CITIZENS BUDGET ADVISORY COMMITTEE

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010

AND BEYOND

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Lisa Casey
Jeanette Criscione
Shari Effman
Alan Goldstein
Susan Kilduff
Jan Massey
 Table of Contents

Introduction ........................................................................... 3
CBAC Process.................................................................... 3
Overall Objectives .............................................................. 4
City Operations and Restructuring ........................................ 5
Initiatives for Future Consideration ....................................... 8
Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Recommendations and Justifications
.............................................................................................. 9
Budget Cuts ........................................................................ 9
Budget Cost Savings and Revenue Enhancements ........ 10
Fiscal Year 2011 Recommendations .................................. 11
Economic Development ...................................................... 12
CBAC Budget Process Recommendations ......................... 13
Closing Remarks ................................................................. 14
Appendix A .......................................................................... 15

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INTRODUCTION
The Citizens Budget Advisory Committee (CBAC) would like to thank Councilman
Burney for reviving the CBAC, and Mayor Robinson-Briggs and the entire City Council
for their ongoing support for our work. We also extend our thanks to Acting City
Administrator Taylor for her extensive co-operation and detailed explanations of often-
complex matters. Our efforts have been made easier as a result, and each of us has
found this to be a truly rewarding experience.
Democracy is at its best when an active and educated citizenry is involved with its
government. Organizations are at their best when all stakeholders are heard and the
community of stakeholders‟ interests is served fairly, responsibly, and with foresight.
Following this sentiment, we have put together our thoughts about how Plainfield can
improve the budget process and make the necessary changes to reduce taxes in this
and subsequent years, while providing the high quality services on which we all
depend.
CBAC PROCESS
With the fiscal year nearly half over by the time the Administration presented the
budget to the City Council, the CBAC determined that a long-term view, coupled with a
focus on the entire budget introduction process, would provide a meaningful
counterpoint to examining the line items of the 2010 budget. The opportunity to make
meaningful changes to the 2010 budget had passed, and it soon became apparent
that proximate tactics were not adequate for tackling the systemic and structural faults
we saw were at the heart of the budget and tax quandary. As we proceeded, we were
ever mindful of ways the process could be improved to benefit the largest number of
Plainfield residents, taxpayers, employees, and businesses.
The CBAC gathered information for this report by attending City Council meetings and
budget hearings, and through the analysis of publicly available budget
documents. We did basic research to identify the factors that impact municipal
finances, and compared Plainfield with other municipalities of comparable size.
Cities across the country are struggling to maintain services while controlling the tax
burden on their residents. In this, Plainfield is not alone. A survey of the many
methods other municipalities have utilized to combat their financial challenges was
undertaken. Articles published in newspapers and a variety of Internet sources were
key to placing our local observations in a broader context.
We began a blog and a Facebook page to disseminate information and solicit ideas
from a wide array of Plainfield residents.
Interviews with city officials were found to be particularly helpful, though we note not all
officials were receptive to speaking with us. These types of discussions are needed to
translate simple budget numbers into the context of a reasoned analysis of the
resources required to maintain city operations and services at appropriate levels. A
regular and periodic series of meetings with representatives of all the city‟s divisions
would result in more informed advice and greater transparency.

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 Throughout this process we met as a group to formulate our strategy and distill our
ideas. Along the way we spoke with many citizens who provided us with their thoughts
and insight, and voiced their many concerns. Your assistance enabled a better
understanding of the budget and the difficult tradeoffs that often need to be made if we
are to keep a tax bite that is necessary from becoming one that is debilitating.
OVERALL OBJECTIVES
Our primary objective was to offer our collective knowledge and experience assisting
the Administration and City Council in designing a budget cognizant of our needs and
values, and its overall affordability to the taxpayers of Plainfield.
The goals we set were to:
 Identify the City of Plainfield‟s core services.
 Evaluate areas for additional revenue.
 Analyze expenses associated with providing city services.
 Provide recommendations to control tax increases for FY 2010 and beyond.
 Suggest any changes the City could make to generate efficiencies and the
flow of ideas to save budget dollars.

Based on citizen comments and responses received from the CBAC blog the list below
details the core services on which Plainfield should focus:
 Public Safety
o Police / Fire
 Public Works
 Economic Development
 Inspections
 Information Technology
 Recreation

The pie chart below details the allocation of funds. An explanation of the expenses
follows the chart.

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 The FY10 budget as proposed by the City corresponds to the core services identified
by the CBAC. Public Safety at over $25 million and Public Works at $6 million occupy
the largest portion of the City‟s operations budget within state CAPS. Nearly one-half
the city's expense budget is allocated to the Public Safety Division before the inclusion
of employee benefit costs. By contrast, Social service programs and community
programming, reflected net of $900K in grant funding, accounts for about 2% of the
budget.

CITY OPERATIONS AND RESTRUCTURING

Attendance at City Council meetings leaves the impression the executive and
legislative branches of Plainfield‟s government are frequently working at cross-
purposes. We have become slow taking actions that improve operations, control
costs, and keep us focused on the future and the change it brings with it. This keeps
us reactive and challenged by a steep curve of issues to address. Our departmental

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structure presents a jumble of disconnected services, combining recreation and public
works, senior services and finance, police and fire. Accountability is often lacking, and
transparency suffers at the hands of political battling and uncertain intent.
We have become disheartened by a revolving door of non-residents who fill critical
executive posts, bringing, perhaps, some expertise, but no deep commitment to the
community. Rather than promoting professional development and succession
planning utilizing our homegrown workforce, we all too frequently find we are paying
top dollar for municipal job-hoppers and the politically connected. This has the effect
that where stability is required we have chaos and turnover, and where change is
needed we have a status quo that is detrimental to progress. There does not appear
to be any meaningful evaluation process that measures success and failure.
We believe these structural problems are ongoing and need more thought and
consideration than short-term resolutions can provide. This involves out-of-the- box
thinking, and open communications among the Administration, City Council and
Plainfield citizens. Because of the importance we place in addressing these issues,
we have placed these recommendations first.
We present the following suggestions:
 Restructure the executive cabinet to enable more direct reporting from
individual divisions and realign operating divisions in a way that makes
operational sense.
o Create a new Department of Health and Social Services, combining
the divisions of Health, Senior Services, Recreation, Community
Relations and Social Services
o Separate Urban and Economic Development from Public Works,
forming a new department that will put together both a long and short-
term strategic plan, create and meet established goals, and coordinate
efforts to build Plainfield‟s commercial and residential future
o Review the Public Safety Director position
 Would the Police and Fire departments operate more efficiently
on their own, each with its own chief or director reporting to the
city administration?

 Initiate an ongoing operations-review of the needs of the city government.

o Institute a quarterly review process through which department and
division heads identify goals and the means to achieve operating
efficiencies, as well as establishing the metrics by which results are to
be measured
o Clarify position responsibilities and combine or eliminate redundancies
o Identify functions and resources by specific operating division that are
appropriate for shared-service agreements and outsourcing, with an
eye to increasing revenues and generating cost savings

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 Evaluate outsourcing of Public Works functions including snow
removal, park and public space maintenance
 Evaluate surrounding towns for opportunities to partner in a
variety of shared services such as animal control and
communicable disease investigation

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INITIATIVES FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATION
 Study the potential advantages and disadvantages to the City‟s current
relationship with PMUA, mindful that the same pockets are paying the bills.
 Find alternative „full-cost‟ financing and delivery of social services such as
WIC, Bilingual Daycare, and Plainfield Action Services by the end of FY11 or
start of FY12.
 Examine other formulas to fairly compensate City employees for their
prospective retirement and healthcare needs that are less reliant on taxpayer
levies. Consider early retirement incentives and buyouts.
 Establish a strong grants program; consider reallocating a budgeted position
line to a newly created Grants Manager in the Department of Administration
and Finance. Enable the grant administrator to research grant opportunities,
work closely with department heads, and provide fiduciary oversight of the
application process and grant money utilization. Make this position
incumbent upon meeting benchmarks, yet fairly entrepreneurial and self-
supporting.
 Review the 2009 Master Plan; where does the City stand with respect to the
Plan?
 Implement an open bid process to replace the current RFQ process.
o Improve monitoring of costs and project management through an open
bidding process on city contracts to increase transparency
 Establish advisory committees of professionals and citizens for areas that
provide direct service to the public.
o Police
o Recreation
o Health Services
o OR can benefit from an external review:
o Urban and Economic Development
o Public Affairs and Information

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FISCAL YEAR 2010 BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS AND JUSTIFICATIONS
BUDGET CUTS
The CBAC has intentionally placed our recommendations for FY10 and FY11 behind
the sections detailing suggested systemic and structural changes. FY10 is now over
60% complete, leaving any meaningful reductions in expenses, or increases in
revenues, to the realm of theory and conjecture. More critically, although there are
long-run implications to the budget currently before us, short-term fixes are just that; a
tactic to get us by until tomorrow. But such tactics are needed, as much as they may
hurt in today‟s difficult economy. Faced with a proposed tax increase of 9.6% and an
imperative to remain in business, this is a time for shared sacrifice. It is also an
opportunity to right many of the imbalances that have developed over the years, so
through sacrifice and direction we come out a better place to live and work.
We recommend the following means of tackling the immediate financial difficulties
posed by the budget.
 Reduce the salary and wage budget by 4% to achieve a $1.4 million
reduction. Associated fringe benefits will significantly increase that reduction.
(Details in Appendix A).
o Establish the reduction now so that positions can be eliminated by the
start of the new fiscal year
 Implement quarterly rolling furloughs for all personnel beginning in the last
quarter of this fiscal year and extending through June 2011.
 Freeze salaries for non-union personnel including those in managerial
positions.
 Impose a hiring freeze for all positions through June 30, 2011 and establish a
hiring review committee to analyze any critical hires needed over this period
of time.
 Restrict use of overtime in all departments; eliminate it in administrative units,
and suspend all discretionary travel, conference attendance, and other similar
spending in the spirit of overall belt-tightening.

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BUDGET COST SAVINGS AND REVENUE ENHANCEMENTS
 Negotiate with departments and unions to meet the reduction target in their
respective areas; especially in Public Safety.
 Reduce the 911 overtime by enlisting the Red Cross Local Disaster Action
Team, or similar, as either part time employees or volunteers, and research
the viability of returning 911 to the County.
o Utilize the same as monitors of the new camera surveillance system
 Ensure that the Inspections, Recreation and Animal Control divisions are self-
supporting. Emulate the Municipal Traffic Court model.
 Evaluate existing fee structures for all City licensures, permits, applications,
user fees, etc., considering true costs.
 Request PILOT revenue from churches and non-profit group homes.
 Ensure properties owned by non-profit organizations meet the tax exempt
criteria.
 Limit the use of city vehicles to official city business only.
 Explore volunteer public service elicited through community outreach as an
alternative to using paid employees.

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FISCAL YEAR 2011 RECOMMENDATIONS
 Zero percent tax increase in FY11.
 Establish a reduction target in FY11.
o Preliminary expense budget and reduction target should be in place
by March 1, 2010.
 Conduct an annual standardized review of individual department operations
to:
o Align those operations with core-service delivery
o Eliminate non-core service programs
o Determine if departments are “right-sized”
o Restructure compensation profiles where needed
o Limit the use of „Step Raises‟ that do not correspond to increased
responsibilities
 Reduce overall labor costs through targeted reductions.
o Targeted personnel reductions, rather than across-the-board
reductions, provide the best opportunity to maintain basic departmental
structures and service provision at cost-effective levels
 Receive significant concessions from union personnel including changes to
contributions, benefits and other job related compensation.

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
We included Economic Development as a separate section because we strongly
believe that developing Plainfield with forethought is crucial to its future. More business
reduces the tax burden placed on homeowners and, by extension, renters too. More
business means jobs. More business means people COMING here to work, shop, dine,
see a doctor, and be entertained. Smart growth will make us unique for others as well
as convenient for ourselves.

Planning and development require a focused and coordinated effort of our own making,
utilizing the broadest input from the entire community. There needs to be a balance
achieved in Plainfield so our diversity is beneficial and positive, not a cause for division.

The budget we have before us is reflective of years of fracture that often have
accentuated the negative aspects of the city. Because there are real costs associated
with this, the CBAC recommends that Economic Development be given the highest
priority. We offer the following ideas as a means to achieve a new vitality in the life of
the city:
 Reestablish contacts with New Jersey developers.
 Establish economic development targets that include clearly defined goals
and benchmarks, and provide quarterly progress reports to the City Council.
 Increase community input and accountability through the creation of an
economic growth committee. Said committee to be composed of one
appointed representative chosen by each City Council member, City planning
and development officials, and several recognized local business
organizations. The appointed representatives should prepare a semi-annual
report to the City Council detailing ideas, initiatives, and the progress the
committee‟s meetings generate.
 Research selling undeveloped city lots and vacant buildings for smart growth
purposes and to generate additional revenue.
 Offer tax incentives to prospective businesses that will not compromise
current tax revenues, and complement overall development plans.

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CBAC BUDGET PROCESS RECOMMENDATIONS
Prudently reviewing a budget is time consuming and detailed. There is a fairly long
learning curve and a great deal of information to be gathered and assessed. We
recommend the Citizens‟ Budget Advisory Committee should have a term of 2 years,
and should remain active through the entire year. Committee Members should be
appointed in December. With the budgetary life of the city ongoing, a longer and more
consistent process would provide for better understanding and more informed advice.
 The CBAC should work closely with the City Council and the Finance
Committee throughout the year to facilitate the exchange of information and
ideas.
 The budget review process should be accelerated so input pertaining to a
given fiscal year is received prior to the formal introduction of the budget to
the City Council. The assessment for an upcoming July fiscal year should
begin by January.
 The CBAC‟s work would be enhanced if Committee members could meet with
all department and division heads over the course of a budget cycle, along
with the opportunity for follow-up questioning as necessary.
 The Administration‟s budget presentation should reflect the true cost of
department operations; reflecting salary, wages, and expenses along with
apportioned fringe benefit costs.

Suggested schedule for the Budget Review Process:

 Review with City Council Finance Committee and meet with City department
and division Heads from January to March.
 Organize materials in committee and follow-up with City Finance Committee
from March to May.
 Present findings to the Finance Committee in May.
 Track budget process from July to January and through adoption.
 Begin preliminary review of the following fiscal year.
.

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CLOSING REMARKS
The CBAC has strong concerns about the financial administration of the City and the
lengthy time we have been without key positions being filled. Particularly disturbing is
the lack of communication from the Administration as to how these problems are being
addressed and why they are a continuing problem. We request that the Administration
speak openly and candidly to the people of Plainfield, as we all have a vested interest
in the successful operation of this city, its future, and the well-being of all its citizens.
We would like to thank all city employees who work so diligently keeping the city
running and safe. We are sensitive to the fact that this particular budget cycle is
extremely stressful to them, and we assure them that our recommendations should not
be taken personally. Rather, it is the result of extreme economic and financial
circumstances that dictate these actions, and the overriding desire that Plainfield be
put on a path of excellence.
We encourage more citizens, owners and renters alike, to become more active and
involved in the budget process and more informed about how the city operates.
Plainfield‟s city government is only as strong as its citizens demand and the initiative
we take to make improvements and adapt to change. If we in Plainfield are proactive
and creative, fair and resourceful, we will have laid a strong foundation for the years
ahead.

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 APPENDIX A
City of Plainfield Municipal Budget FY10
Four percent budget reduction based on salary and wages by unit

Department or Office Budget Reduction

Office of the Mayor 118,523 4,741

City Council 70,000 2,800
City Administrator 172,391 6,896
City Clerk 391,294 15,652
Administration & Finance 177,788 7,112
Audit & Control 595,262 23,810
Tax Collection 314,659 12,586
Tax Assessment 239,190 9,568
Information Tech 137,391 5,496
Public Information 63,635 2,545
Corporation Council 391,150 15,646
Purchasing 204,110 8,164
Personnel 238,763 9,551
Division of Health (net of grants) 654,477 26,179
Community Relations (net of grants) 505,487 20,219
Municipal Court & Public Defender 844,134 33,765
Boards 21,700 868
Director Public Works & Urban Development 210,079 8,403
Engineering 63,991 2,560
Economic Development (net of grants) 87,564 3,503
Community Development (net of grants) 1 0
Division of Planning (net of grants) 246,720 9,869
UCC and Inspections 1,076,829 43,073
Public Works 2,823,374 112,935
Recreation 253,290 10,132
Recreation Seasonal 465,737 18,629
Public Affairs & safety 159,034 6,361
School Crossing 201,000 8,040
Fire & Emergency Management 9,213,057 368,522
Police (net of grants) 14,810,713 592,429
Traffic Signals 248,578 9,943
Total 34,999,921 1,399,997

Target reduction at 4% $1,399,997

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