May 22, 2009 City Administrator Jim Crumley Finds $1,794,300 To Cut in City Budget (Including His Taxpayer-Funded Country Club Membership)

In a relatively quick meeting yesterday, Morristown City Administrator Jim Crumley proposed reducing the city budget by $1,794,300.00 in order to bring expenses down in line with decreasing revenues.

The summary sheets passed out list the cuts as follows:

Personnel $1,167,100
Police 59,500
Fire 13,600
Administration 7,500
All Departments 130,000
Planning 42,000
Human Resources 26,000
Finance 9,600
Parks and Rec 49,000
Public Works 290,000

Personnel "cuts" include 16 positions:
4 fire positions (1 from each shift) as well as the assistant fire marshal position.
4 police positions
4 public works positions
2 parks and recreation positions
2 city hall positions

But no one is losing a job. The positions that are being "cut" are positions that are NOT filled right now anyway or the position is being cut and the individual is being transferred to another department where there is a vacancy.

The city administrator also passed out a "staffing" sheet yesterday showing city employee levels for 2001, 2009, and proposed 2010.

2001: 270 employees
2009: 328 employees
2010: 309 employees

Some examples of the cuts as stated by the City Administrator:

16 positions are not being filled or employee is transferred to another department with an opening, a savings of $868,000.

Curbside recycling will be replaced with convenience center drop-off locations saving $150,000.

One knuckleboom route will be eliminated with a savings of $85,000

Clothing allowance is being reduced 50% from $20,000 down to $10,000.

33% cut to car allowances: Car allowances apparently were $84,000 per year and are now being reduced to $56,000 per year (a cut of $28,000)

Holiday pay is being cut from $240,000/year to $120,000/year.

Cell phones are being "reduced" with a cut of $40,000.

Travel is being cut by 50% with a reduction and savings of $90,000. [As one councilmember noted, this meant that out-of-town travel had been running at $180,000/year. If that is the case, then "travel" had been chugging along at about $15,000/month!]

Mayor Barile's recently formed diversity task force was reduced by $7,000.

Armored car service was eliminated, saving $5,600. Apparently now an on-duty policeman will take care of delivering checks/cash to the banks.

Bottled water/coffee service was eliminated with a cut of $10,000.

And the City Administrator's Country Club membership was cut with a savings of $2,500!

You know things are dire when the City Administrator feels the pain and gives up his country club membership!