| Author | Message | ||
     Rebecca Raines Citizen Username: Robin_realist Post Number: 271 Registered: 10-2003 |
I'm interested in the budget process the Township Committee goes through. Specifically regarding the Library budget, of course. Are the Budget Committee meetings open to the public? When does the public have the opportunity to comment on the proposed cuts in the library budget and how will they know what the cuts might be and when to attend? Thanks, R | ||
| Reflective Citizen Username: Reflective Post Number: 841 Registered: 3-2003 |
Rebecca For a candid frank and honest insight, you might touch base with Roland Bennett, the former Maplewood Librarian for years. (currently of BOE fame) This would be in addition to other info you get from the library committee or the township committee, of course. | ||
| Bob K Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 7980 Registered: 5-2001 |
George Berkley is Chairman of the CBAC this year and he can direct you to the right place to get a look at the budget proposal. I am surprised that it isn't on the Township's website to be honest. | ||
| Rebecca Raines Citizen Username: Robin_realist Post Number: 272 Registered: 10-2003 |
I found out that there may be a meeting Thursday evening or Friday during the day. No times have been set as of now. I'll post here if I find out more. R | ||
| Jgberkeley Citizen Username: Jgberkeley Post Number: 4206 Registered: 5-2001 |
All budget meetings are open and the schedules are posted at town hall. The CBAC has members at all meetings. If you wish, contact me by PL and I will set you up with the schedule of the meetings. That said, the specific meeting to discuss the Library has passed. Meetings from here on may or may not discuss sections of the Library budget. When attending, the public may observe, but can not participate directly. Later, George Berkeley CBAC Chairperson 2004/2005 | ||
| Rebecca Raines Citizen Username: Robin_realist Post Number: 273 Registered: 10-2003 |
I PLd you. R | ||
| Rebecca Raines Citizen Username: Robin_realist Post Number: 276 Registered: 10-2003 |
Okay, this is what I know. Tonight's TC meeting will pass a provisional type budget in order to apply for extraordinary aid. This budget includes cutting the library by $75,000. I believe the actual budget meeting at which public comment regarding this issue is most important will be later. I live in town and don't want my taxes to go up, but a lot of people will not be happy with the reduction in library services required to make this large of a cut work. R | ||
| geralynmc Citizen Username: Geralynmc Post Number: 16 Registered: 6-2002 |
Our taxes are going to go up...People need to go and make a stand on this one. In my opinion we are already taxed out! | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5228 Registered: 5-2001 |
Becky: What specific cuts are proposed for the library budget? | ||
| Rebecca Raines Citizen Username: Robin_realist Post Number: 277 Registered: 10-2003 |
I am not privy to all the specifics. However, there is no question that this big of a cut will require reduction in hours open. I believe they usually start with Sunday afternoons and work backwards. Also the much anticipated summer Saturday hours will not happen again this year. I'll let you know when I find out more. R | ||
| Joel Janney Citizen Username: Joel_janney Post Number: 33 Registered: 6-2004 |
Rebecca Raines: "I live in town and don't want my taxes to go up" If you really don't want your taxes to go up, you will be willing to accept cuts in services. It's that simple. So what are you willing to cut? | ||
| Rebecca Raines Citizen Username: Robin_realist Post Number: 283 Registered: 10-2003 |
I'm willing to cut the Library budget as well as a number of other things. I'm just informing you that this means cutting our service hours. There has been tremendous pressure for the library to be open on summer Saturdays and previously a large outcry when we closed on Sundays. It makes little difference to me what hours the library is open. I still plan programs for all hours of the day, weekend and evening. But you might not like stopping by on Sunday and finding the library closed. Regarding the overall budget: The large cuts this year have more to do with it being an election year than anything else. Get the school budget under control and get more funding from places other than our property taxes. Maybe we should be creative and form partnerships with businesses or something. That seems to be taboo, but I believe some towns have made it work. I'm just saying that the library has never been wild with their funding anyway and the last few years we've been running a pretty tight ship. Doing more with less every year, more hours, more staff, more services, make that branch pull it's weight, etc. and taking a $75,000 hit will definitely mean cutting hours as well as other items, although you might not immediately see the shortage there. Let's say we cut the book budget by $10-15,000. Any individual patron might not notice much of a difference in one year, but over several years the collection will definitely be affected to the point that most people are going to notice. Gotta go now, but I'll think on this some more. I'm sure other people have choices for what they think could be trimmed from the budget. R | ||
| Lotts of guns Citizen Username: Lotts_of_guns Post Number: 26 Registered: 3-2005 |
Joel Janney - we need more than the Pavlonian response of "what services will you cut?" which immediately polarizes the discussion and erroneously presumes that the only place we can makes savings are in services. here are a few "services" I'd cut Horoshacks pay and bonus Davenports pay and bonus and flights home (are we still paying for that ?) Re-examine the exposive growth in benefits -could the tecahers get the same benefits for a lot less elsewhere, and could benefits be reduced with no appreciable impact if the alternative had to be laying off some teachers our socieconomic group status, if it got us more state money I'd cut the service we currently get from the BOE also in favor of a new BOE who might actually deal with the tax burden in a sensible fashion | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 6166 Registered: 1-2003  |
You might already know, but the school district budget is done separately from the township budget. You can learn about it in the Education section of this board and by talking to members of the board of education, who make it a point to be very accessible. They also offer extensive courses that describe the school budget process in fine detail. There is a board of ed election coming up on April 19, which is two weeks from today, and there is an opportunity to replace three members. | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5319 Registered: 5-2001 |
"What would you cut?" is exactly the right question to ask with the difficult burden our real property taxes are placing on so many residents just now. It's fine to point to the school budget and say that we should eliminate waste there rather than look to cut the municipal portion of our taxes but in fact the school budget isn't going up by all that much this year and we need to keep expenses in check at both the school and municipal level if we are going to be able to maintain a stable population in town and keep property values up where most of us want them. Getting someone else to share the cost of our schools and our municipal government is a nice dream but it isn't going to happen between now and when the final municipal budget for this year has to be approved. I was very impressed with the budget process in Maplewood this year. I think the CBAC members (including Joel) asked a lot of the right questions and the Township Committee (unlike a few years ago) took most of those suggestions seriously in coming up with a reasonable spending package. Anyone who has ideas about how to come up with a better budget for next year should get involved in the budget review process. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 6171 Registered: 1-2003 |
And anyone who doesn't seize opportunities for involvement has a much shorter soapbox to stand on! Involvement can be as simple as talking to one of the decision makers one-on-one and learning what compromises he/she had to make. I notice that the less X knows about Y's work, the more likely X is to criticize it. Is that fair? I guess the operative emotion is, "I didn't verify it was done well, so it must have been done badly/wastefully/whatever." Maybe that should be called "giving the detriment of the doubt". | ||
| Rebecca Raines Citizen Username: Robin_realist Post Number: 284 Registered: 10-2003 |
I already said that I'm willing to cut the library budget some. I just think that people are going to be upset with the bind that large of a cut puts us in. We've taken criticism for not being open on Saturdays in the summer so we had planned to be open this coming summer even though the budget was held even for this year. That hold also meant some cuts on our end in order to accommodate pre-existing pay raises. The library director is very conservative in the way she handles her budget and there isn't a lot of room for rearrangement without affecting services and programming and we've already cut staff down to the bone. People have certain expectations of the library and we need to provide those things. But with $75,000 in cuts some reduction in services will be required. I would like to avoid the complaints when that happens. Concering the overall budget: There's only one pie and we all have to share it. I know that. I didn't start this to complain about the schools. I was asked to give my opinion on what I would cut and I said what came to mind first. There are a lot of services that I don't use at all and maybe they could be trimmed, but I know they are important to the overall package of 'quality of life in Maplewood'. Tom: I don't think my employer or the other people on the CBAC would really want me to sit on that committee, I might not even be allowed, I don't know. I am quite prejudiced, it's part of my job to promote and protect the library as best I can. I think everyone is doing the best they can and has the right motivation concerning the budget: To make the most of what we have to work with. So let's be creative to make this work. That's also part of my job: To make something from practically nothing. By the way, this is strictly my opinion. I do not officially represent the library staff or administration. I just feel that someone has to participate in this. R | ||
| Lotts of guns Citizen Username: Lotts_of_guns Post Number: 27 Registered: 3-2005 |
No offence Joan but they are talking about cutting arts and gym at Marshall, so the school budget is leading to cuts. Having apid taxes for all these years when my child will finally benefit, they cut the very service we are paying for. And the budget pocess is patenely crap if the idea of cost sharing is a dream but won't happen between now and the final budget is being approved. You mean to tell me that despite all the scrutiny and strategic planning it is now a surprise that cost sharing might be needed, but, oh well, it is to late to act. Huh ? The school budget is the biggest part of our taxes. I understand benefits are back on the table for discussion - so they should be discussed. Why don't I go to the meetings?- because I and many others are working too damn hard to keep our jobs to be able to pay the increasing taxes. So I need you to carry the message for me. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 6191 Registered: 1-2003 |
Apparently, municipalities everywhere have to raise taxes constantly because even if they are scrupulous, fastidious and innovative with their budgets, costs are going up. This means raising taxes AND cutting services, unless you do one of them to the extreme. And there is no relief in sight. Also, SOM is under unusual pressure because there is little commercial real estate to pull in "ratables" and the small parcels of land don't make for good development. One tiny glimmer of hope is that a large tax reform in NJ will shift the burden from property taxes to income taxes. Those who favor this promise it would be "revenue neutral" i.e. raise the same amount of money in the end. But it isn't clear if you or I would end up paying more in that case. I still think it's the right thing to do, and I also realize it would be difficult to pass. | ||
| Joan Supporter Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 5325 Registered: 5-2001 |
Lotts of guns: Becky's question which started this thread was about the Maplewood municipal budget which is completely separate from the school budget. The two budgets are set by different government jurisdictions, cover different constituencies (South Orange residents and businesses also pay school taxes but they don't pay Maplewood municipal taxes) and are determined by different bodies (the TC sets the Maplewood municipal budget while the Board of School Estimate sets the school budget). Your point regarding the school budget is a valid one but more suited to discussion on the education threads where it has already been discussed in detail. If you want to be proactive but don't have the time to sit on committees or draft your own budget, you should at least ask the candidates for the School Board how they feel about cuts to arts and gym and actively support the candidate's whose position on the issue is closest to your own. |
