PITMAN TO APPOINT MAYOR STEVE
LONEGAN TO ADVISE BOROUGH IN BUDGET PROCESS
PITMAN SELECTS BOGOTA
REPUBLICAN BASED ON TRACK RECORD OF CUTTING SPENDING
& STABILIZING TAXES
Mayor Russ
Pitman released the following statement to the media
on the impending appointment of Mr. Lonegan which will
be introduced tomorrow evening:
North Arlington faces an out of
control fiscal crisis. When a community must
sell $3.6 Million in Tax Anticipation notes right after
first quarter taxes are collected, something is wrong.
Right now, our town is operating on a budget, which,
if left untouched, will lead to a nearly 20 percent
municipal tax hike in this year alone with similar increases
continuing over the next four years. We need to
get that number to as close to zero as possible this
year and achieve tax stabilization next year and in
the years ahead. It can be done and it must be
done.
Simply speaking, the prior administration looted North
Arlington on a scale comparable to Enron,
leaving taxpayers holding the bag. Acting without
regard to homeowners, the former defeated Kaiser Administration
sold millions upon millions of dollars in bonds to pay
current expenses
and made a mockery of fiscal controls and
the taxpayers they claim to represent.
Over the past months, I have sought out help from other
public officials throughout the county in both parties,
including Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, who faced
a similar fiscal crisis when he took over his town eight
years ago. He has graciously offered numerous
suggestions of places to look to save money. Because
of our conversations, I asked Mayor Lonegan to join
my administration with a short-term appointment as a
municipal management consultant. In this position,
he is to work with the municipal auditor, the CFO
and other borough officials to create a short term and
long-term strategy dealing with the tax and debt crisis
created by the disgraced former Administration.
We appreciate his assistance.
Steve Lonegan will be conducting a through review of every
aspect of borough government, every job responsibility,
purchasing procedures down to paper clips. Right
now, we have a Police Department with no Table of Organization,
a myriad of borough hall employees without any job descriptions
or even a personnel manual and the most highly
paid public employees anywhere in the state. North
Arlington taxes in 12 years have skyrocketed
348 percent, from 29 cents to $1.30 today. If
nothing is done, we will see a $1.52 rate this year,
$1.80 the year after and $2.14 in 2006. This is
unacceptable. I was elected on a platform of tax
stabilization and that goal will be achieved.
Steve Lonegan is a Republican and I am a Democrat.
There will be those partisans on both sides who will
be critical of either of us crossing party lines to
help taxpayers. Thatís too bad. Too many
public officials forget who put them in office and what
they promised to do in their campaigns. I am honored
that Mayor Lonegan is willing to help our town regain
financial stability after the fiscal abuse perpetuated
against us by the former Republican administration.
I sincerely hope that the action we take will help put
our town back on the right track.
Effective immediately, Mr. Lonegan will approve all purchase
orders and payment vouchers. This is designed
to stop wasteful spending not next month or next year
but today, right now. Every employee is being
asked to justify what they do for taxpayers and department
heads will be asked to justify their budgets.
There are no sacred cows. There are a lot of freebies
being given out with no regard to cost and plain and
simple mismanagement that must be corrected immediately.
Steve will be a regular presence in borough hall and I
expect that our staff will provide him complete cooperation
in his efforts to help us move North
Arlington in the right direction.
