Franklin Lakes September 22, 2010 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 9 Mayor plans review of municipal operations by Frank J. McMahon Franklin Lakes Mayor Maura DeNicola has announced that the borough is performing a self-assessment of municipal operations and the borough council recently agreed to address several categories on the checklist of best practices provided by the state. “The state continues its efforts to lessen the tax burden for New Jersey residents,” DeNicola stated in a recent email to residents, “by increasing government efficiency and decreasing spending. The road is not an easy one.” The self-assessment is based on a best practices checklist that was part of the “Tool Kit” proposal presented to the legislature by Governor Chris Christie as part of the fiscal year 2011 state budget to strengthen the partnership with local governments, help limit property tax increases, and manage within the new two percent cap law. The tool kit proposal was approved with bipartisan support, according to Lori Grifa, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. “The checklist provides measures and incentives that are designed to support local governments in planning and managing their budgets more effectively without raising property taxes,” Grifa wrote in a recent letter to all the state’s mayors. Grifa advised that each municipality will have to meet an established percentage of the items on the checklist in order for all or part of its last state aid payment to be released. Upon completion of the checklist, a municipality’s chief financial officer must certify compliance with that requirement. “Governor Christie understands that these extraordinary times require strong actions and significant reforms,” Grifa told the mayors. “More than ever before, every level of government: state, county, and local, needs to work together to provide necessary services to their residents while controlling property taxes. Working together, we can improve efficiency at all levels of government in New Jersey and bring property taxes under control.” The “Local Government Best Practices” checklist is made up of seven categories, each of which is assigned a number of points depending on how many of the practices listed under each section receive “yes” answers. The seven categories are general management, which has 29 available points; financial management, which has 33 available points; public safety, which has seven available points; public works, which has six available points; health, which has three available points; energy and utilities, which has six available points; and municipal and school relations, which has four available points. Each category contains a series of questions about the municipality’s operations of the municipality, and some categories have several sections. For instance, the general management category has an administration section, a personnel section, and a procurement policies section. The financial management category has a financial standard section, a budget preparation section, and a budget presentation section. The percentage of the state aid payout a municipality might receive would be based on the number of “yes” answers on the checklist. Those percentages range from 95 to 100 percent. The checklist must be completed and submitted to the NJDCA no later than Oct. 1. Borough Administrator Gregory Hart pointed out to the council that all of the municipality’s state aid is in the form of energy tax receipts and the borough is now at the minimum level for that state aid. As a result, the state cannot reduce the state aid any further, so the borough may not be subject to any reductions in state aid as a result of this self-assessment. ��������������������������������� ������������ ������� ��������� ��������� ������ ������������������� ������������������� ���������������������������� ���������������� ������������������������������ ������������������ ���������������������� ��������������������� ����������