16

How Expensive is Your Local Gov’t?

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Herild A Untcm 17 February jg

. (FromPage!) weighted to reflect a particular factor. It is because of uUt averaging among six ■listings that no one of the 16 municipalities (omes out either as No 1 (meaning the absolute most expensive government > or No If, (the absolute least expensive i Where any one of the six compared lists weighted -over the others, the overall results would be vastly different. For instance, Woodbine's govemmenr was shown to be the most expensive in (loel—Avrg. Rnrikirig (most to least expenaive) North Wildwood (4.00) Stone Harbor (4.51) Cape May (5.25) Avalon/Woodbine * (6.75) Middle Twp ’ (7.33) Wildwood t (7.50) Ocean City. , </.92) Cape May PI (8.17) County Average Sea Isle City (8.42) Dennis Twp (8.58) Upper Twp (10.161 Wildwood Creat (11.17) West Wildwood (11.50). West Cape May (12.50) l/Ower Twp (13.06) throe categories government salaries compared to: total budget, local taxes, and ratable* But in three other comparisons, Woodbine was the third least expensive government (that is, 13th out of 16): mayor's- salary, total government salaries, and government salaries per capita ' When all six comparisons are taken into consideration. Woodbine' came out (ied with Avalon as the county’s fourth most. expensive government. Sirice each of these municipalities is different from the other in almost every aspect, the value of rankj mg local governments on.the basis of an averaging among the six rankings becomes apparent HOW DOES North Wildwod and, to a slightly lesser extent. Stone Harbor emerge as th* two most expensive • municipal governments in the county? The answer is that, numerically, North Wildwood was second highest on two lists (mayor's salary and total government leadership salaries), fourth highest on two others (salaries per capita and salaries per ratable*). fifth highest in salaries per total budget, and seventh highest in salaries per taxes Stone Harbor while below , the county average in mayor's salary ind slightly above average in overall top government salaries, was No 1 in government salaries compared to population, No. 6 in salaries compared to ratable*, No. 4 in salaries compared to local taxes, .and No. 2 in. salaries . compared to total municipal

budget

AT THE OTHER END of the, scale. l»wCr Township emerged as far and away the least expensive local government — being 16th (meaning the least) most expensive jn terms of salaries compared td total budget, ratable*, and population! * 12th in (he cost of salaries to. local taxes. 12th in the. cost of salaries of the local governing body, and 7th in the mayor's salary listing (even tho it is $1,200 br/ow the county average) The value of averaging the six basic comparisons was also borne out by the Gov't Snlimes/Local TifM'M * Woodbine: 9.5% " j County Average: 2 2% W(ildwbod/W Wildwood: 1.1%

overall results which verify that while there appears to be a correlation between the high expense involyed in running resort government indicated by the fact that five of the beachfront communities must resort to high paid administrative help there are also at least a couple of instances where resorts 'Sea IskfCitv and. especially. Wildwood CrestT are below the overall county average In each case, however, both are below the county average in population ank neither utilizes paid professionals to help rOn government WHEN IT COMES TO mainland com mumties. the fact that Lower Township, with'by far the greatest population in the county, is the least expensive local government. may point up two facts: One is that while it is close to the Cape May resort^ and.therefore has an increased summer time population itself, the townshipdoesh't have the expease of lifeguafds and as many extra summer police On the other hand, however, the towaship has many, many more miles of roadways to maintain, and provides municipal trash collation. which Cape May (found to be the

third most expensive government)

doesn’t.

The possible conclusion is that either Lower Township taxpayers' are paying their governing body much less, or Upper and Dennis Townships — the fifth and sixth least expensive governments — are taking advantage of public utility receipts and allowing their governing bodies more than they should - comparatively speak-

ing — be receiving.

A STUDY OF ALL the figures points up this bottom line: Expect local government on the Jersey Cape to cost more if.it’s in a resort, especially if fulltime ad-

ministrators are involved.

Since two municipalities seem to contradict this statement, they bear singling out: That Woodbine can rank tied (with Avalon) for fourth most expensive government is an indication that its $9,200 governing body may be a little too big and/or ex 1 pensive And the fact that Ocean City";— with the county's second biggest population and the most highly paid government in absolute terms — is still barely half a point above the county average (only slightly higher in average ranking than tiny Cape May Points government), points to a frugality practiced by the local governing body in Cape May County's nor-

thernmost municipality.

Here are some overall observations by

category;

Mayor's Salary . Of the seven mayors whose salaries are above the courftywide average of $7,119/ four have more experience on their governing body than the average of 12 years, while three are below. Ong mayor with only four years on-the-job training makes $1,500 more than the average salary. When it comes to comparing the highest paid mayors with the populations' they serve, only thrtee are in municipalities whose population exceed the county average of 5,142. Significantly, however, all three - Middle Township, Ocean City and Upper Township — have experience on the jdb above the 12-year county average. • Three of the highest paid mayors have less than 12 years experierice in local Mayor's Salary Wildwood: $15,424 County Average; 17,119 West Cape May: $800 . government, but all three — Wildwood with 10 years experience, Ocean City with 8 and Wildwood Crest with 4 — serve resort communities. OF THE NINE RESORT municipalities, five have mayors who receive above the countywide average salary while four receive less. The second and fourth highest paid mayors in the county are in governments which also have high paid administrators, while three of the below-average paid mayors also have similar administrative help. . / Specifically, Anthony Catandso, the second highest paid mayor in the county at $14,979 per year, also has an aide, Thomas Flud, whose salary is $19,278. And Ocean City mayor Chester Wimberg, who is paid $10,000 a year, is aided in the administration of local, government by City Administrator Paul.McCarthy, at.$47,417, the highest paid administrator in the county. ON THE OTHER HAND. Cape May. the Jersey Cape resort with the second highest paid administrator in local government, City Manager Fred Coldren at $33,959. has a mayor. Arthur Blomkvest. whose salary is only $3,000 a year Stone Harbor and Avalon are simjjar in (hat both have mayors whose salaries are also below the average.lbut ea^h has an administrator with a sklary about four times' what the mayor\makes Avalon Business # Administrator\Andrew Bednarek. himself a former Sea isle City com-, missioner, receives $24,000, while Mayor, Ellsworth Armacost's salary is $5,000 In neighboring Stone Harbor, Mayor Arden Hand is paid $6,000. while Edwin Pain, the administrative assistant to the mayor and Council, receives $22,000. He also receives a separate salary as the borough's tak

£

(iovtV l^endern Totnl SalaricN

The relatively high salaries paid fulltime municipal administrators in relation to the renumeration of the elected members of a governing body (who in most but not all cases, serve part-time) is with two exceptions - Wildwood and Middle Jownship — the reason why the seven municipalities with the highest salaried local government leaders are above the

$30,445 county average And with one ception — Middle Township — all municipalities with the highest paid government leaders are oceanfront resorts - Ocean City, Avalon, Stone Harbor, North Wildwood, Wildwood and'Cape

May.

Wildwpod has the highest paid elected

locaT government leaders, with all three commissioners making more than $13,500. The second highest in the county are.the three Middle Township Committee

members who earn $12,000 each. UPPER TOWNSHIP, where $10,000

salaries for each of the three-member Township Committee total $30,000, is just under the county fiverage for local govern-

ment

The most significant aspect of the population-salary comparison is that GbvSU Salnriea / Total Budget Woodbine: 2.0% • County Average: .89% Lower Twp.: .49% Lower Township, with by far the greatest population (over 17,000), has a threemember Township Comnjjttee with the lowest individual (and therefore total) salaries in the township form of govern 1 2 * * * * 7 ment - at $6,000 each for ari $18,000 total Even sparsely populated Dennis Township (under 4,000 people)Bias a three-member Township Committee each of whose members makes $50 more ^han their counterparts in Lower. In fact, the salaries of the governing body in Lower Township are the 12H1 lowest of any form of government irv the county — salaries being lower onl^ in Woodbine. Cape ‘May Point, West Wildwood and West Cape May. The lowest paid mayors and the lowest paid governing bodies in the county are, as one might expect, in the same municipalities: West Cape May Mayor Jack Vasser receives only $800, his t\Vo % fellow commissionrs making $700 each for a total of $2,200; in West Wildwood the figures are $950 and $2,560; in Cape May Point $1,200 and $3,700. WHILE OCEAN CITY'S government leaders are the highest paid in the county at $92,917 — on a per capita basis, it is just above the county average of $5.92 at $6.66. However, whereas Middle Township’s $36,000 for the Township Committee is just above the county average for salaries, when it comes to dividing this cost among the permanent population of almost 11,400 • (Third highest in the county) — the per capita cost in Middle is the third lowest in the county at, $3.17 for every .man, woman and child. Only West Cape May at $2.02, and Lower Township at $1.05 are lower. Significantly, Dennis Township at $4.05, and Woodbine at $3.28 are 11th and 13th lowest, respectively, oh both total salaries paid government leaders and in this cost on a per capita basis. Gov’t SalarieH Compared to Ratable*, Taxes, Total Budget The influx of summer tourists and residents on resort municipalities — a tremendous population surge — necessitates more than the normal complement of municipal workers (particularly pohee and lifeguards) than is needed for the year-round population — which is usually only a fraction of the summertime populace In recent years, the implementation of user fees — beach fees the most noteworthy — has Helped ease the local taxpayers' Burden of providing extra, . summertime services. Still, in most cases local governmenj expenses are higher in the resorts and so is tho cost of providing the leadership to oversee this government. Thus, in all but four of,the resort community governments, there is paid profesMayor’* Gov’t Expense North Wildwood: 25yrs. County Average: 12yrs. West Wildwodd: 2 yrs. sional help in the form of fulltime administrators for the mayor and governing body The exceptions are the threemember Commissions serving Sea Isle Ci-* ty. Wildwood. Wildwood Crest and. to a lesser extent, Cape May Point which are without- borough managers or administrators. (AvCHARTER STUDY commission is currently studying the Commission form of government in Wildwood; and there has been testimohy about ’the advantages to local government in that resort were it to go with a professional administrator.) In analyzing local government expense.

the most significant statistics are the ratios between salaries and the: • value of property in me municipality (ratables), •Jhe local purpose tax, «and total appropriations in the local budget. By.striking such ratios, one mhy determine what percentage of ratables, taxes and the total budget go to paying the salaries of govern-

ment leaders.

Looking at government salaries from this pdrsDective, Woodbine and Lower Townsh# stand out; the former the highest in each category, the latter tHe

lowest. t '*

WHILE WOODBINE'S mayor and sixmember Council receive only $9,200 in salariM, since the borough has only tome $14 million in ratables, more than 6Vi cents of each $100 in ratables goes toward government leaders’ salaries — compared to Lower Township where tfee /threemember Township Committee's j ilB.OOo salaries amount tb slightly l$ss than two-thirds-of^ one cent, thinks to some $285 million worth of ratables. As a percentage of local taxes, Woodbine’s salaries amount to O'* per cent of the $96,761 in municipal taxes last year — compared to Lqwer Township, where less than 1'4 per cent of $1.3 million in taxes go for top government pay. In this category — the ratio of salaries to local .taxes /— Wildwood and West Wildwood share honors for having the lowest ratio: 1.1 per cent of almost $4 million in taxes provides the mayor g^nd Commission its $42,458 salaries in Wildwood, th West WildWood, 1.1 per cent Gov’t Leader*’ Salarie*

Ocean City: $92,917 County Average: $30,446 West Cape May: $2,200

of the $234,000 in local taxes support the $2,550 salaries of the mayor and commissioners. THE RATIO OF salaries to local taxes cannot be used in either- Upper or Dennis townships, heither of which have any local, purpose tax, since both derive so much revenue from the Atlantic Electric utility receipts. When salaries are compared to total budgets, WObdbine is again the most expensive, Lower Township again least expensive — Woodbine salaries amounting to 2 per cent of the $457,656 budget last year. Lower salaries being less than one-half of ■one per cent of the $3.7 million '81 budget. f Editor', nolr — A word of caution when contlderhg percentages Kemdmber Per $ent m«m» per 100. and wofeh the decimal point Thue tS% li r'quol to .73, while 7 5% meant .075. and 73% equals 0075 — a very small quantity, the equivalent of three-quarters of one penny in monetary units. I Salaries of local government leaders as a ratio of population, ratables, local taxes and total municipal budget: Upper Twp. — 330.000 ularim divided equally among mayor and two-olher committeemen, amount to$4 47 per capita 6.713 population. 2 Olt per *100 aueMed valuation with SttSmiilion ratable*, zero per cent of no local taxes, and 69 per cent of *6 35 million budget DriMit Twp. -*18.150 salaries dfvided equally among mayor and (wo other committeemen, amount to St’S* per capita 3.W9 population. 3 63f per *100 of *50 million ratable*, rrro per cent of no local taxex, and I 72 per cent of (I 05 million budget . MkMIr Twp. - *36,000 salaries divided equally among mayor and two other commilteemCmbeni, amount to *3 17 per capita 11,373 population I 71k per *100 of *202 million ratable*. 9 4 per cent of *382,724 local taxes, and 94 per cent of *3 S3 million total budget l-owrr Twp. - *18.000 aalane* divided equally, among mayor and two other commttteemember*. amount to (I 05 per capita 17.105 population. 634 per *100 of *285 million ratable*, t 4 per cent of *1 3 million local laxe*. and 49 per cent of *3 69 million budget Ocean City *92,917 xalaries include *47.417 for city adminiitrator. *10.000 for mayor. *5.500 for Council president and *6.000 each for six mher councilmen Salaries amount to *6 M per capita 13,949 population. I 364 per *100 of *6M million ratable*. I 5 per cent of *f million local Jaxes. and 82 per cent of (it 35 million budget Sea tale City - *24.000 xalane* include *12.000 for mayor and tR.noo each for two other commissioners Salaries ammiiit In*9 00 pej capita 2,644 population. 1 134 per *100 of *212 million ratables. I 8 per cent of *1 3 million local taxes, and 83 per cent of *2 88 million budget. * At alon - *41,500 salaries include *24.noo business ad mimxtratnr. (5.000 for mayor, and (2.500 each for fivemember borough Council (including Council presidenti Salaries amount to (19 20 per capigi 2.162 pofKlation. . I 544 per *100 of *289 million ratables. 2 4 per cent of *1 7 million taxes, and t 2 per cent of S3 49 million budget Stone Harbor *40.000 salaries include (22.000 for ad mintstralive^assistant to mayor and Council. *6,000 for mayor, and *2)900 each for six member borough Council ■ including Council president i Salaries amount to *33 70 per capita 1.187 population. 2 224 per (100 of (180 million ratable*. 2 9 per cent of (14 million taxes, and ! B per cent of (2 27 million budget Cape May - *42,969 salaries include *13.969 for city manager and *3.000 each for mayor and two other counoilmen Salaries amount to (8 85 per capita 4.853 popula . lion. 3 734 per (100 of *115 million ratables. 3 0 per cent of tfc* million taxes, and t l per cent of *3 77 million budget West Cape May - *2.200 salaries include *800 for mayor and *700 each for two other commissioners Salaries amount to *2 02 per capita 1.091 population. I 604 per *100 of (14 million ratables. 2 4 per cent of *90.904 taxes and 80 per cent of *264.929 budget Cape May Pohil *3.700 salaries include *1.200 for mayor. *1.500 for another commissioner, and *1.000 for third Munmisaioner Salaries amount to (14 SI per capita 255 popiAgiion. | 854 per (too of (20 million ratable*. 2 6 per cent <^|tf9.74l taxes, and I 3 per cent of *281.847 budget Wildwood - *42T*I8 salaries include (15.424 for mayor.

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