The $1.66 million deficit uncovered at a public budget hearing through Council questions is an extreme embarrassment to Mayor Robinson-Briggs and her budget honchos, City Administrator Marc Dashield and (still unbonded) Director of Finance and Administration Douglas Peck.
What Plainfield taxpayers need is some straight talk from Mayor Robinson-Briggs and her hand-picked budget experts.
All Plainfield taxpayers are getting so far is spin.
Take, for instance, the coverage of the story in today's Courier (see here), where Dashield tries to throw the City's auditors under the bus. (You will note that Assemblyman Jerry Green is mysteriously silent, as is Finance Director Peck.)
Writing against deadline, as Courier reporter Mark Spivey has to do, has inherent problems, the chief of which is that there is not enough time to get to the bottom of the Robinson-Briggs administration's shameless spinning of every difficulty.
Just a few of spin items --
- Who is responsible for the budget proposal submitted? No matter who helps prepare it, the responsibility is solely that of Mayor Robinson-Briggs and her hand-picked department heads. These folks sign off on the documents and attest with their signatures that the documents are accurate and meet the requirements of state law. There is no crossing one's fingers when signing off.
- 'Licensing' the auditors? Since when does the City 'license' the auditors? Auditors are licensed by the state. They are hired by the City to perform a number of tasks. If they prepare any documents for the Mayor or her designees to sign off on, those who sign off are on the hook.
- Is anyone checking anything? PILOTs are an important part of the City's annual revenues. The payments due are arrived at through calculations made according to state-approved formulas. While they may fluctuate slightly, an increase of 1,000% is eyepopping, a red flag that would have been obvious to anyone familiar with PILOTs or who scanned the comparison of the most recent year and the projection at all.
- When did the Robinson-Briggs administration know it had a problem? Lost in all the hubbub is that Dashield and Peck told the Council that they knew the mistake had been made and that the budget proposal had been forwarded to the DCA in Trenton for review anyway. Helluva a way to run a railroad, wouldn't you say?
Instead, Robinson-Briggs looks for someone to throw under the bus and then goes for the sugar bowl.
Leaving the Council to make good on her sloppiness.
Why should Plainfielders have to put up with this incompetence?
- Courier: "Plainfield finds $1.66M deficit"
-- Dan Damon
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7 comments:
Reminds me of the $1M+ that the New Dem-led school board screwed up. I don't recall any such outrage then. Oh, I forget. That is OK.
Speaking of PILOT agreements -- I understand that the City never received the annual PILOT payments from the Park Madison Office Building and Parking Deck from the Union County Improvement Authority (UCIA). This should have kicked in 3-4 years ago and is worth several hundred thousand dollars per year. It is apparently stalled because the UCIA never got a certificate of completion/occupancy on the project which would trigger the PILOT payment. They have been operating on a temporary CO since 2005. None of the current politicians will take on the UCIA and force them to finish the project and meet all of the requirements contained in the redevelopment agreement for obvious reasons.
Come on, anon.
The School Board is non-partisan. The only time is has been partisan is when Assemblyman Green openly ran (and acknowledged the fact in the newspapers) a slate that included the current Mayor, Sharon Robinson-Briggs, and a still-sitting Board member, Lisa Logan-Leach.
Interesting point on Park-Madison. I have been told they are making some sort of payment, but I don't think the pumchlist for the CO has ever been finished. Worth looking into. I'll put it on the to-do list.
Dan,
Lets see..when Al and the New Dems runs candidates, it is non-partisan. When JG runs candidate, it is partisan. OK. Got it. Just wanted to make sure. Thanks for the education.
More than likely Jerry will speak to this issue on his blog where he can spin the facts.
Pretty amazing that the budget was late and WRONG.
Jerry told the world via the Courier that he was running a slate. Show me a newspaper clipping of McWilliams saying he was running a slate or show me a flyer or mailer from the New Dems promoting candidates. I await your proof.
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