Little Addresses The Highlands PBA Deal

By Art Gallagher

Highlands Mayor Anna Little issued the following statement on her facebook page and in an email to MMM this morning:

Highlands Borough Budget and the PBA Agreement

The following is an explanation of the facts regarding a decision of the Highlands Borough Council on December 1, 2010.  

The Borough Council asked the Highlands PBA to agree to a wage freeze to allow the Borough to evaluate our budgetary circumstances in light of the 2.0 cap imposed by the State of NJ upon Municipal budgets.  After analysis of the Borough’s budget, the Borough Council asked the PBA to find $420,000 in savings.   The Highlands PBA contract had already been finalized and there was no obligation on the part of the Highlands PBA to negotiate.   The Highlands PBA reviewed the State Health Benefits Plan recommended by the Borough and agreed to accept it.   The Highlands PBA and the Highlands Chief of Police have regularly reduced overtime during my tenure as Mayor.   Younger officers were hired in order to reduce exorbitant overtime costs necessary to cover State mandated shifts round the clock in the Borough.  As of December 1, 2001 the Highlands PBA has agreed to forego overtime completely in exchange for compensatory time.   This will guarantee over $100,000 permanent savings to the Borough per year.

 

The Agreement with the Highlands PBA for which I voted on December 1, 2010 includes:

1.  Highlands PBA concession to accept the State Health Benefit Plan, amounting to $320,000 in savings to the Borough of Highlands.

2.  Overtime savings in this budget of $66,668.

3.  Court time savings in this budget of $8,140.

4.  Overtime savings in 2011-2012 budget $106,205.

5.  Court time savings in 2011-2012 budget $13,000.

6.  Waiver of Retroactive contractual wages that the Borough owed the PBA from July 1, 2010 to December 1, 2010, a savings in this budget of $140,000.

7.   The single raise of 4.25% for a six month period from January 1, 2011 until June 30, 2011 allows retirement eligible officers to retire at a wage level less than but nearer to what they would have received under the contract to which the Borough was obligated.   This concession also produced a savings to the Borough in the 2011-2012 budget.   If retirements which have been mentioned actually occur as verbally represented, substantial savings to the Borough will result.

 

In conclusion, we must support Governor Christie’s tool kit.   Toward that end we must ensure that in the 2011 election cycle, WE THE PEOPLE deliver to Governor Christie a State Legislature that will work with him on the Tool Kit and other tax saving initiatives.   Until the Tool Kit is in place, agreements with bargaining units are the ONLY way to ensure savings to municipalities.   Layoffs of three police officers in the Borough of Highlands surely would have resulted in additional overtime costs to the Borough because of State mandates.  Initial calculations indicated that the Borough might have been charged up to $18,000 per month in overtime.

 

Therefore, the PBA Agreement for which I voted on December 1, 2010 and which secured savings to the Borough of $654,000 (not including the contractual reduction in raises and expected retirement of senior officers) was in the best interests of the People of the Borough of Highlands.   It is the People and only the People whom I serve during my tenure in elected office.

 

Little’s statement begs scrutiny.

She says the Highlands Borough Council requested the PBA come up with budget savings in light of the 2% cap imposed upon municipal budgets by the State.  However, Highlands fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30. The first Highlands budget governed by the cap will not take effect until July 1, 2011.  The deal Little joined her Democratic colleagues on the Council in approving impacts the current budget, retroactive to July 1, 2010.  It would seem that the PBA deal impacts deficits in the current budget.

Highlands Mayor-elect Frank Nolan, the Republican Council President, told MMM that the PBA negotiations were part of an effort to plug a $400,000 hole in the current budget.  Nolan said he proposed a no layoff pledge through the current fiscal year in exchange for the PBA foresaking their 4.25% salary increase and switching health insurance plans.  He said Little and Democrats Chris Francy and Rebecca Kane approved the PBA’s counteroffer which carries into the 2011-2012 budget that is subject to the 2% cap and includes retroactive penalities that would benefit all union members should even one officer need to be laid off.

Nolan said that Little was absent from 40% of the Council’s meeting since March when she started running for Congress and is not up to speed on all that has gone on during the negotiations with the PBA.

Little’s statement does not address the penalties to the Borough should layoffs be necessary. 

Nolan said that Highlands CFO Steve Pfeffer is on record advising the Council that there is a 60% chance that additional layoffs will be required in the current fiscal year.  Nolan does not understand why Little, Francy and Kane would approve an agreement that imposes penalties for layoffs when they know such layoffs will be necessary.

Nolan said that Highlands fiscal crisis has been caused in large measure by the fact that the Borough has spent its entire surplus of $1.2 million since Little became Mayor.  Nolan was on the Council during Little’s first year as Mayor, 2008.  He was defeated in his reelection bid in the Obama wave of 2008 and elected again in November of 2009.  He has been Council President since taking office again in January of this year and will be sworn in as Mayor on January 1st.

The Highlands deal with the PBA will not take effect until approved by the Mayor and Council at their December 15, 2010 meeting or a subsequent meeting.

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Brian Aitken serving seven years for transporting guns, perhaps legally

Brian Aitkin, photo from Free Brian Aitkin facebook page

By Art Gallagher

Brain Aitken was sentenced to seven years in prison for transporting unloaded and disassembled guns in the trunk of his car. The arresting officer suggested that Aitken store the guns in his father’s safe, but they wouldn’t fit, so he was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to seven years in state prison.

According to the reports brought to my attention by MMM readers, here, here and here, Aitken had purchased the firearms legally while residing in Colorado. He had sought and followed guidance from the New Jersey State Police on how to legally transport the guns during his move back to New Jersey.

Aitken turned down pleas bargain offers from the Burlington County prosecutors office because he believed he had carefully followed the law. 

The judge presiding over Aitken’s case, James Morely, declined to instruct the jury about exemptions to the concealed carry law for transporting guns during a move between residences.  Aitken’s attorney raised the issue during closing arguments but not during the evidentiary phase of the trail.  The jury requested the exemption information multiple times during deliberations.  Morely declined to provide the information.

Morely did not issue Aitken’s sentence.  He was removed from the bench after the verdict was delivered and before the sentencing because Governor Chris Christie declined to reappoint him, reportedly because of his judgement in a case involving a Moorestown NJ police officer having sex with cows.  Judge Michael J. Haas issued Aitken’s sentence.

Evan Nappen of Eatontown is Aitken’s attorney. Nappen’s summary of the facts of the case can be found here.

Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll has written Governor Christie asking for an immediate pardon or commutation of Aitken’s sentence.  Carroll’s letter can be found here.

Reports are that Governor Christie is reviewing the pardon/commutation request.  The media campaign that Aitken’s family is waging is so compelling that the questions, “how could this happen?” and “what facts are missing from this story?” must be addressed.   Christie’s office should conduct a thorough and expeditious review.

For more information, see the Free Brain Aitken facebook page and BrianDAitken.com.

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Two years in jail for killing cats?

That seems a bit extreme to me.

A former Monmouth SPCA worker was sentenced to two years prison plus 360 hours of community service for animal cruelty charges that he plead guilty to in August, according to a report in the Star Ledger.

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Average Some One

By Art Gallagher

This post is for my Tea Party friends and my Republican friends in Monmouth County who continue to relate to each other with caution and trepidation or worse.

I’d like you all to consider the evolution of my friend James Hogan and the evolution of our county party over the last two years.

Hogan was the embodiment of the Tea Party before most Tea Partiers got off the couch.  Motivated, dedicated and completely out of his mind, he ran in the 2008 GOP primary for the nomination in the 6th Congressional District of New Jersey.

A few weeks after the 2008 primary, Hogan wrote of his first encounter the the MonmouthGOP establishment. It wasn’t pretty, but it worth reading.

Today, James wrote about his more recent experience with “the establishment.”  There has been a great deal of progress in two + years.

James has not compromised any principles, nor has he become any less outspoken.

He is an example of what is possible for those who are passionate about our politics yet new to the polictical process.  Those who have welcomed James graciously into the process are examples of the kind of leaders who empower the growth of our party.

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No Civilian Housing At Earle

The Asbury Park Press is reporting that the Navy has reached an agreement to buy out the contract for the Laurelwood Housing Area at Earle Naval Weapons Station.  The 300 townhomes originally built for military housing will be demolished.

This is good news for Colts Neck and Tinton Falls taxpayers who would have picked up the tab for education and municipal services had the Navy gone through with its plan make the development available for civilian housing.

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NJN will remain on the air

Governor Chris Christie told the Star Ledger that NJN, New Jersey public television and radio stations, will remain on the air after January 1st if legislation that allows negotiations with a private entity to take over the station is passed before the end of the year.   Senate President Steve Sweeney, (Reagan Democrat) has a bill before the legislature that would create a bi-partisan commission to manage the transfer to a private entity.  Senator Joe Kyrillos has proposed a bill that would empower the State Treasurer to manage the transfer.

State funding for the network is scheduled to expire on December 31. Layoff notices went out to the station’s 130 employees last month.

Michael Aron, the station’s senior political correspondent, told MMM that the network’s annual budget is roughly $20 million, including $7 million in in-kind contributions from the State for rent on its facilities and other fixed assets. The cash contribution from the State coffers was $4 million in 2010.

Christie’s original plan under the current state budget was for NJN’s licenses to be sold or transfered to a private entity.  Officials now want the state to retain ownership of the license and enter into a management agreement with a consortium of broadcasters to provide content, according to the Star Ledger report.

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Weekend @ Monmouth

The House at 831 opens at the Clearview Cinema in Red Bank on Sunday.  Show times are at 4:30 and 7.

I have no idea what the movie is about. Jackie Bartley and Andrew Bane are in it, so I’m going. 

For the rest of the weekend, without fail there is GregsList.

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Little Government Returns To Highlands

By Art Gallagher

After being absent from Borough of Highlands Council meetings for much of the year due to her congressional campaign, Highlands Mayor Anna Little swept into the Council’s public meeting last night in order to vote with her Democratic colleagues to prevent police layoffs.  Little skipped the Executive Session in lieu of attending holiday parties sponsored by the Northern Monmouth Chamber of Commerce and the Monmouth County Affiliated Republican Club.

Little voted for a resolution offered by Democratic Councilman Christopher Francy and seconded by Democratic Councilwoman Rebecca Kane to amend the PBA contract to accept concessions by the police union in exchange for penalties to the borough should there be layoffs through June 30, 2012.

The police have given up a 4.25% salary increase, retroactive to July 1, 2010, have offered to accept comp time in lieu of overtime payments, and have agreed to join the rest of Highlands employees in having their health insurance transferred from the borough’s contract with Horizon-Blue Cross to the NJ State Health Benefits Plan, in exchange for a no layoffs pledge through June 30, 2012.

Should there be any police layoffs through June 30, 2012, the borough will make cash payments to all members of the PBA for the conceded salary increases and for overtime incurred, under the proposed agreement.

Highlands Chief Financial Officer Steven Pfeffer told MMM that the salary and overtime concessions would save the borough $90,000 in the current fiscal year through June 30, 2011 and another $60,000 in the following fiscal year. The Borough is saving $300,000 by transferring all of its employees to the state health benefits plan, according to Pfeffer.

Republican members of the Council, Frank Nolan and Richard O’Neil voted against the resolution.  Had the resolution failed, 3 police officers would have been laid off, resulting in a savings of at least $250,000, according to Nolan.

Nolan will succeed Little as Mayor on January 1st. O’Neil is Little’s predecessor.

Nolan and O’Neil are in the early stages of negotiations with Middletown to share police services with Highlands.  Should the two municipalities enter an agreement that has Middletown taking over policing Highlands, the savings to Highlands taxpayers would be reduced by the penalties the Borough would have to pay to the PBA members.

The deal with the Highlands PBA must be ratified by its members and be approved by the Council again, presumably at the December 15th meeting, before it will take effect.

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Morning News

SHARK is out for bear

Senators out for pork

No off-shore drilling until 2017, Gas tax hike on the horizon

Middletown send off for the troops

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Happy Hanukkah

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