Thursday, May 16, 2013
West Deptford CFO Brenda Sprigman is operating with outdated software and a legacy of obscure records, says Committeeman Sam Cianfarini.
Although township administrator Eric Campo produced a two-inch-thick budget abstract for West Deptford committee members to review prior to its introduction Thursday, Committeewoman Denice DiCarlo was still dissatisfied with the level of transparency in the documentation. DiCarlo was the lone dissenter when the 2013 budget was introduced at Thursday's meeting of the West Deptford committee. Among her concerns was that the salary structures it contained didn't seem to add up. For starters, DiCarlo, who complained previously that she had felt frozen out of the budget process by finance chair Sam Cianfarini and CFO Brenda Sprigman, said that she shouldn't have had to wait two months to access information that is a matter of public record. “If…
Despite protests at its May 2 meeting, the committee introduces a budget calling for a tax hike.
The public comment portion of the township committee meeting Thursday night was interrupted three times with an ear-splitting feedback loop from microphones on the dais that halted all communication for a solid 30 seconds each time. If you were looking for a clearer metaphor to describe the atmosphere of West Deptford government meetings in advance of the 2013 budget introduction, you wouldn’t have to go much further than that. Staring down the introduction of a budget that would levy 9¢ per $100 of assessed value, the governing body couldn’t even get a motion on the table at its prior meeting. Mayor Ray Chintall was having none of that in the May 16 proceedings, however. He pre-empted any conflict among his fellow committee members with a…
The West Deptford committee is also slated to discuss the issuance of as much as $5 million in tax anticipation notes.
The West Deptford township committee will make a second attempt to introduce its 2013 budget at its Thursday night meeting. The first attempt didn't fare so well, with a heated discussion between Commiteeman Sam Cianfarini and Committeewoman Denice DiCarlo devolving into arguments about the budgeting process. This week, the issue will be further colored by the news that the township is seeking to issue up to $5 million in tax anticipation notes in the same agenda. Cianfarini told Patch on Wednesday that the notes will be necessary since the introduction of the 2013 township budget has been delayed—in part, he said, because "We can’t get a straight answer from the county government about final assessment values. "We can’t find out what the …
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Although the governor is running on a campaign of property tax reduction, NJ Spotlight says that only the top 2 percent in the state have benefited from his policies.
Despite running a campaign that touts his reduction of overall property taxes in the state, out-of-pocket property tax payments have climbed nearly 19 percent in New Jersey since Gov. Chris Christie took office, according to a new report from NJ Spotlight. That's compared with a 6 percent net rate during the final term of Gov. Jon Corzine's, the report claims. The net increase in actual out-of-pocket property tax payments by New Jersey residents occurred even though the 2 percent cap and other policies pushed through by Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester) limited the actual growth of property tax bills to just 8.3 percent from 2009 to 2012, compared to a 12.95 percent increase in Corzine's last three years. David …
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Governor tells New York Post that Lap-Band procedure was done at the urging of his family. An NYU doctor made house calls to Christie's Mendham home to not draw attention to the surgery.
Gov. Chris Christie underwent stomach-shrinking Lap-Band surgery in February, he confirmed to the New York Post on Monday night while refuting speculation that he was slimming down for a White House run in 2016. Christie quietly had the Lap-Band — or laparoscopic adjustable gastric binding —procedure done in a New York hospital, telling the paper that he agreed to the surgery at the urging of his family after turning 50 in September. Sean Conner, a spokesperson for Christie, confirmed the story to Patch Tuesday. The governor insisted that the Lap-Band was not inserted to help him lose weight in the run-up to 2016. "I know it sounds crazy to say that running for president is minor, but in the grand scheme of things, it was looking at Mary …
Monday, May 6, 2013
Committeewoman Denice DiCarlo said she didn't have enough detailed information from the CFO about the working budget prior to the May 2 meeting.
Communication issues among members of the West Deptford township committee drove the May 2 meeting of the body, with committee members Denice DiCarlo and Sam Cianfarini challenging each other over the 2013 municipal budget. During that meeting, DiCarlo said her inability to get answers of depth to a number of specific questions posed of West Deptford CFO Brenda Sprigman added to her frustration with the process. Afterward, DiCarlo produced a string of email correspondences that she said illustrated some of her difficulties along the way. Correspondence In one email exchange dated April 12, DiCarlo asked Sprigman, “Who is handling the budget this year? You or the Auditors?” Sprigman's reply is, “The budget is being handled this year the …
Friday, May 3, 2013
The proverbial wheels fell right off a meeting that was expected to include the introduction of the 2013 township budget, with residents reacting audibly, and officials playing to the crowd.
Fault lines in the working relationships of township committee members were put on public display Thursday, as arguments over township finances smothered any formal introduction of the 2013 municipal budget. Mayor Ray Chintall was forced to lean heavily on his gavel, alternately quieting the body on the dais and those in attendance, who hooted or grumbled depending upon their seating arrangements. Committee members Denice DiCarlo and Sam Cianfarini were at the center of what have become commonly contentious exchanges, with emotions running high amid the strain of flagging municipal revenues. The arguments swung on a convoluted budget presentation from Cianfarini that illustrated how deeply the loss of ratable properties will be felt by …
Thursday, April 18, 2013
At its Thursday night work session, the West Deptford Township Committee approved an agreement to solicit corporate advertising on township assets to raise revenues.
What would West Deptford look like with a Wawa logo on its water tower? Or an upbeat message about recycling—brought to you by Lowe’s—on the side of its garbage trucks? How about a discount on plumbing fixtures at Home Depot, printed right on the bottom of a water bill shipped directly to 22,000 homes? These are some of the ideas that could be brought to life in the near future, as the local government seeks to find ways to offset its multimillion-dollar loss of ratables and “a double-digit [percentage] increase” in taxes, said Mayor Ray Chintall. “Eyeballs and bodies” were the watchwords of Thursday's West Deptford Township Committee meeting, and the 40-plus residents there heard about government plans to focus both on generating …
Saturday, April 13, 2013
A half-decade of extreme weather is making the Environment New Jersey Research & Policy Center call for efforts to reduce carbon pollution.
On an interactive map of the United States that records the number of extreme weather events that have taken place over the last several years, New Jersey might as well be the black eye. The red, purples and magentas that color each of New Jersey’s 21 counties make up the wrong end of the weather-related disaster spectrum, marking the entire state as a recurring extreme weather target. Should nothing be done to curb pollution and carbon emissions, a recent report from Environment New Jersey Research and Policy Center details, expect that trend to continue. Just off of the beach in Long Branch Tuesday, with temperatures coincidentally hovering around an unseasonable 80 degrees, several officials gathered to discuss the new report, called “…
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Citing Congressional measure, Board of Governors reluctantly decides to continue six-day-a-week delivery, not drop to five-days-a-week.
The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service has reversed course and will no longer move ahead with plans to suspend Saturday mail delivery in August to save money, according to a statement from the board. The postal service had announced in February the six-days-per-week mail delivery business model was “no longer sustainable” and that it would eliminate Saturday delivery by Aug. 1. But on Tuesday, the board backpedaled on the decision, citing language in a continuing resolution passed by Congress that prohibited the proposed change. “The Board believes that Congress has left it with no choice but to delay this implementation at this time’” a statement released by the board said. The plan announced in February would have changed …
billy k
12:46 pm on Saturday, May 18, 2013
First of all Chintall and Cianfrani need to learn how computers and municipal finance works before commenting because neither one of them know software from hardware. Word has it that Chintall still uses an abycuss to add and subtract. All jokes aside they are elected by the people to make quality appointments for professional positions. They have failed to appoint a quality CFO. There is a time … more ›