"BUDGET
BUSTER"
STATE
DENIES PITMAN'S REQUEST TO PAY $445,995.82 DEFERRED
CHARGE BY KAISER ADMINISTRATION OVER MULTIPLE BUDGETS
Pitman
calls prior fiscal mismanagement a breach of duty
and irresponsible!
NORTH
ARLINGTON - The financial ills of the past continue
to haunt the North Arlington budget process when
state officials denied Mayor Pitman and the governing
body the ability to pay off a $445,995.82 deferred charge
from the Kaiser Administration.
In
a letter dated May 12th (click
here - see attached) to Judith Tripodi
of the state's Department of Community Affairs, Pitman
asked the Division of Local Government Services to "raise
the charge over multiple years rather than in one."
"I
do not feel that it is fair to place this administration
in a situation that we are left to place a burden on
the taxpayers of this Borough to make up past sins without
showing how, why or who caused them to occur." said
Pitman. "It appears that it was the responsibility
of the CFO and the Borough Administrator at that time
to properly review and to provide guidance to the council
as to the proper course of action," said the first-term
Mayor.
Pitman
noted in his letter that the deferred charge could
have been bonded and paid down over a period of
twenty years. North Arlington had accumulated a debt
of over $20 million dollars under the previous administration
despite receiving over $45 million dollars in temporary
host fees from the BCUA and NJMC.
In
a letter dated April 28th (click
here -see letter), Borough Auditor Edward
Rees identified the expenditures as $400,000 for a Pumping
Station on Disposal Road and a receivable of $45,995.82
from the NJMC.
The
receivables were adjusted to deferred charges which
is included in the new municipal budget.
According
to Rees, the $400,000 "represents the share North Arlington
were required to provide funds to make up for the difference."
"If
the Borough had passed a bond ordinance for the amount
of the construction that it was required to finance,
then there would have been no need to create the deferred
charge," stated Rees.
In
a letter dated May 23rd from Judith Tripodi, Assistant
Director of the state's Division of Local Government
Services (click here-
see letter),
Tripodi states "The Division recognizes the negative
impact prior years' fiscal mismanagement on Borough
taxpayers. Accordingly, the Borough has been awarded
Extraordinary Aid for the past several years to mitigate
the tax implications on residents. While the Division
cannot statutorily address your request to raise the
deferred charges over multiple years, please be assured
that your CY 2005 Extraordinary Aid application will
be given full consideration in light of your current
fiscal circumstances," said Tripodi.
