Reinventing Government?

by Joe Hawrylko

After months of speculation, bad news has finally hit home. America is in the midst of a recession, and Clifton is just one of thousands of cities feeling the effect.

The issue came to a head in December, when the Council authorized City Manager Al Greco to devise a layoff plan for public employees. It is expected that more than 80 positions will be cut in the process.

However, this shake up could be the first in a line of changes for the city. According to Councilman Steve Hatala, this could be the situation that Clifton needs in order to tighten ship and make things run more efficiently.


“Business as usual cannot work as in the past,” warned Hatala, who is the chair of the Council’s Economic Development subcommittee. “It’s a chance to change the dynamics of how we do business. Changes in the world will force u to think about how we can work more efficiently and cost effective.

“If we were starting the city all over,” Hatala continued. “would we do it the same way, or would we do it a little more sophisticated?”

State law caps increases in municipal budgets at 4 percent annually. Clifton is currently over by about $2.5 million, and the layoffs—if they stay the same—are expected to bring back about $4 million. The city would just slide in under the legal cap.

However, according to Hatala, the job cuts really don’t address the bigger picture.
“Do you really want to get into a deferred type of payment program?” asked the three-term councilman. “Because that only bites you in the rear end anyhow. Even if you do this proposed layoff, that just gets you through this whole year.”

Rather than dealing with the same financial woes in 12 months, Hatala said he’d like to start brain storming real ideas on how to make Clifton’s government run more efficiently.

And now that the economy has forced the Council’s hand, he thinks this is the best opportunity to do just that. “The model we have now, we’re going to be in this boat every year,” said Hatala. “It’s an opportunity to say, ‘Look, let’s reinvent the wheel.’ Because if you don’t there’s going to be people getting hurt, whether it’s employees getting laid off, increased taxes or decreased services.”

At this point, the Councilman believes that a drastic change is inevitable. To get under the budget, it’s going to take either layoffs or concessions from the employees.

Current negotiations call for a pay freeze for the year and the possibility of a point of service program for health benefits.

Still, the question looms: Where does the fat come from? Even after an immediate layoff, pension plans will still fall on the backs of Clifton taxpayers.

“You can’t decimate city services to such a degree, especially public safety,” said Hatala. “It’s a tough one. If you look at the expense side, we’re managing that very well. But the issue is the income side.

“Jonathan Capp (Clifton’s Chief Financial Officer) said that if you want to keep everything the way it is, you’re looking at a 22 point tax increase,” he added. “So the question is, if we cut people, how would you do it differently, and would you still be able to offer that service without that person?”

While the layoff situation is still developing, Hatala said the city can look forward and try to come up with new sources of income.

“Tax appeals for businesses, foreclosures in homes and no new developments besides Rt. 3,” he said. “I think you got to do a sit down with the Council, administrators, employees and even the general public. We’re going to have to get creative.”

Hatala noted that the topic has already come up amongst Council members in private. One idea that’s been floated was refinancing bonds.

“But I don’t know how much that’s going to give us,” he lamented. “It doesn’t pay. What do you save—$20,000? You got to save about $500,000 or $1 million, then we’ll talk.”

One quick fix could come from the city’s libraries, under a new legislation that’s pending. Funding for these services is, by law, tied to the ratables collected by a municipality.

“If your ratables go up, your public library gets more, whether they need it or not,” explained Hatala. “If there’s excess money they can’t use, leave it in the general fund.”

The Councilman also remarked on the success of the parking enforcement program, which utilizes part-time manpower.

“They’ve paid for themselves about 40 times over,” said Hatala. “Why not expand it? Help with noise level issues, litter and other stuff the police can’t handle.”

Hatala also would like to see more creative use of Clifton’s firefighters, such as possibly using those that are off duty to double as housing inspectors.

“You have to have a minimum staff count, so what I was looking at was using the off-duty firemen to go in and write tickets and summons,” said Hatala. “Though we’d probably have to negotiate a fee, or just put a fee out there and say, ‘Guys, this is what we’re paying.’”

He said that a mandate wouldn’t be an option, due to legal issues. Rather, Hatala envisions it being similar to how off-duty police officers work security for Clifton’s more popular bars. “Right now,” he said. “I’m sure that everyone is looking for extra cash.”