The Town Council, at their meeting on Tuesday, initiated measures to help save money and earn more revenue, including combining two financial supervisory positions and listening to the public’s concerns about the ongoing financial losses from the Recreation Center.
At the meeting, the seven-member council voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance to create a Department of Finance and director of finance position. The new position actually merges two positions – tax collector and director of finance – to save money.
The person selected to fill the new position is currently the chief of staff for a local legislator, and will have to leave that position to take the new one, officials said.
That the town is seeking to collect money from vending machines that haven’t been registered.
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The new position will be filled by Nick Goldsack, who is currently the town’s tax collector. In the role of finance director, he will oversee the Purchasing Department, the tax assessor, the chief financial officer, and the Payroll Department, among other duties.
“His job will be to sign off on every bill,” said Mayor Michael Gonnelli.
Gonnelli said the new position pays $87,500. For two years, Goldsack was paid on a per diem basis and not always on a full schedule. His salary reflects an increase based on his per diem rate, but it is less than what Bartolozzi alone was earning, which was $100,000, according to Mayor Gonnelli.
However, Goldsack already had a job as chief of staff for Secaucus-based Assemblyman Vincent Prieto. He also serves as a part-time tax collector for Guttenberg, a position he has held since 2000. Goldsack was a former town administrator in the towns of West New York and Carteret.
When asked about the responsibilities Goldsack performs for Prieto, Gonnelli said it was a concern. “We asked him to step down immediately,” Gonnelli said on Thursday. “When we hired him, we gave him the stipulation that he has to resign from that role.”
Goldsack requested that he be allowed to continue in his other role until his medical benefits kick-in for the town of Secaucus, a concession the town allowed.
Goldsack said he performs a diminished role for Prieto and that he will officially step down in October.
As for the Guttenberg position, Gonnelli said he was not aware of it. But he said that as long as Goldsack works full-time for Secaucus, that has no bearing on the town.
Goldsack did not view any conflict with his duties for Guttenberg and said he will perform that job part-time in the evenings.
Going after uncollected money
Gonnelli noted that since he took office, Secaucus officials have found that the town lost or failed to collect a total of approximately $10 million from developers and other sources during past administrations. Having one person responsible for overseeing the town’s financial positions should increase future oversight.
The mayor said that the town should have made an effort to collect $6 million in special assessments dating back to 2002. The town left over $1 million uncollected in outstanding fines and other money. The town also lost money due to grants that were never followed up on.
Ongoing Recreation Center woes
Despite the town’s moves to increase financial oversight, the Recreation Center losses continue to be a sore point for residents.
During the prior administration, the town approved the project over the objections of some residents who feared it would not pay for itself. It cost an estimated $12 million to build, even though original construction costs had been estimated to be $4.5 million. It was mostly built through bonding and other taxpayer dollars.
Officials hoped that member fees would cover the costs of running the facility, but that hasn’t happened. The Recreation Center lost $681,090 last year and $538,311 the year before.
“This is money that shouldn’t be spent. People believe it should be used otherwise,” said Sam Maffei during the public comments portion of the meeting. Maffei has brought up the issue repeatedly, proposing that the town hire a consultant to develop a plan to reduce costs.
Maffei said he spoke for many residents who believed that the money spent on the Recreation Center could be dedicated toward other town programs. He also felt the Recreation Center services should be offered for free to town residents.
“The goal is to get more residents to use it,” responded Gonnelli. “We have brought in a whole lot of new programs. Our day camps are using the Rec Center. Seniors use it three days a week for free.”
The mayor said any resident could become a member for as little as $25 per year.
Deputy Mayor John Bueckner said Tuesday during the meeting that membership is up, with 2,463 members compared to last year’s 1,800.
“If we close it, we still have a $12 million dollar debt,” said Gonnelli. “I’m certainly not going to shut the doors. We are making it a real destination…it is a beautiful place, a great facility,” he later added in an interview after the meeting.
Increasing revenue
The town’s total municipal budget is $46.3 million, which was passed in April and included the smallest tax increase since 2007.
To support the budget, the town collects revenue from various sources. On Tuesday, Councilman Robert Constantino said the town had collected over $1 million in revenue from construction permits and will be getting another $120,000 from a new data center going up in August for the company Equinix.
He said in his report that an auditor has corrected a lot of items in the annual town auditing process and in the next 10 days will provide a full summary of the findings.
Councilwoman Susan Pirro reported that the town is seeking to collect money from vending machines that haven’t been registered. Inspectors found 228 vending machines in town, of those 190 have registered and paid a $25 fee while 38 are pending payment. The town suspects that many more remain unregistered.
Inspectors will be going to local businesses to check for vending machines.
Adriana Rambay Fernández may be reached at afernandez@hudsonreporter.com.