Balanced Budget Presentation Reason for Resolution on Police Layoff Notices

While the Township Committee introduced a resolution allowing it to issue layoff notices to five Hillsborough police officers, the layoffs may not be necessary if contract concessions are made by the committee’s 2011 budget deadline.

Facing a $713,000 increase in costs this year, the notice allows the committee to introduce a balanced budget at its April 12 meeting, though Carl Suraci and Frank DelCore, liaisons for Finance and Public Safety, noted that the resolution does not require the township to issue layoff notices.

“What is being approved today simply the 45-day window notice,” Committeeman Frank DelCore, liaison for Public Safety and Finance, said. 

“It does not mandate us to do the layoffs until we have to finalize the budget on May 10. We still have some time to introduce [the budget] at our next meeting and then we have about three weeks to continue to have some discussion into the negotiations.  We hope a resolution can be reached.”

The Township Committee unanimously approved the resolution during Tuesday’s meeting, noting that it could rescind the resolution later. The layoff notices would be issued on a reverse-seniority basis, if the groups cannot reach an agreement on concessions by the final budget vote on May 10. 

“This is something the Township Committee does not want to do and does not even want to get to this point,” Mayor Gloria McCauley said at the meeting.  “However, this action needs to be made in order for us to introduce a balanced budget on April 12.”

The layoffs would not go into effect until May 10, and can be avoided should an agreement on reducing salaries or benefit costs prior to that date, she added.

Suraci and DelCore are in the early stages of negotiations with the PBA union regarding both concessions needed to balance the budget and a new contract agreement, they said.

“This is the final year for the current contract agreement, but it is being driven by the budget constraints,” Suraci said.  “We’ve had some projected decreases in some revenues and we have those usual cost drivers that are beyond our control.”

“We’re expecting the PBA to provide contract areas at the next meeting,” he said.  “The proposals could be something to get us through this current year or it may be a proposal that includes a new contract.  They are currently reviewing financial statements, which is why we don’t have a proposal now.”

Typical cost drivers include pensions and health insurance premiums, Suraci added.

Last year, the township faced similar budget pressures, seeing an increase of $800,000 from both reduced aid and a decrease in revenue.  That year, it sought concessions from several municipal employee groups, with the concessions allowing the township to avoid layoffs.

The PBA’s concessions included a reduction in overtime pay that had officers receiving compensatory time once the overtime budget was exhausted, Suraci said.

“This 45-day notice is strictly an administrative process so that we can introduce a balanced budget at the next meeting,” he said.  “The state is requiring us to introduce a budget earlier than usual.  We don’t have the luxury of introducing the budget later in the year.”