1. Laid off municipal towing employees, saving $150,000
Missed towing revenue = $75,000 (21 percent)
Bottom line = $75,000 saved
2. Reduced numbers of full-time workers in Public Works
Public Works budget, 2010 = $16.4 million
Budget, 2012 = $16.2 million
Bottom line = $200,000 saved
3. Rejected all out-of-state and/or overnight travel except one excursion to Baltimore regarding Community Development Block Grant funding, which also paid for the trip
Now-retired Municipal Court Judge Henry Weekes also was approved to go to the National Bar Association Judicial Conference in Baltimore. The trip cost $1,334, all from the court’s budget.
The DCA denied a request by then-Deputy Police Chief Ernest Jubilee to go to the International Association of Chiefs of Police Convention in Chicago, which would have cost $2,300 from the municipal budget.
4. Pressed city to forgo its Weights & Measures division and use cheaper county services
Weights & Measures division director salary, 2010 = $53,560
Weights & Measures division director salary, 2012 = $0
Annual certification fee revenue, 2010 = $23,000
Annual certification fee revenue, 2012 = $0
Bottom line = costs down $30,000
5. Decreased full-time Department of Licensing & Inspections workers, used part-timers for nights and weekends, decreased costs to the city. Improved coverage where needed most.
Department of Licensing & Inspections budget, 2010 = $1.6 million
Budget, 2012 = $1.7 million
Bottom line = up $100,000 (7 percent)
Meanwhile: Citywide blight eradication initiative so far brought down or forced improvements to 45 properties using $1 million from the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. While that level of activity is unprecedented, it is unclear whether that was prompted by the funding, improved operations or a combination.
6. Reduced police force by 45 officers to 330, down from 375 in 2009
Staffing now is 320 full-time officers, with 11 more in training and another 10 hires planned through grants already secured. 25 part-time Class II officers (seasonal).
Police budget, 2010 = $36.6 million
Police budget, 2012 = $38.9 million
Bottom line = Budget increased $2.2 million (6 percent) or $1.7 million (5 percent) when adjusted for Class II costs.
7. Assisted city with getting $3.35 million CRDA Law Enforcement Technology Grant for centralized dispatch and improved crime mapping and data
Grant created from interest paid by police and firefighters on mortgages through a 13-year-old CRDA mortgage program
So far, $17,000 spent on Tip411, which lets people anonymously send information to police through text messages.
8. Eliminated ‘sole source’ purchasing contracts and required requests for proposals for all goods and services
Started prior to state oversight.
9. Required the city to start selling properties on its foreclosed-properties list
The city sold fewer properties in 2011 and thus far in 2012 than during prior years.
10. Actively reviewing tax appeals
Legal costs = $2.5 million+
Tax rebates = $143 million
City ratable base, 2010 = $20.5 billion
City ratable base, 2012 (est.) = $16 billion
Lost annual local tax revenue = $40 million
DCA: Tax appeal legal costs “shouldn’t be an annual expense.”
Sources: Atlantic City budgets, payroll records, agendas, and legal bills and contracts; New Jersey Department of Community Affairs’ Division of Local Government Services’ Transitional Aid to Municipalities Program 2011 annual report; DCA spokeswoman Lisa Ryan; New Jersey Department of Consumer Affairs spokesman Neal Buccino
