Maybe the most important post in the history of Common Sense.
My notes from the workshop of last night’s meeting. Every sentence here could have been a headline for a Common Sense for Belmar post.
Bond attorney: $27 million on the BAN credit card, way too much for a town with a $15 million budget. Only minimum payments were ever made. Payments now will have to be made beyond the useful life of the projects the bonds funded. Credit rating at risk.
Engineer: Will take 10 years to bring Belmar’s 20 miles of roads up to par. $300,000 DOT grant for 12th Ave improvements not yet secured from the state. RT 35 flooding needs to be addressed. PSE&G working to raise power lines on Main St to clear incorrectly installed light poles. Belmar will have to pay the $150,000 cost. Sewer system problems causing 30 million gallons of clean water to infiltrate sanitary sewer in 2018 at a cost of $30,000. 10th Ave pavilion still not completely functional. Code violations and leaks need to be repaired and retrofitted before summer season. Lake Como outflow pipe still not fully completed. There were change orders that were never authorized by the state and we have to present them to them now. Borough also in violation of storm water reporting requirements to DEP. Will try to avoid fines. Cost to fix these problems around $1 million. State grant to fix Railroad Ave at risk because no plans can be found to put out to bid.
Borough attorney: Several shared services agreements about to expire and need to be reevaluated going forward. Many redevelopment agreements negotiated but unsigned. Developers want them signed and complain nobody answers the phone at Borough Hall. Borough needs to pay Pringle the $135,000 it owes him. Insurance won’t cover. Harmon defense cost at $475/hr is 3X the hourly rate that our insurance will cover. Bill so far is $400,000. Never kept insurance company informed about status of case and never asked them for at least the 1/3 that they should pay. Attorney’s firm is taking over the Harmon defense.
Insurance agent: Last three years payments to JIF had to be at the maximum rate because loss ratio was 121%. Rates have to go up by up to $72,000 to make up for past losses. Poor training due to being in distant Middlesex County. Will try to get safety training from Monmouth JIF. Many claims pending. Failed to carry out required safety practices checklist. Can penalize the amount we get for claims. Pavilions have no flood insurance. Can’t switch from Middlesex JIF to Monmouth JIF because of three year contract and also because we owe back $328,000 in additional premiums. Municipal liability claims (from the lawsuits) have been 156% of the premiums paid.
Auditor: Budget increased 12% and insurance cost up 29% since 2012 but no increase in taxes to cover cost. Debt service up 42% since 2012. Reserves depleted and surpluses used to balance previous budgets. Further reduction in surplus would harm our bond rating. Any and all reserve funds left were used up to balance 2018 budget. Structural imbalance in budgeting is half million dollars. Debt service will have to double. $1 million needs to be added to debt for repairs to roads, pavilion etc. Using BANs extends the payments past the useful life of the project. Info based on 2017 numbers. 2018 audit to be released soon. Tax increase of maybe $500,000 necessary.
Ken Pringle: Borough actually owes him more than $250,000, maybe over $300,000. FEMA money coming in mostly belongs to the beach utility and can’t be used towards municipal debt. Cost of Harmon defense is $450/hr even for younger attorneys so they could hide the cost of work that would have been charged at up to $800/hr. Implies that the administration didn’t turn over the case to JIF to defend because they might have settled, which would have implied wrongdoing by defendants. Asks about absence of change order resolutions for pavilions and Doherty’s conflict of interest with Epic Construction. Requests audit of pavilion finance and construction history. Wants to know how much construction cost is hidden because Borough workers did it instead of Epic. Walsifer: Couple more years of this would have resulted in state takeover.
Auditor in response to question: Total Belmar debt approx $36 million.
43 Comments
This message to previous mayor and council members. They certainly don’t care about this stuff, but won’t appreciate their mailboxes stuffed with the same message over and over again. The least we can do. Meanwhile, what is the most we can do? Getting back on track is where we should focus, but is there anyway we can hold them accountable?
Pretty incredible that the beach has been run at a zero profit and there’s nothing in the beach utility.
Mayor Walisfer did an outstanding job of keeping the meeting focused on moving forward. It would have been easy to play the blame game, but instead he took the high road. We may have a game changer in office, thank god…..
Remember the FREE access to the beach on a Labor Day two or three years ago granted by the former mayor? Could have made a lot of money that day, great weather. Did that need a resolution instead of one person’s decision? Made Doherty look like a great guy to the beach going public. Makes me think of the helicopter incident.
How sadly appropriate that all of these bad decisions made under Matt Doherty, Colleen Connolly and all the council people who voted on all of this mess, come to light on the 2nd anniversary of the passing of community organizer Joy DeSanctis.
She who constantly tried to bring these misdeeds to light and rally the residents of Belmar to pay attention. Who was scorned and ridiculed and publicly humiliated and harassed for her efforts.
To her and my fellow ELEMENT,OBSTRUCTIONISTS and TERRORISTS partners I say this: Thank you for all of your efforts through the years. I’m sure you,like I,find very little pleasure in the exposure of the disaster we saw coming and are now left to deal with. My deepest regret is that Joy is not here to be vindicated. Though knowing her she would brush all that aside and move on to battles ahead.
Dave your synopsis is magnificent. Please don’t ever give up this blog!
Thanks Katrina and totally agree about Joy, who uncovered a lot of the things that were reported about on these pages.
Sad thing is, with the exception of Pan Wann, I and my readers know a lot more about what’s really been going on here than probably any of those people on the Dais or at the tables. (That’s because I believe she’s a regular reader.)
God bless Joy DeSantis. All her good works for Belmar were not wasted. She did get very best to warn all citizens. Thanks are.not enough Dave for your brilliant synopsis of this awakening and life changing Borough Council meeting last night. I
Pray that we all work together to cure the diseases that were allowed to infect Borough Hall and bring us to brink.
Heads need to roll and it should start with the department heads
The 2 Toms on the Council who back McDirty’s mismanagement immediately. There was not one I’m so sorry, I was mislead, nothing from either of those Councilmen who contributed to the downfall of Belmar.
It takes a big person to apologize and it shows a small person who won’t apologize.
I must point out that I think it is much more professional for the Boro Clerk and Administrator so sit facing everyone. Unlike the former who sat with her back turned so you couldn’t see her face get red when she was being called out on her lies
Seems like McDirty and his henchwoman kept a lot of people close to them in the dark. I hope their eyes are open now. It would be nice to send a newsletter revealing what the town has been left with to all the residents of Belmar. Most residents don’t read this blog. Thank you to Dave and everyone else involved with trying to let the people know what was going on.
#3 agreed. Mayor Walsifer displayed strong leadership last night. Well said about him taking the high road and not playing the blame game. I think everyone should consider that as well and move forward and support the new leadership, focus energy and efforts on positive thoughts that can change the future for Belmar, solve prior problems, without living in the past. The time is now, at this point the problem is the problem and we have to work together and find solutions.
Mayor Walsifer is a class act! Just what we needed in a mayor.
Last nights meeting,a breath of fresh air
Colts Neck just laid off all of there DPW staff, except for personnel they felt were needed for the town to function properly. We have so many employees that are paid an exorbitant amount of money. Now is the time to restructure our Borough staff and with little push back because we are in or close to an financial emergency.
#15- Couldn’t agree with you more. A Police Dept. the size of ours with TWO CAPTAIN SALARIES is a start. Absolutely outrageous. Demote some positions. Walsifer, former police employee, knows clearly well that this is the truth. Lets see if he has some fortitude.
#11 I could not agree more with communicating this information to each and every Belmar household. And let’s not forget how proud they were of themselves for the $4.4M FEMA loan being forgiven…So much for fiscal responsibility.
2018 salaries report will be very interesting with overtime.Belmar was being run by fools with our credit card.I agree with number 6! Cut cut cut
Claire ?
I’m sure head of DPW received his yearly bonus of $15,000 for being head of DPW. Oh wait isn’t that what his salary is for?
Then: Local sports updates, butterfly migration and back patting. Now: Flooding, Sewer System, Pavilions, Lawsuits and Debt. It’s as if we were stuck watching a town hall episode of the Andy Griffith Show and suddenly turned off the TV and went to a real town hall meeting. I know that’s not helpful to say. But sometimes you have to vent before getting back to work.
So far I’m not so impressed with Tom Carvelli. He seems a little arrogant and full of himself.
From today’s TAPintoBelmar report: “The borough is on the fast track to renew shared services agreements that have expired and redevelopment agreements that have not been signed — two important streams of income, according to borough attorney Jerry Dasti of the Forked River-based law firm Dasti, Murphy, McGuckin, Ulaky, Koutsouris & Connors.” As an important stream of income, does this mean that the town council, planning and zoning boards will be more likely to approve redevelopment projects and sign agreements that they would not have approved before this financial mess was discovered? What will become of this town if the residents are subjected to a tax hike to pay off debt only to have redevelopment projects forced on the town, changing the character of Belmar forever?
#15 a lot of these hires are political hacks, that don’t even live in town or the county anymore. They really should let Wall TWP DPW take over services. It would make sense & save a lot of money for us.
Safety First
ZAP
Glad to see a utility crew working on the Main Street electric hazard today!
I am totally for Wall Twp. taking over our DPW! Mark???Council???We know you read this blog.
Thank you to Ken Pringle, for the explanation of what was done with the lawyers regarding the Harmon lawsuit.
#26- Don’t stop with DPW. Let’s lay off the Police force and farm it out to Spring Lake, Neptune or Wall. Hell, we were involved in bailing out South Belmar despite my lone objections, it should be good enough for us, right. I guarantee that’s a $2M saving plus per year. We could knock down the municipal building and house the remaining fewer employees in trailers. Or the church we just took over. Or better yet, put offices in the 5th Ave. Pavilion. That would be beautiful.
The public advocate sued Belmar when Maria used beach utility fund to lower taxes.
#20…indeed he did.
#28 – The rank and file of the Police dept. and DPW are fine. It’s the outrageous salaries of the top echelon of each that have to be taken care of and certain individuals in each have to be let go.
#20: He did receive his $15,000 bonus, and 3 DPW workers (men) received $750.00 education bonus, however, I know that one employee (female) received the education bonus in 2017, but Colleen denied it in 2018. In my opinion it was denied for Colleen’s personal reasons.
I think everyone in town when the see Matt, Jen and Brian should give them a big Thank you for the mess they left behind. Anyone seen Clair ? Crickets
#33 – Jen and Brian had/have no idea what they were/are doing (I mean that only in the best way of course). Remember, “What you see is what you got.” – Flip Wilson
Ignorance is not an excuse !!! They were all complacent and all share in the blame.
Matt learned most of his Belmar tricks from someone. Guess who?
#34 and #35 – You’re both right. But as adults, it’s important to know your limitations. It’s downright immoral to think you can be in charge of this town and be so civically illiterate. It’s vanity, plain and simple.
Questions so what happen to the buy a board monies ? Wasn’t there a court order in regards to those funds ? Anyone call the prosecutors office , no way what they did isn’t criminal.
Mark mentioned they still have the Buy a Board money.
Don’t touch the BUY-A-BOARD money if it wasn’t commingled by McDirty and his henchmen.
#40 Maybe it’s time to take down the fraudulent buy a board signs on the boardwalk.
Is 15 million only the municipal budget, then maybe 10 million for schools and another let’s say 3 million for the county??? That would put Belmar at 30 million all inclusive operating budget????
#21 Aileen. Right on target. What a joke these meetings were for years with ridiculous banter and back slapping. Were the others on the council just plain dumb or complicit in this mismanagement? They were Matt and Colleen’s “Useful Idiots”.
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