to lack are adequate financial controls, or anything that could pass for them.  You might have read about the new P-cards.  To say that those expenditures are approved by the purchasing agent is a bit of a stretch.  Even if it is true that someone is reviewing those purchases, what good does it do to approve expenditures after they’re made?  And according to Councilman Guinosso we’re now on the hook for around $1 million in settlements.  Sure it’s insured but did you ever know an insurance company to regularly pay out more than it takes in?

Another way the City spends your tax dollars is thru public / private “partnerships.”  That’s where tax payers become a silent, non-participating partner in a private, for profit enterprise.  The taxpayer puts up investment money and the private entity earns a profit on it.  We recently entered into one of those (the 2nd Street marina) and are now entertaining another.  If I’m going to make a financial investment in something I’d like to see at least some kind of financial return.

OK so what does it matter how the City spends your tax dollars?  Far too little is going to infrastructure. Sewer lines need to be replaced all across the city.  With the loss of permeable coverage and the increased runoff brought on by ever increasing development many sewer pipes no longer have adequate capacity.  Flooding is only getting worse.  Now new homes are being built on fill.  Check out the new construction at 46th and Central.  See the 4 foot concrete retaining wall?  Existing homes adjacent to new construction are now sitting in what amounts to a runoff basin.  There’s another new home in Merion Park being built on fill.

Engineering studies performed on the boardwalk tell us the super structure is in need of an overhaul.  As for the decking you can evaluate that for yourself.  We can’t even find the money to re-deck the boardwalk.  At least were not wasting more money on engineering studies.  It would appear the boardwalk will remain neglected for some time to come.

Many of our roads are in bad shape. And what if we have to start paying a bigger share for beach replenishment?  The south end (it looks to me) is one strong nor’easter from going under water again.  The inlets are clogged and so is the bay.  So when you consider all those demands, you have to ask yourself, where is the money going to come from?  How much longer can we put some of this stuff off?  We’ve been running far too fat for far too long and there just isn’t enough money left in the budget to address those demands.

What Councilman Guinosso is saying is that we need more than a 5 year capital plan.  We need a 10 or 20 year capital plan.  I agree with him.  We’re not going to get out of this mess by putting fires out.  Patching here, fixing there.  These are long term projects and we need to plan for them.  And if we’re going to have the resources to commit to infrastructure we need to start exercising some fiscal restraint.  We have to operate more efficiently.

We need to do more than talk about a responsible budget.  We need to pass one.