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Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan delivering State of the County address this afternoon (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos)
Heading the effort will be Norwood Councilman Allen Rappaport, she said.
“We have already begun offering shared services,” Donovan said. “The county will save over $400,000 with energy procurement, and we have already met with interested municipalities to share this with them so they can also pass on the savings from this worthwhile program.”
Donovan also promoted the ongoing move to consolidate emergency dispatch services at the county Communications Center in Mahwah. Two dozen municipalities participate “and we are confident that more and more towns will turn to us to provide that essential service,” she said.
And she staunchy defended the Bergen County Police Department, while taking aim at Sheriff Michael Saudino.
Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photo)
“There has been a lot of discussion about the county police providing essential policing services to the Borough of Teterboro,” Donovan said.
“I am pleased to report to you that in the short time we have been patrolling Teterboro, we began on January first, your county police have responded to over 400 calls for service, 905 traffic stops, 487 property checks and have met with residents and businesses to establish emergency contacts and review alarm procedures.
“This shared service is not only saving the town of Teterboro over $175,000 per year, which I know everyone here embraces, but it is generating revenue for the county, which is good for all taxpayers.”
Donovan said a committee she empaneled will soon recommend ways of further consolidating police functions in Bergen County, based on a $600,000 Guidepost Study.
County police “make up only 3.02% of the total appropriation,” in this year’s county budget, compared to Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli’s Office, “which is at almost 6%” and Saudino’s department, which “consumes over 12%,” Donovan said.
“We saved $3.5 million when my administration re-negotiated the contract with our county police, while budgets, especially salaries, have continued to skyrocket in the Sheriff’s Department,” she said. “The Sheriff’s Department recently negotiated, without allowing me or someone from my labor negotiating team to sit at the table, a contract of reckless spending that I can assure you I will not be signing.
“This contract will cost us, with not one dollar in concessions, $10.5 million dollars over 4 years. This is absolutely unacceptable.”
Saudino issued a response calling Donovan’s claims “grossly inaccurate and untrue” and saying that “it is clear her intentions were to smear and mislead.”
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino tonight accused Executive Kathleen Donovan today of trying to “smear and mislead” with “grossly inaccurate and untrue” statements about increased salary costs in his department during her State of the County speech in Hackensack. READ MORE….
Donovan cited a “generous’ donation of $7 million in forfeiture funds from Prosecutor John L. Molinelli, through which “we will be beginning construction of our courthouse additions.” It’s fitting, she said, given that the county this year is celebrating the complex’s 100th anniversary.
Also, an area of Overpeck Park will finally get an environmental cleanup that residents have waited decades for, the county executive said.
“With the anticipation of the Super Bowl and Wrestlemania, Bergen County is an up-and-coming tourist destination,” Donovan said. “We are ahead of that, and working on ways to further promote our assets.”
The State of the county is “good and constantly improving,” she said, “the best it has been in years.”
“I am proud that we have replaced negative, cynical views of government with a culture of accountability and transparency,” Donovan said.
“After slashing $30 million from the spending plan we inherited from the outgoing administration, we have proposed an additional $279,000 in spending cuts this year,” she said. “Last year we used a cleaver to cut. This year we cut with a scalpel.”
Tax increases came in below the inflation rate, she said — no mean feat in today’s economy.
“We have effectively frozen the county portion of local property tax bills by keeping our promise to cut spending,” the county executive said. “Our spending proposals have been reduced for our first two budgets – the first time this has been accomplished in 15 years.
“Our county operating expenses have decreased and our salary and wage line represents a modest increase of 1.56%. Some of that is attributable to existing contracts.”
The sale of more than 100 county cars — and elimination of the free commute by government employees who used them — has already saved $700,000, “a fraction of our long-term savings,” Donovan said.
“No one on my staff or any department heads or directors have county cars. Those days are over. This initiative alone has seen a total savings of over $649,000.”
Norwood Councilman Allen RappaportJob freezes and a “strong stance on collective bargaining” have controlled the growth of government, she said, adding that her administration “will not go along with double-digit-percentage pay raises for the politically chosen few or anyone else. Government has tightened its belt just like the over 200,000 families we serve.”
At the same time, no cuts were made to education, she said. Despite “some tension last year at the college,” which included the resignation of former president Jerry Ryan, the working arrangement is good, Donovan said.
“We still continue to scrutinize their agendas, question overspending, and all change orders and demand more transparencies and accountability,” she said. “But it is important to note that we have never taken issue with the academic side of the college. We are helping to fund that college and we will continue to work together, we want to be sure YOUR money is being spent wisely.”
Other areas where Donovan wielded the power of her office:
“At the Bergen County Improvement Authority, we have lowered engineering fees alone by an astronomical $2.2 million dollars. Excessive legal fees were also halted at this authority with a savings of over $22,000 in 2011. Beyond that, the BCIA is actively working with municipalities who bonded via the Bergen County Improvement Authority to refinance their debt, so they can reduce their payments and give savings to their residents.”
“At the Northwest Utilities Authority we have saved over $440,000 in legal fees alone. By virtue of my veto we also saved $30,000 in unauthorized raises and have demanded, with the blessing of the NJ Division of Local Government, the repayment of $40,000 in stipends plus several hundred thousand dollars in health benefits from commissioners.”
“We ended the practice of giving salaries and benefits to the members of the Construction Board of Appeals, saving the taxpayers over $35,000 plus over $100,000 in health benefits.”
“At the Bergen County Utilities Authority, the rate payers went from paying $700,000 in legal fees in 2010 to approximately $275,000, a savings of over $425,000. We also vetoed $22,000 in unauthorized raises for 12 non-contractual employees.”
Donovan noted that county officials also have recovered more than $100,000 in delinquent bills and have sold or cancelled leases on three surplus properties following an inventory of county-owned real estate.
In February, the county auctioned off vacant property in Teaneck for $190,000, and ended two leases on storage facilities in Garfield and Hackensack that cost $40,000 per year.
Space at One Bergen County Plaza is being reconfigured to “better utilize this building and the space it affords and bring many of our ‘off-site’ operations, like our Health Department, presently located in Paramus, under this roof.
“This, in turn, will allow us to move our County Police from their antiquated headquarters on Zabriskie Street, and save us in up-keep and utilities alone of over $200,000 per year, and allow us to sell the Zabriskie Street facility, which is valued at least $5 million, and also get it back on the tax rolls for the City of Hackensack.”
Donovan added that residents “should be applauding our county police and all of our law enforcement providers.”
The county squad patrols parks, assists in security at BCC, patrols highways, “keeping us safe from dangerous oversized, unsafe vehicles,” does bomb sweeps, has a highly trained SWAT team and provides assistance in a variety of other areas, she said. “These are all essential, vital services that need to be provided for the safety and welfare of all of us.
“Let’s remember: Whether it’s Mahwah, Elmwood Park, Rutherford or Hackensack we are all Bergen County taxpayers.”
“Every elected official in this room, whether Republican or Democrat, shares a common responsibility to the 905,000 residents of Bergen County,” Donovan said. “If we fulfill our obligations to them, we will be doing the best possible job to build our respective political parties, not for the sake of bossism and party building but for the sake of the taxpayers and residents who we both can help by working together.
“It’s about policies which maintain Bergen County’s unique quality of life while limiting the burden of taxes on residents and businesses and not patronage…. It’s about making good on our promises, of practicing what we preach.
“We are all facing challenges. We will face them squarely and forthrightly — once again, ever mindful that we are here under the authority of the people. It is their interests we represent and we must do so to the best of our ability. There is no other way.”
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