New Jerseyans deserve the best government their tax dollars can provide. Governor Whitman is committed to making state government leaner, smarter and more responsive by bringing a common sense approach to the way government does business. It means taxpayers should get a dollar’s worth of service for every dollar they send to government, whether it goes to Trenton, their local town hall or school board. Government on all levels must stop thinking that money is the solution to their problems and start examining how they spend the money they now have. It is time for government to do something different.

Of major concern is the rising cost of local government. There is no doubt that local government costs and the property taxes that pay for them have been rising steadily over the past decade. Prior to Governor Whitman’s taking office in 1994, the state had never worked as closely with towns to examine what is behind those costs. That is why she created the Local Government Budget Review (LGBR) program. Its mission is simple: to help local governments and school boards find savings and efficiencies without compromising the delivery of services to the public. The LGBR program utilizes an innovative approach combining the expertise of professionals, primarily from the Departments of Treasury, Community Affairs and Education, with team leaders who are experienced local government managers. In effect, it gives local governments a comprehensive management review and consulting service by the state at no cost to them. To find those “cost drivers” in local government, teams review all aspects of local government operation, looking for ways to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

In addition, teams also document those state regulations and mandates which place burdens on local governments without value- added benefits and suggest, on behalf of local officials, which ones should be modified or eliminated. Teams also look for “best practices” and innovative ideas that deserve recognition and that other communities may want to emulate. Based upon the dramatic success of the program and the number of requests for review services, in July, 1997, Governor Whitman ordered the expansion of the program, tripling its number of teams in an effort to reach more communities and school districts. The ultimate goal is to provide assistance to local government that results in meaningful property tax relief to the citizens of New Jersey.

COMMUNITY OVERVIEW..................................................................................................... 1
BEST PRACTICES................................................................................................................... 2
OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHANGE/ RECOMMENDATIONS................................................. 5
GOVERNING BODY............................................................................................................... 5
ADMINISTRATION/ CLERK'S OFFICE................................................................................ 6
INSURANCE............................................................................................................................ 9
TECHNOLOGY...................................................................................................................... 11
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES................................................................................................. 16
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE........................................................................................................... 17
FINANCE................................................................................................................................ 19
GRANT MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................................... 23
TAX COLLECTION............................................................................................................... 23
TAX ASSESSMENT.............................................................................................................. 25
MUNICIPAL COURT ............................................................................................................ 26
POLICE................................................................................................................................... 28
FIRE ....................................................................................................................................... 42
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE (EMS) ....................................................................... 44
PUBLIC WORKS ................................................................................................................... 46
SHADE TREE COMMISSION.............................................................................................. 57
BUILDING DEPARTMENT.................................................................................................. 57
DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION....................................................................................... 58
PLANNING AND ZONING................................................................................................... 61
LIBRARY ............................................................................................................................... 62
RECREATION........................................................................................................................ 68
HEALTH/ REGISTRAR OF VITAL STATISTICS................................................................ 73
HISTORIC PRESERVATION................................................................................................ 74
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ISSUES ................................................................................ 77
POLICE (PBA LOCAL 123) .................................................................................................. 77
PUBLIC WORKS (FANWOOD PUBLIC WORKS ASSOCIATION) ................................. 79
POLICE AND PUBLIC WORKS........................................................................................... 80
 
 

In order for a town, county or school district to participate in the Local Government Budget Review program, a majority of the elected officials must request the help of the review team through a resolution. There is a practical reason for this: to participate, the governing body must agree to make all personnel and records available to the review team, and agree to an open public presentation and discussion of the review team’s findings and recommendations.

As part of each review, team members interview each elected official, as well as, employees, appointees, members of the public, contractors and any other appropriate individuals. The review teams examine current collective bargaining agreements, audit reports, public offering statements, annual financial statements, the municipal code and independent reports and recommendations previously developed for the governmental entities, and other relative information. The review team physically visits and observes the work procedures and operations throughout the governmental entity to observe employees in the performance of their duties. In general, the review team received full cooperation and assistance of all employees and elected officials. That cooperation and assistance was testament to the willingness, on the part of most, to embrace recommendations for change. Those officials and employees who remain skeptical of the need for change or improvement will present a significant challenge for those committed to embracing the recommendations outlined in this report.

Where possible, the potential financial impact of an issue or recommendation is provided in this report. The recommendations do not all have a direct or immediate impact on the budget or the tax rate. In particular, the productivity enhancement values identified in this report do not necessarily reflect actual cash dollars to the municipality, but do represent the cost of the entity’s current operations and an opportunity to define the value of improving upon such operations. The estimates have been developed in an effort to provide the entity an indication of the potential magnitude of each issue and the savings, productivity enhancement, or cost to the community. We recognize that all of these recommendations cannot be accomplished immediately and that some of the savings will occur only in the first year. Many of these suggestions will require negotiations through the collective bargaining process. We believe, however, that these estimates are conservative and achievable.

Administration/ Clerk’s Office
The team recommends the borough make every effort to ensure that all dogs and cats within the community are properly licensed, for a revenue enhancement of $11,211.

Insurance
The borough should consider having its broker perform a workers’ compensation risk analysis, saving $2,423. The team also recommends that the borough consider utilizing the State’s Health Benefits Plan for its health and prescription insurance, for an additional savings of $20,000.

Technology
The team recommends that the borough install an Internet security software program designed to protect municipal databases and computers at a one- time expense of $120. The library could yield a revenue enhancement of $2,200 by upgrading their current 13- year old copier.

By eliminating the use of directory assistance services, the borough could save $500. The team also recommends the borough solicit reimbursement from employees for any personal calls, for a revenue enhancement of $925.

The team recommends the borough eliminate cellular phones for emergency management and fire departments, saving $1,013.

The team also recommends the borough reevaluate the police department’s need of cellular phones, by adopting a per call reimbursement for employees using their personal cellular phones or pay phones, saving $840.

Grant Management
The borough should consider investing in a software program to efficiently monitor grant expenditures at a one- time expense of $1,500.

Tax Assessment
The team recommends the borough consider increasing the assessor’s weekly hours to, at least, 10 per week at an annual expense of $5,000.

Municipal Court The borough should consider filing an application with the Administrative Office of the Courts to participate in the Comprehensive Enforcement Program for the collection of delinquent funds, yielding a one- time revenue enhancement of $68,797.

Police
The team recommends the position of corporal be phased out of the department’s organizational structure, saving $3,000.

The team recommends the borough eliminate the current practice of utilizing patrol sergeants for dispatch and implement one of the three options outlined in the report to provide dispatching services, at an expense of $184,120 - $229,880. The team also recommends the borough eliminate four patrolmen positions from the police department, saving $306,093 in salary and benefit costs. By eliminating the assignment of a special officer to the downtown district on Thursday evenings and creating a “park and walk” policy, the borough could save $1,150. The team recommends the position of detective be eliminated from the department’s organization and that remaining staff be responsible for all investigations, saving $90,922 in salary and benefits. The team also recommends the borough hire a part- time civilian to assist the operations lieutenant at an expense of $17,500.

The borough should consider raising the cost of its resident parking permits at the railroad station, for a revenue enhancement of $13,850.

The team recommends that the next time the borough obtains police vehicles, one of the older vehicles should be kept, to increase the police fleet to eight vehicles at an expense of $1,247.

Public Works
The team recommends the borough purchase a software package to help employ a more precise method of tracking employee time and resource utilization at a one- time expense of $1,500.

Since residents already individually contract for solid waste services, the team recommends adding bulk collection as needed, saving $38,752.

Downtown Revitalization
The team supports the position of hiring a part- time person to coordinate and implement the strategic plan for the downtown area at an expense of $10,000.

Recreation
The team recommends the borough determine an appropriate municipal subsidy to the recreation program and have the rest of the program costs covered by user fees, yielding a revenue enhancement of $7,573.

Historic Preservation
The borough should consider soliciting all grant funding that is available for their various historic preservation projects, saving $7,000.

Collective Bargaining Issues
Police (PBA Local 123) By negotiating a vacation schedule similar to the State of New Jersey’s civil service schedule, the borough could yield a potential productivity enhancement of $50,958. Instead of annual payments for each block of 12 credits accumulated, the team recommends the officer be paid only once and that no salary enhancement should be offered unless an officer completes, and obtains, a bachelor’s or an advanced degree, potentially saving $5,550.

Police and Public Works
The team recommends the borough eliminate the practice of additional time off for birthdays, for a potential productivity enhancement of $7,919. By renegotiating to eliminate longevity, the borough could potentially save $55,977. If, however, longevity remains an employee benefit, the team recommends that it be paid in fixed dollar amounts rather than as a percentage, for a potential savings of $18,477.

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The borough has a “home town” feel to it and it is quite apparent that the residents take great pride in their homes and their community. There is a small downtown area for residents to frequent and a railroad station that services New York City, which is located centrally within the borough’s borders and across from the downtown area. Some of the borough has historic importance to the area and the borough’s historic preservation commission is working towards getting buildings placed on historic registers. The Borough of Fanwood officially incorporated in 1895 after seceding from Fanwood Township, which later was renamed as the Township of Scotch Plains.

Due to it being surrounded on three sides by Scotch Plains, the borough has been, and continues to be, interested in shared service opportunities. Most notably, the borough is in a shared school district with Scotch Plains. Along with its interest in shared service opportunities, the review team was overwhelmed by the sense of community pride and willingness to volunteer on the part of Fanwood’s residents.

According to 1990 census information, Fanwood’s 1990 median family income was $62,076, which is higher than the county average of $48,862 and the state average of $47,589. Additionally, the median single family home value in Fanwood is $190,900, which is higher than the county average of $143,900 and the state average of $162,300. The 1998 equalized valuation was $219,473,249, as compared to $220,859,216 in 1995.

The 1999 municipal budget was $5,651,321 as compared to $5,520,921 in 1998 and $5,512,787 in 1997.

Fanwood has continued to provide the high level of service that is expected by the residents, while simultaneously trying to control costs. To do so, they have used various techniques such as, informal service agreements, interlocal agreements, competitive contracting, and utilizing numerous volunteers. Fanwood is a refreshing example of a government that truly strives, through its employees and volunteers, to provide the best possible services to the residents of Fanwood.

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Just as we are not able to identify every area of potential cost savings, the review team cannot cite every area of effective effort. The following are those “best practices” recognized by the team for their cost and/ or service delivery effectiveness.

As you read the report, you will note that Fanwood is commended numerous times for its practices and policies. Borough elected officials and staff have pursued competitive contracting, shared services, and numerous other initiatives to conserve tax dollars used in Fanwood and enhance service delivery. Below are highlights of those practices which are most outstanding.

Volunteerism The review team was impressed at the level of volunteerism that was found in Fanwood. There are about 20 volunteer boards, commissions, and committees that are currently in place, with each of them being fully complemented with volunteers and alternates. For a town boasting a population of around 7,000, it was impressive to see the amount of people willing to volunteer and take an active part in Fanwood’s government and community. Fanwood should continue to encourage this volunteerism to continue in the future.

Governing Body
Unlike many municipalities that are reviewed by LGBR, Fanwood’s borough council does not receive any monetary stipends or health benefits for providing their service to the community. Fanwood’s borough council can be considered true volunteers, which is indicative of the overwhelming volunteer spirit that runs through the community. Based upon other LGBR reviews, Fanwood is saving at least $7,500 in stipend and benefit costs per governing body member.

Community Assessment
In 1998 the borough underwent a community assessment process that was paid through grant money. Through this process, about 100 borough residents were surveyed on various topics. The resulting responses were presented to the governing body and four volunteer committees were created to address some of the problems that were identified. The review team feels that this was a wonderful initiative to solicit public input and provide more focused and better quality services to the residents.

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Provision of Welfare Services
The borough decided to continue providing health services at the local level through a joint agreement with Scotch Plains. This, in itself, should be commendable, since they realized the efficiencies that are achieved through a multi- jurisdictional provision of service, although they decided not to consolidate services with the county. Through this local provision of service, a unique service is provided. The welfare director works very closely with area churches. The director serves as the main contact person for the jointly created ministerial association. The churches donate funds and materials to this association and the welfare director distributes the funds and materials to needy people, only after verifying their need through the welfare system. This focused approach has enhanced the services that are being provided to area persons in need and has eliminated people trying to take advantage of church organizations through “church hopping.”

Recycling Center
Fanwood is one of the very few municipalities that do not provide any sort of residential recycling collection. Residents are required to bring their recyclables to the recycling center, instead of having them picked up on the curbside (although residents may contract individually with private companies to get their recycling picked up). The recycling center is under the control of a local recycling association. The association is responsible for the administration of the recycling center and gathers volunteer/ community groups to staff the center. Community service workers are also utilized, as well as some assistance being provided by public works personnel during the week. Volunteer/ community groups are given a small amount of money to staff the facility each week through the funding received by selling the recyclable materials. The recycling association has also been very generous in donating various equipment and supplies to various functions within the borough government.

Renting of Equipment The public works department has a cost effective process of renting pieces of equipment that are very costly and not utilized on a frequent basis.

Emergency Medical Service (EMS)
The borough’s volunteer EMS organization has entered into an innovative partnership with its fellow organization in Scotch Plains. This partnership revolves around mutual aid. If the Fanwood Rescue Squad cannot get an ambulance on the road due to lack of volunteers, a mutual aid call will then be made to Scotch Plains. Scotch Plains will then try and put an ambulance on the road with its own volunteers to respond and cover for Fanwood. If Scotch Plains is then unsuccessful at getting an ambulance on the road, Fanwood and Scotch Plains will combine available resources and personnel to get an ambulance to the scene of the emergency call. The process would reverse if Scotch Plains were to receive an emergency call for service and could not get an ambulance on the road. This cooperative partnership, instead of being bound by “home rule,” is a refreshing, efficient, and innovative way to provide necessary EMS services to the residents of both Fanwood and Scotch Plains.

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TV35
The borough is very active in utilizing a local access television station to keep residents informed with what is going on in the community and government. The borough airs each of its council meetings, regularly posts notices of information, and the mayor hosts a monthly show that spotlights an area of government service. The utilization of the local access station allows the borough to effectively communicate the happenings of the community to its residents.

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One of the fundamental components of the team’s analysis is identifying the true cost of a service. To this end, the team prepares a payroll analysis that summarizes personnel costs by function and attributes direct benefit costs to the salary of each individual. This figure will always be different from payroll costs in the budget or in expenditure reports because it includes health benefit, social security, pension, unemployment, and other direct benefit costs.

GOVERNING BODY
Fanwood operates under the borough form of government. The mayor serves as the head of the government and presides over council. The mayor is elected for a four year term and six council members are elected at- large, two each year for three year terms.

The governing body appears to be a relatively cohesive group that aggressively pursues the goal of delivering a high level of service to the residents of Fanwood while containing the associated costs. Council members actively participate in policy setting for the departments through a committee structure and work closely with borough personnel in achieving policy goals.

Council members do not receive any monetary stipends for providing their services to the borough and they, also, do not receive any health benefits.

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The borough council should be commended for not providing itself with monetary stipends and/ or health benefits. The Fanwood Borough council truly represents itself as public servants through its volunteer efforts.

In 1998, the borough was presented with a Community Assessment Report. The council requested this report to gauge public sentiment for a variety of issues including government performance, characteristics of the community, and communications. About 100 residents were surveyed on the same questions and each of their responses were recorded and tallied. The cost of this report was $15,000 and was paid through grant money received from Union County. From this report, the governing body created four volunteer committees to address the main issues found as a result of the responses from the residents. The four main issues that turned into advisory committees were: 1) downtown revitalization, 2) long range planning, 3) communications, and 4) volunteerism. The communications and volunteerism committees have since merged.

The borough should be commended for this innovative approach to determine public sentiment and addressing the taxpayers concerns on a number of areas. This Community Assessment Report should be a best practice that other municipalities should follow. Gaining constructive input from the community can only help to build stronger relationships with the residents and will result in providing better, and more focused,
municipal services.

Revenues/ Licenses
The office received approximately $12,900 in revenue in 1999. Approximately $6,000 was collected for liquor licenses. There are two distribution licenses, one consumption license, and one limited distribution license. All of these liquor licenses are at the statutory maximum amounts. The borough also received approximately $6,000 for processing animal licenses. The borough also requires licenses for both dogs and cats. Six hundred thirty- six dogs and 195 cats were licensed in 1999. The fee structure is $5.80 for neutered cats and dogs, and $8.80 for nonneutered animals. Finally, the borough received $600 in amusement permits, $150 in peddler’s permits, $50 for a sidewalk café permit, and $100 for towing permits.

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Based upon statistics from the U. S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook, Fanwood might not be collecting license fees on all of the pets located within the borough. According to the sourcebook, the national average for dogs within a community is .534 per household and the national average for cats within a community is .598 per household. Based upon these averages and a 1996 figure of 2,442 residential properties in Fanwood, there should be approximately 1,304 dogs and 1,460 cats located in Fanwood. As a result, there are potentially 668 more dogs and 1,265 more cats than are presently accounted for. At the neutered license fee of $5.80 per pet, the borough is potentially losing out on approximately $11,211 annually in license fee revenue. The police department is currently responsible for ensuring that the animal census is completed.

Recommendation: The borough should make every effort to ensure that all dogs and cats within the community are properly licensed. The borough might also want to consider moving the responsibility of the animal census from the police department to the clerk’s office, since it really is not a police function.

Revenue Enhancement: $11,211

Many of the present clerk's duties are specifically described in state statute. These duties include overseeing elections, recording the minutes from council meetings, processing liquor licenses and pet licenses, and maintaining all official records and documents of the borough. She has also absorbed responsibilities normally associated with an administrator, such as grant management, general office supervision, budgeting, and handling residents’ complaints. Although the office includes a deputy clerk’s position, no one has stayed long enough in recent years to become fully trained, so the clerk has taken on many of the duties associated with that position, instead of being able to delegate and utilize that position effectively. Towards the end of the review the team was informed that the person who was hired to fill the role as deputy clerk left the employ of the borough. A further complication is that the deputy clerk has traditionally performed the borough’s payroll function, and with the lack of continuity in that position, that too has fallen to the clerk. The tax collector, who formerly processed the payroll as the deputy clerk, and finance officer have indicated a willingness to complete the payroll function and lighten the load of the municipal clerk. As of the end of the review, the municipal clerk had not yet delegated this responsibility. We feel that either the tax collector or chief financial officer (CFO) could effectively assume the primary responsibility of payroll processing with the other acting in a back- up or assisting capacity. Any adjustments in salary, if any, could be deducted from the deputy clerk’s position and added to the primary position taking on the primary payroll function.

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Recommendation: It is recommended that, wherever possible, the municipal clerk delegate responsibilities to other office personnel so that she can focus on more pressing governing issues. Specifically, the primary payroll responsibility should be transferred from the clerk’s office to either the tax collector or CFO on a permanent basis.

Despite the fact that the borough code maintains the position of borough administrator, no one has held that title or had the concomitant authority for the last nine years. Meanwhile, the clerk has had the duties of administrator by default. Much of what an administrator might control (budgeting, collective bargaining, departmental oversight, and personnel) has been subsumed, to one degree or another, by the governing body's various committees and their respective liaisons. This serves to create another tier of bureaucratic process between the departments and the governing body itself. Decision- making would be streamlined and communication enhanced, if the borough were to formally name an administrator and curtail the duties of committee liaisons. The purpose of having an administrator is to relieve the governing body of the responsibility of running the day- to- day affairs of the borough; to have someone to implement borough policy and to represent the governing body to the employees, the public and to other government agencies. A clerk with duties and no authority or title cannot adequately fit that bill.

Recommendations: It is recommended that the borough council reevaluate the roles of council committees and their various departmental liaisons.

Additionally, we recommend that the borough officially name an administrator and give that person the authority to carry out the day- to- day operations and implement the policies of the borough council. We feel that in a municipality the size of Fanwood, having a combined administrator/ clerk position is appropriate. We do not feel that the workload in the borough warrants two separate full- time positions. The review team found that the statutory duties of the clerk were complete and up- to- date. The borough’s codebook is automated and is updated with an annual filing of adopted ordinances. A more frequent filing, preferably quarterly, but at least semi- annually, would keep the codebook more current.

Recommendation: It is recommended that ordinances be filed for codification at least twice annually.

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For property and casualty insurance, the borough has proven that set formulas of Joint Insurance Funds (JIF’s) are not always the best solution for a community or a school district. The review team has found that aggressive shopping for the best rates, coupled with an earnest effort to mitigate risk, can result in property and casualty insurance savings that are greater than just belonging to a JIF. Approximately two years ago, the borough requested its insurance broker to shop for better rates. As a result of testing the marketplace, the broker recommended to the borough that it leave the JIF that it belonged to and move to a statewide, joint insurance fund for workers’ compensation coverage and a traditional insurance carrier for a package policy for property and liability coverage. The borough realized a savings of approximately $10,000 in 1999 by following the advice of its insurance broker and will save an additional $4,000 in the current year of 2000. The borough does not have a safety committee that is active, but they also do not have many claims. Prevention has been shown throughout the industry to be a proven method of saving money in the long run. The assessment in 1999 for workers’ compensation was $48,473, yet claims are miniscule. In the past three years, the city has had claims of less than $30,000 in total, yet their premium loss ratio is about 20%. The moderate expense, if any, spent in prevention and risk analyses after exposure with recommendations to prevent future reoccurrence has been shown throughout the state to be an implementable, prudent, low cost strategy to reduce insurance costs.

Recommendation: The borough should request its broker to perform a workers’ compensation risk analysis within the borough. This service could either be preformed by the broker as part of that company’s services, or by the insurer or their agent. This service is usually performed on a periodic basis as a courtesy to the insured and assists the client to reduce exposure, while helping the insurance company and broker to get to know their client better. While we believe that this analysis will result in savings to the borough, it is difficult to assess how much money could be saved because it is hard to determine which future risks are averted. If the borough could save 5% on its annual assessment, the borough could save approximately $2,423 annually.

Cost Savings: $2,423

Health Benefits
The borough has contracted with a major insurance company for the health benefits that are provided to its employees. The review team conducted a cost study of the borough’s current plan and compared it to New Jersey’s State Health Benefits Plan (SHBP). In 1999, the borough paid $401,233 for its health and prescription costs (an additional $18,794 was spent on life and dental
 

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insurance and vision care reimbursements). The health insurance portion was approximately 80% of the total cost. The borough budgeted about a 10% increase in these insurance costs for the year 2000. The initial comparison revealed that the borough could save about $28,000 by switching to the state’s SHBP based upon 1999 figures. Based upon 2000 figures, the borough could save about $60,000 by switching. Rates for the SHBP are not scheduled to increase for 2001, which means that the borough would most likely continue to save money in comparison to its current arrangement. At first glance it appears that the borough could save significant money by switching to the SHBP, but the initial analysis does not account for retired employees receiving health benefits from the borough. Since policemen are exempt from paying for Medicare unless they were hired after 1986, the retired employee would be required to receive Medicare Part B under the SHBP. Additionally, since many of these policemen do not have the requisite quarters to qualify for Medicare Part B, they would also have to receive Medicare Part A. This is based upon a sliding scale dependant on the number of membership quarters. If the borough were to switch to the state’s plan, the borough needs to take into account this additional coverage for their retired police officers. At time of the review, there were 16 total retirees that received health benefits, 13 of which are police retirees. The review team estimated that the cost for the additional Medicare coverage could cost the borough up to $40,000. This additional cost would negate any savings that could have been achieved in 1999 and would reduce the potential savings in 2000 to $20,000. Dependent upon situations in 2001, the city could see even greater savings opportunities.

If the borough determines that it wishes to continue with its current arrangement for health and prescription insurance, it should consider negotiating cost- sharing measures with its unions during the next round of negotiations. Cost- sharing initiatives are becoming very common throughout the state as the cost of health insurance continues to rise exponentially. The LGBR team feels that an initial cost- sharing initiative of 10% is a reasonable percentage for the employee to incur for receiving comprehensive insurance coverage. If the borough could successfully negotiate a 10% cost sharing with its employees, the borough would realize a revenue enhancement of about $44,000. Even if the borough decides that it wants to switch to the SHBP, it should still consider cost sharing initiatives since it can receive co- pays from employees for costs in excess of the employee- only coverage.

Recommendation: The borough should consider utilizing the State’s Health Benefits Plan (SHBP) for its health and prescription insurance needs.

Cost Savings: $20,000

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TECHNOLOGY
Technology provides local government administrators with numerous opportunities for savings, including improved productivity and staffing realignments. Without proper planning and coordination, technology may become a costly, recurring expense. The goal of management and office automation should be to use technology to promote a smarter and efficient organization while limiting the impact on resources.

The LGBR team reviewed borough Management Information System (MIS) initiatives and found a relatively strong use of technology with room for improvement through better coordination, training and managerial commitment. For example: both the administration and police sections of the building had internal email systems incapable of communicating with each other; the construction department is not networked and, therefore, has no email with the administration; the police department did not have a Computer Aided Dispatch System (CAD); every department expressed concerns regarding the lack of technology training; several departments were using non- Y2K programs for record management and, subsequently, lost report writing abilities on January 1, 2000; it appears that not all computers have anti- virus software protection; only the server had an un- interruptible power supply/ conditioner; none of the departments could access online financial information about their own department; and it appears the borough does not have a proxy/ firewall on their cable modem connections. At the time of the review, the borough was attempting to address most of the issues. The police department had recently received a grant to fund a new CAD and records management program, and was seeking to implement a mobile data terminal system with the county. Generally, the business administrator and police chief make MIS decisions. The team found the strongest coordinated use of technology in the library.

With 30 relatively new computers, three file servers, and assorted printers, scanners and peripherals, the team recognizes the borough is too small for a full- time support position. The borough contracts complex networking and computer installation on an as needed basis. In 1999, the borough required the outside consultant for repair services twice, at a cost of $510.

Expenditures In 1999, the borough performed a major technology upgrade to the police, library, administrative, and construction departments. Out of the approximate $62,466 spent, the township funded approximately $7,000 through the budget, $37,888 through grants and $17,578 through long and short term debt. Debt financing was through the Union County Improvement Authority and a bond anticipation note at an average rate of 4% and 3.98%, respectively. Based on a five- year financing schedule, the township will pay approximately $3,500 in interest payments.

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Furthermore, the extensive use of debt financing and grants is an early warning financial indicator that the borough may experience long term problems with financing technology purchases. Local governments need to be cautious when making major purchases in one budget year, especially since technology is a major investment that has a relatively short life. When municipalities and school districts develop and adhere to multi- year purchasing plans, they spread the expense over several years and eliminate the danger of having to replace all of its technology at once. If the government needs to finance their purchases, it should not exceed the life value, which in technology is generally three to five years.

Recommendation: Careful planning and budgeting through a technology plan reduces the risk of major purchases and interest expense charges. It is, therefore, recommended the township plan, and fund, technology purchases according to a technology plan as prescribed in the technology committee section. The review team does not support the purchasing of technology equipment through debt financing.

Technology Committee and Plan
The town informed the team that they have neither a technology committee nor a plan. A technology committee, consisting of department employees, community business people and residents, provides valuable assistance to the borough in developing and maintaining technology initiatives. The committee has the responsibility to produce a plan that provides political leaders and the community with documentation of coordinated technology activities and should include a budget that outlines technology expenditures for 3- 5 years. The first job of a technology committee is to perform a needs- assessment survey. A needs- assessment survey involves a detailed study of each department and its employees. The survey assists the committee in integrating technology, hardware and software, and training efficiently and comprehensively into municipal operations.

Recommendation: It is recommended the borough create a technology committee comprised of an employee from each department, residents and business people from the community. The committee’s first responsibility should be to perform a needs- assessment survey and develop a technology plan with a 3- 5 year budgetary impact statement. The plan should also address training weaknesses that were prevalent in the borough. If the borough had a coordinated team and plan in place prior to its recent technology purchases, it could have appropriately planned for the purchases and avoided the approximately $3,500 in interest costs.

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Policies and Procedures Policies and procedures establish guidelines for employees using borough technology. It also protects the borough from costly litigation generated by inappropriate use of e- mail, the Internet, or computer resources. The borough reported there are no policies and procedures governing technology usage in the borough.

Recommendation: Policies and procedures provide employees with guidelines for acceptable use of borough-owned technology. It is, therefore, recommended the borough develop policies and procedures outlining acceptable technology usage.

Internet
The police and administration both have Internet access through cable modem. As part of the cable agreement, the municipality receives Internet service at no charge. Cable- modem provides high- speed access to the Internet. However, cable modem technology requires the client to remain active on the Internet whenever the computers are active. This exposes the municipality to hostile computer attacks by unauthorized individuals. The borough should take extra
precaution, since both the chief of police and business administrator’s computers are connected to the Internet and have, or contain sensitive data systems and databases. The municipality has the ability to minimize risk though the use of an Internet security barrier.

Recommendation: Cable modems provide high- speed access to the Internet, and increase the risk to unauthorized users. It is, therefore, recommended the borough install an Internet security software program designed to protect municipal databases and computers.

One- time Value Added Expense: $120

Cable Television
As specified in Ordinance No. 99- 19- R, the borough and a cable company renewed a 15- year cable franchise agreement to provide cable services for Fanwood residents. The contract expires in 2015. As part of the agreement, the borough continues to receive 2% of gross revenues based on subscriptions, which were $14,766 and $16,553 for fiscal years 1998 and 1999, respectively. The company also donates one broadcast channel for governmental and educational cablecasting, and will contribute an additional $25,000 to fund video production equipment for the government channel. According to the agreement, the company also provides basic cable services to the borough buildings, library, and all public and private school buildings in the borough at no cost. Generally, most contracts provide only one outlet for each school. In the contract, the borough negotiated that fees for additional outlets at each school be waived. The schools only need to pay

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for installation charges. Finally, the municipality and public and private schools also each receive one free cable modem hook- up to the Internet. The cable modem service in the schools must be for student use.

Photocopiers
Photocopiers represent a business expense to all departments in the borough. Local governments procure copiers through four types of financing - purchase, lease, lease/ purchase, and cost- percopy (CPC) contracts. The borough has six copiers; four in the municipal building, one in public works and one in the library. With the exception of the library, the borough owns all copiers and contracts for maintenance and supplies. Three of the copiers were purchased in 2000 and do not have maintenance agreements.

The team compared copier consumption and contract/ purchase agreements to the State CPCT0206 Contract. The State CPC contract is essentially a rental agreement where the user pays for a specified number of copies and is charged for excess copies over the specified allotment. CPC contracts include all maintenance and supplies, with the exception of paper. The team has found that CPC contracts are less expensive than other types of financing, and allow local governments the benefit of upgrading copier equipment every three years.

The three recently purchased copiers cost the borough $14,738. Adjusting for maintenance costs, the team estimates a three year cost of $17,216. A three year State CPC contract would have cost the borough $6,408. In addition, many of the copiers under the CPC contract offer duplex printing and digital features for double- sided printing and network connectivity.

The police department contracts for maintenance on their 1993 copier at an annual cost of $516, which includes an allotment of 39,600 copies. Based on an actual utilization monthly average of 2,395 copies, a state CPC copier would cost the borough approximately $672 per year, and provide the department with a newer copier. The borough currently saves $156 per year by maintaining the seven- year old copier.

In the library, a vendor supplies and operates a 13- year old pay- copier, providing all maintenance and supplies, including paper. In exchange, the library has unlimited copy privileges. The team received complaints that the quality of copies is substandard. The LGBR team believes the library may have the opportunity to increase revenues by utilizing the CPC contract. Using an estimated public use rate of 2,000 copies per month, the team determined the library would realize a $2,200 annual revenue enhancement. This includes a coin operated device, paper costs and administrative usage. The team recognizes that library will need to monitor monthly usage on the existing copier for six months to determine the appropriate copier selection.

Recommendations: Through the use of the state’s “cost- per- copy contract,” the LGBR team feels the library can upgrade their 13- year old copier and earn revenue from public usage. It is, therefore, recommended the library upgrade their current copier for a revenue enhancement of $2,200.

Revenue Enhancement: $2,200

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Before any additional copiers are purchased, such as were recently purchased in administration, it is recommended that the cost of purchasing the copiers be compared with the state contract CPC costs. In most cases, the CPC arrangement is seen as a very economical way to provide copier services while being able to utilize modern equipment.

Communication
According to 1999 phone records, borough employees made 35,921 local calls and 2,261 long distance calls. Long distance totaled $2,231 while local totaled $15,983. In addition, borough employees utilized local and long distance directory assistance approximately 967 times at a cost of approximately $500. The team’s review of phone expenses was hampered by multiple billings from the local phone carrier. Each month the borough receives 10 local carrier bills.

Recommendations: The borough should consider eliminating the use of directory assistance services, since most phone numbers are listed in either phone books or through the Internet. It is, therefore, recommended the borough eliminate use of directory assistance for annual savings of $500.

Cost Savings: $500 It is recommended that the borough solicit reimbursement from employees for any personal calls that are made from the workplace. If a conservative estimate of 5% of calls were of a personal nature, the borough could recoup approximately $125 in long distance calls and $800 in local calls. Revenue Enhancement: $925

It is also recommended the borough contact the local carrier to arrange for consolidated billing.

Cellular Phones
The volunteer fire department and emergency management each have a borough assigned cellular phone. In 1999, emergency management incurred $270 in cellular charges while the fire department incurred $743. Three additional phones were assigned to the police department in October, 1999, at an additional cost of $210 for three months.

Cellular phones represent an extravagant expense for the emergency management and fire departments. The borough could supply emergency management with a cellular phone that has pre- purchased minutes. Pre- purchased minutes will provide the department with cellular time during emergencies while eliminating the monthly charges when the phone is not in use. The volunteer fire department should reimburse the borough for cellular charges to alleviate the issue of the town using public dollars to pay for a private entity’s phone bill. With a communication tower in a 1.3 square mile town, the borough should also re- evaluate the necessity of providing the police department with three cellular phones.

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Recommendations: Cellular phones represent an extravagant expense for the emergency management and fire departments. It is, therefore, recommended the borough eliminate cellular phones for a saving of $1,013.

Cost Savings: $1,013 It is also recommended the borough re- evaluate the police department’s need of having cellular phones. As an alternative, the borough could adopt a per call reimbursement for employees when they use their personal cellular phones or pay phones for official business.

Cost Savings: $840 Shared Services

Technology
The LGBR unit had the opportunity to review both the school and municipality and believes both would benefit by creating a shared department in which the school district takes the lead since schools are better equipped and skilled. In general, technology usage remains the same for the public and private sector. Variances occur regarding software applications for specialized functions like finance or student scheduling. However, there are areas where software applications are essentially the same such as operating systems, fleet management, maintenance and grounds, word processing and spreadsheet usage, as well as the hardware used in network construction. Furthermore, a shared department will allow both governments to benefit from increased purchasing power, network administration and training. The municipality and school district should apply for financial assistance through the Department of Community Affairs’ REDI and REAP programs.

Recommendation: The municipality and school district have an opportunity to share technology purchases and services. It is, therefore, recommended the municipality and school district create a shared department with the school district as the lead agency.

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Each professional, excepting the auditor, has a detailed job description outlined in the borough’s code of ordinances for which he is compensated in accordance with the annual salary ordinance. They are considered employees for pension purposes, but do not receive health benefits. In 1999, the professionals cost the borough approximately $99,325 in salary costs as follows:

Attorney $22,158 Engineer $44,318
Public Defender $3,283
Prosecutor $20,207
Planning Board Attorney $9,359

For any services beyond the scope of their delineated duties, the various professionals charge the borough separately at a rate established by contract. The following chart compares Fanwood’s hourly fees for additional duties to surrounding county averages (as found in the 1999 New Jersey Municipal Salary Report as prepared by the New Jersey League of Municipalities). The chart shows that there is some room potential for lower costs, although the current costs are not particularly exorbitant.
 

Such charges for additional duties, along with other fees for professional services, were as follows in 1999:

Legal* $46,458 (*Includes attorney, planning board attorney & labor attorney.)
Engineering $1,042
Auditor $18,250

Recommendation: It is recommended that the borough seek competitive proposals for professional services on an annual basis.

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of the 21 municipalities in Union County have elected to retain this local responsibility. Fanwood is one of those municipalities, although they chose to retain their responsibility through an inter- local service agreement with Scotch Plains. Reasons given for retaining local responsibility included the desire to provide higher quality services than what would have been obtained at the county level and the director had provided the services in Fanwood for over 10 years prior to 1997. Under this arrangement, both municipalities share the services provided by the director. The director, now an employee of Scotch Plains, is required to devote 15 hours of office time to her duties in Fanwood. She is also “on- call” at all times. The borough pays $4,800 annually towards the director’s salary and is not required to pay for any benefit costs. The duties of the welfare director are prescribed by N. J. S. A. 44: 1- 1 et. seq. The number of welfare clients in Fanwood has decreased from twelve to three since 1995, although the workload under the umbrella of social services has increased. This is due to various additional initiatives taken on by the director, most notably: 1) solicitation in the quarterly newsletter from the borough to obtain information about residents in need of public assistance and, 2) participation in the Scotch Plains- Fanwood Ministerial Association. The review team feels that the public assistance function is quite effective and provides high quality services to the residents of Fanwood.

As stated above, the borough creates a quarterly newsletter that is sent to each address. As a result of recent discussions with the borough, the newsletter now contains a small section that solicits information on people in need of public assistance. People can identify themselves or refer someone they know as people who need assistance. The welfare director will then investigate each response and assist to the extent possible. Additionally the director works closely with the Scotch Plains- Fanwood Ministerial Association. This association was developed by community churches to coordinate their efforts to provide assistance to people in need in their community. The churches within this association collect money and goods from their parishioners and donate the collected materials to the association. The association then directs any requests for assistance to the welfare director who has been given the authority to determine the level of assistance that is needed and disburse funds and/ or goods from what was donated to the association. In this arrangement the association is able to maximize the funds available and reduce pilfering by those who work the system by going from church to church. In order to ensure that resources are being disbursed responsibly, the director continually utilizes the State of New Jersey’s tracking program (G- Link) to find out who’s in the system and what services they have received.

Recommendation: Although LGBR typically recommends transferring the public assistance function to the county to take the expenses out of the local tax base, we feel that the borough, for a rather insignificant cost, is receiving customized service beyond what would be received from a county managed program. The borough should be commended for implementing its inter-

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local service agreement with Scotch Plains as a way to retain its local responsibility. This type of arrangement is an excellent way to maintain, or even expand on, services while minimizing administrative costs to the involved municipalities.

The borough should be commended for its innovative programs to search out and assist people in need within their community. Both of these programs, the quarterly newsletter and the ministerial association, can be considered best practices that should be emulated by other municipalities with locally controlled public assistance functions.

Professional Services
Annual Audit Out of the $24,463 in other expenses, $18,250 was spent from the professional service line item for auditing services. The auditors are responsible for completing the Annual Financial Statements (AFS), annual debt statements, annual audit, and putting the borough’s budget into the state mandated format. The auditing firm has been with the borough since 1987 and the review team was told that the borough investigated other firms a couple of times during that time, but it was not done on a routine basis. A review of the comments in the annual audits for the past few years revealed there were only a few minor comments each year, although some comments were repeated.

The review team has a philosophical problem with the auditing firm completing the end of year financial statements (AFS and debt statements) and then auditing their own work during the annual audit. Further, N. J. S. A. 40A: 5- 12 of the Local Fiscal Affairs Law imposes the responsibility for the preparation and filing of a municipality’s annual financial statement upon the municipality’s CMFO. The borough should utilize the CMFO to conduct the borough’s end

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of year financial statements. This should result in an undetermined reduction in annual payments to the auditing firm. Whatever savings are realized should be put towards hiring a temporary accounting person for some point from late December to early February to assist the CMFO with her daily duties as she completes the end of year financial statements.

Recommendations: The borough should utilize its CMFO to complete its end of year financial statements, instead of its auditing firm. Whatever savings are realized as a result of less services being provided by the auditing firm should be utilized to hire a temporary accounting person to assist the CMFO during the end of year reporting period.

The borough should routinely solicit requests for proposals for auditing services so that it continues to get high quality service for the best possible price. The borough should ensure that it completes and follows a corrective action plan for any comments and/ or recommendations that are brought to its attention as a result of the annual audit. Budget The CMFO’s main responsibility when it comes to the budget is to track the revenues, expenses, and encumbrances that occur during the fiscal year. She has minor input into the make- up of the budget, as it is mainly the clerk, governing body, and department heads that determine what the budget will be. The following chart represents some of the main budgetary trends in the current fund over the past few years:
 
 

*Since the review team could not fully trust the expenditures that occurred in 1999 that were charged back to the previous year’s budget (appropriation reserve expenditures) and we did not have those figures for 2000, we utilized the percentage of appropriation reserves that were spent in 1998 (21%) and applied it to the other two years in the chart.

** Annual audit was not completed at time of review… the figure of $700,000 was an estimate by the CMFO based upon her preliminary end of year figures.

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As is shown in the chart, the borough is somewhat conservative in its revenue and expenditure projections as it routinely underestimates its anticipated revenue and overestimates its expenditures. Additionally, it is very conservative in its annual projected collection rate. As is seen in the tax collection section of the report, the borough’s actual collection rate on an annual basis is consistently around 98.5%. The borough, however, projected collection rates from 1997 to 1999 of 97.20%, 97.67%, and 97.67%. This underestimating of projected collection rates results in a higher than necessary reserve for uncollected taxes which, in turn, overestimates its projected expenditures. All of this helps the borough achieve a sizeable fund balance or surplus. In 1997, the end of year surplus balance was about 18% of the budgeted amount for that year. In 1998 it was about 16% and in 1999 the estimated surplus amount would be about 11.5%. LGBR typically utilizes a benchmark of 5%- 10% for appropriate amounts of surplus. This amount could be higher if a municipality is planning for a large expenditure in future years.

Recommendations: The borough should perform an in- depth analysis of its revenues and expenses over the past few years to determine line- item trends and utilize that information, along with any additional information that might effect the current budget, to create a budget that is a realistic estimate of revenues and expenses. Revenues and expenses should be estimated so that a fund balance of between 5%- 10% is achieved under normal circumstances.

Although an accurate determination of appropriation reserve expenditures could not be completed, if the 21% that was expended in 1997 is found to be an average, the borough should take a closer look towards the end of the year and cancel any line- item balances to fund balance that are not going to be utilized.

Cash Management
The CMFO is responsible for the investment of municipal funds, including the reconciling of all accounts. The borough’s main depository is Sovereign Bank, although the borough does hold some minor accounts in a few area- banking institutions. Last year the borough received requests for proposals for banking services and significantly increased its return on investments. From 1997 to 1999, the borough received interest on investments of $68,093, $47,124, and $104,416, respectively. As of the time of review, there was no authorized cash management plan in place to guide their investments.

The review team conducted an analysis of 12 borough bank accounts and compared the interest earned to that which could have been earned if the money was invested in the New Jersey Cash Management Fund (NJCMF) or in 91- day T- bills. During 1999, the borough’s interest rate ranged from 4% to 5%. From our analysis, the team concludes that the borough is doing a commendable job at investing its funds.

Recommendations: As it did last year, the borough should routinely solicit proposals for banking services to ensure that it is maximizing its earning potential.

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The CMFO and borough should draft a cash management plan to guide all future investments.

Purchasing
The borough utilizes a decentralized purchasing process for procuring its goods and services. Each department is responsible for searching out what they need, getting quotes when necessary, and forwarding the purchase order to finance. The CMFO is responsible for ensuring that funds are actually available, encumbering the funds, distributing the copies of the purchase order to the vendor, ensuring that all paperwork and signatures are in order before payments are authorized, and paying the bills once authorized by the governing body members. The clerk authorizes all purchases before the paperwork is processed by the CMFO and forwarded to the vendor. Bills are paid once per month by the governing body.

Each of the main functional areas (i. e., police, public works, and the library) is given a stack of pre- numbered purchase orders to use as needed. There is no requisition process. The CMFO, on a somewhat routine basis, provides the department heads with budget reports to assist the departments with their purchasing. Normally, each department will call the CMFO to ensure that funds are available in a line item before the paperwork is processed. The borough departments typically do not plan in advance for its purchases, so there is not much of an opportunity for bulk purchasing. There are no cooperative purchasing ventures in place. The borough does try to take advantage of special discounts that might be available by purchasing through state contract vendors or through the Union County Cooperative Pricing Council.

While the review team did not perform a compliance audit to ensure that purchase requests were not made to the vendor before the proper authorizations and encumbrance of funds, since that is done by the auditing firm, it was openly told to the review team by one department and the CMFO that there have been some occurrences where purchases were requested before the proper steps were fulfilled. Under the present system, there really is no way to prevent this from happening, since vendors typically only require a purchase order number before a request is processed. If the borough were to institute a requisition process, where a purchase order number is only given after funds are encumbered by the CMFO, the chances of purchases occurring before the proper authorizations are received are significantly reduced. The review team is not implying any sort of misdeeds or improper purchases; rather, we are only trying to recommend a purchasing system with better internal control procedures.

Recommendations: The CMFO should submit budget reports to various departments on a monthly basis. The borough should investigate the possibility of entering into a joint or bulk purchasing arrangement with either the board of education or surrounding municipalities.

The borough should consider replacing its current purchasing system with a system that includes a requisition process before a purchase order number is issued.

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GRANT MANAGEMENT
Between 1998 and the beginning of 2000, Fanwood was awarded grant funds in excess of $1.5 million through 19 different grants. The grant funds were designated for various areas of the municipality including parks and recreation, the library, the police department, infrastructure, and downtown revitalization. Grants are applied for and administered by the manager of the department requesting the grant, such as the library director, police chief, and public works director. In those grant areas that do not fall under a specific department, such as recreation, community development, and legislative grants, the borough clerk applies for and administers these grants. The engineer applies for and administers the grant funds associated with infrastructure from the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Although there are no specific software programs or formalized manual procedures in place to monitor grant expenditures and timelines, a review of the grant funds received by Fanwood found that they are typically spent within the designated parameters and timelines. One notable exception was found concerning downtown revitalization. The borough has in its possession $400,000 in grant funds for revitalization efforts in the downtown area. Three hundred thousand dollars of the grant funds was obtained from Union County and $100,000 was obtained from the State of New Jersey in the form of a legislative grant. At time of the review, the team found there were only four months remaining to expend these grant funds and there was neither a viable plan in place to expend these funds or anyone designated to carry out the potential plans. The borough applied for these grants to place Victorian style lights in the downtown area but, after the grant funds were received, it was found that the actual cost of the lights would be close to twice the amount of the grant money.

Recommendations: While the borough should be commended for its efforts to reduce the local tax burden by soliciting grant funding, it needs to ensure that whenever grants are applied for that there is a comprehensive and viable plan in place to expend the funds in accordance with the grant amount, parameters, and timelines.

The borough should invest in a software program to efficiently monitor grant expenditures and timelines.

One- time Value Added Expense: $1,500

TAX COLLECTION
In 1999, Fanwood achieved a current tax collection rate of approximately 98.5%. This follows previous collection rates of 98.43% in 1996, 98.66% in 1997, and 98.73% in 1998. For a point of reference, the average collection rate for New Jersey municipalities was approximately 96% in 1999. Although it is a trend that collection rates have been increasing, due to the fact that many

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payments are made directly through mortgage companies, the borough should be applauded for its aggressive efforts, in the form of delinquent notices, tax sales, and the like, to achieve such a high collection rate.

One full- time collector currently staffs this function. She has been employed with the borough since 1989, having served in the tax collection function since 1996. She began her work in the collection function as the deputy collector, working under another collector’s license, and received her certification as tax collector in 1998. The office is open everyday from 8: 00 a. m. to 4: 00 p. m. No one else is trained in the collection function, so the collector is careful not to schedule any time off around the peak collection times of February, May, August, and November. The only assistance that the collector receives from other borough personnel is to receive any payments that come into the borough while she may be away. The total salary and benefit costs for this function in 1999 were $43,195, while other expenses were $2,778.

Recommendation: The borough should look to minimally train another borough employee in the operation of the tax collection function. One suggestion would be to train the deputy municipal clerk once the position has been filled.

The collector is responsible for approximately 2,600 line items and a total tax levy (including funds collected for the operation of the board of education and the county) of some $14 million. The ratio of 2,600 line items per employee is a little below the LGBR benchmark of between 3,000 and 3,300 line items per employee. As a result, this further enhances our earlier recommendation to assign payroll duties to the tax collector.

Tax sales are conducted once each year, usually in June. The initial tax sale list in 1999 contained 21 properties with a delinquent tax value of nearly $65,000. By the day of the sale, the list was reduced to one property with a delinquency of just under $3,000.

The collector is also responsible for collecting sewer charges from businesses and any assessment charges (sidewalk and curbing). In 1999, there were no assessment charges to collect, but sewer charges amounted to $3,340. Although residents and businesses pay for sewer service through their taxes, local ordinance requires that each business be assessed a separate sewer charge based upon the number of connections. Business sewer usage can vary dramatically, and charging by number of connections for this service is inherently inequitable. Using water meter readings, businesses could be charged for sewer service based upon flow, and therefore, actual usage of the system.

Recommendation: It is recommended that the borough consider changing the method for determining business sewer charges from the number of connections to actual usage.

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TAX ASSESSMENT
One part- time assessor staffs the tax assessment function. The current assessor has been in the position within the borough for over 25 years and currently serves as the assessor in five other municipalities. Office hours are from 10: 00 a. m. to 2: 00 p. m. on Tuesdays and he estimates an additional two to four hours are spent each week working on inspections and tax appeals. This results in a workweek of approximately six to eight hours per week devoted to Fanwood Borough. The salary and benefit costs for this department in 1999 were approximately $17,214, and the other expenses totaled $2,575. The tax assessor does not receive health benefits and outside consultants are only hired to work on various tax appeal projects. The total number of tax appeals and their associated change in valuation are as follows: Year Appeals Net valuation change
 
 

Based upon the borough having approximately 2,600 tax line items, the standards promulgated by the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) indicate that appropriate staffing for this function should be a part- time assessor working 10- 20 hours per week and minimal support service. Because of the borough’s small size and the fact that it is basically fully developed, the review team believes that the current staffing of one part- time assessor is appropriate for the workload within the borough, although consideration should be given to increasing the number of hours that the assessor works.

The borough’s total assessed valuation decreased from $220,369,022 in 1996 to $219,800,598 in 1997 to $219,473,249 in 1998. The last revaluation was conducted in 1983 and as a result, the current equalization ratio is approximately 40.49%. The result of such low equalization ratio is an extraordinarily high tax rate. The borough’s tax rate was as follows:
 

There is currently no impending order from the county to perform a revaluation, although they fall within the statutory boundaries by which the county could mandate such revaluation.

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Recommendations: While we acknowledge the high costs associated with a revaluation, the current equalization ratio of 40.49% is unacceptable. Therefore, we recommend that the borough begin planning for, and initiate, a revaluation so that taxpayers are being fairly assessed their share of the tax burden.

Value Added Expense: UNDETERMINED

While we maintain that the staffing level of one part- time assessor is appropriate, we do recommend that the borough consider increasing the assessor’s weekly hours to at least 10 hours per week when the revaluation is completed.

Value Added Expense: $5,000

There are no Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT’s) agreements in place within the borough, although The Children's Specialized Hospital does provide an in lieu of tax payment each year, and it has grown from $10,000 in 1989 to over $20,000 in 1998. Additionally, there are three group homes sponsored by ARC of Union County. However, they do not make any payments in lieu of taxes.

Recommendation: It is recommended that the borough formalize the PILOT agreement that is currently in place with the Children’s Specialized Hospital and approach the ARC of Union county for such an agreement for the three group homes located within the borough’s borders.

It should be noted that the county provides computer equipment and software to the borough to assist with the assessment function.

MUNICIPAL COURT
While the team recognizes the separate authority and responsibility of the judicial branch of government, we have made the following comments and recommendations in an effort to provide the community with information on current and potential operations, procedures, and programs available to the court. Recommendations are made with the knowledge that appropriate judiciary personnel will require further review and approval.

The municipal court is responsible for adjudicating cases at the local level. Their caseload consists of motor vehicle and traffic violations, municipal violations and quasi- criminal offenses. Although a court of limited jurisdiction, Fanwood’s municipal court processes a significant number of cases. In 1999, there were a total of 2,535 filings with 2,806 cases being disposed. This is compared to 3,008 filings and 3,591 dispositions in 1997 to 2,453 filings and 2,840 dispositions in 1998. Fanwood has three court sessions per month scheduled on Tuesdays after normal business hours. In FY99, the court collected $282,543 in revenues. The borough

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retained $163,039 of this revenue and disbursed the balance to appropriate state and county agencies. The borough utilizes both the Automated Traffic System (ATS) and Automated Criminal System (ACS) to record and monitor court operations. One judge, a court administrator, and a part- time deputy clerk presently staff the court. The borough additionally pays for the services of the municipal prosecutor, public defender, and an hourly employee to assist court personnel on court nights. Prior to March, 2000, there was an additional part- time employee working in the office. As a result, the number of office hours worked per week by court employees was reduced from 67 to 60 per week, not including court nights. In 1999, the salary and benefit costs for the judge, court administrator, and part- time employees were approximately $88,904. Other expenses equaled $8,586. Additionally, $18,757 the borough paid for the municipal prosecutor and $3,050 was paid for the public defender, although they are not officially municipal court employees.

There is approximately $206,389 in accumulated outstanding fines in the Fanwood court. The current method utilized to collect these delinquencies was initiated by a previous municipal judge and is not garnering much success. The deputy clerk reviews all existing delinquent time payment files and issues arrest warrants where appropriate. Once a warrant is issued, no further action is taken until a person with an outstanding warrant is arrested or pulled over by the police and brought before the judge. At the end of 1999, there were over 1,500 unexecuted arrest warrants. The Fanwood court may be a candidate for collection assistance through the Comprehensive Enforcement Program (CEP) offered by the Administrative Office of the Courts. This is a relatively new program offered by the State of New Jersey. Under this program, Fanwood may apply for assistance in locating defendants who have failed to make the required payments and have not responded to regular collection methods. The CEP program retains 25% of all money collected through its efforts, excluding parking violations, victim restitution, and victim of crime compensation board assessments. If, as a result of the CEP program, two- thirds of the delinquent offenders were located and the associated monies collected, the borough would realize a revenue enhancement. However, it would not be solely for municipal purposes. If we conservatively estimate that 50% of the revenue would go towards reimbursing the appropriate state and county agencies and paying the amount due to the CEP program, there would be approximately $68,797 available to the municipality that could be utilized for municipal purposes. LGBR realizes that revenues received as a result of CEP efforts may span over one fiscal year.

Recommendation: It is recommended that the borough file an application with the Administrative Office of the Courts to participate in the Comprehensive Enforcement Program to eliminate the backlog associated with delinquent time payments.

One- time Revenue Enhancement: $68,797

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POLICE
The Fanwood Police Department consists of a contingent of 21 uniformed officers and one civilian assistant. According to various people interviewed, the department’s staffing has remained stable for at least the last five years. At the time of the review, there was one vacancy in the patrol function. These personnel provide the borough with 24- hour, seven- day per week comprehensive police coverage. The police services that are provided to the residents of Fanwood include routine patrol (preventative measures), responding to calls for service, criminal investigations, traffic safety, oversight and provision of school crossing guards, and various other duties. The total salary and benefit cost for the department in 1999 was approximately $1,874,771, and other expenses totaled $65,171. Additionally, overtime payments to uniformed officers, according to payroll records, amounted to $51,884 and the provision of school crossing guards resulted in salary costs equaling $52,278. The borough should be proud of the quality service that is provided by the police department. The review team found the department to be professional and efficient, not allowing some internal problems (to be discussed further in this section) to affect the quality of service that they provide. The problem in Fanwood, however, is trying to maintain a professional police department as costs continue to rise without room for growth (through increased ratables) to pass along those costs.

As is typical in all of the LGBR reports, personnel from the Department of Law & Public Safety (Division of Criminal Justice) are utilized to review the completed police section and offer any guidance and/ or suggestions.

Crime Statistics Fanwood boasts very comparable, if not lower, crime statistics when compared to its surrounding municipalities (Plainfield and Scotch Plains), the Union County average, and Fanwood’s recent past. The first chart compares Fanwood’s crime statistics to its surrounding municipalities and the county and the second chart compares Fanwood’s crime statistics over the past four years:
 

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Fanwood is typical of a majority of municipalities in that the amount of criminal activities has been on the decline in recent years. Additional factors that contribute to Fanwood’s low criminal activity include a focus on motor vehicle stops and the borough’s small size. It is commonplace that two, and sometimes three, officers are patrolling the borough’s 1.3 square miles. This police presence acts as a natural deterrent to would- be criminals. In many towns, an area the size of Fanwood would be one patrol sector (or a portion of a patrol sector) for one patrolman.

Workload
The activities of the department are presently recorded on an in- house computer system. During the review process, the department was actively looking into implementing a computer- aided dispatch (CAD) system that would assist with the department’s dispatching capabilities and create a comprehensive recording system for department activities.

It was somewhat difficult for the review team to determine the actual workload or calls for service that required an officer’s attention and/ or response. This was a result of the department recording all of its activities on its computer system, instead of those activities that represented actual service calls that required an officer’s attention. For example, the information provided to the review team included statistics for processing personnel requests, handling, checking, and releasing prisoners, processing bail payments, and many other activities that are not typically considered calls for service. Additionally, there were some instances of double counting in that the system records both motor vehicle stops and the number of summons issued. As a result, the review team tried to determine a more realistic number of calls for service. The review team discounted those activities that were easily determined to be non- calls for service. For those activities that the team determined to be questionable, we discounted ½ of those records. The following chart represents the team’s estimation of the true calls for service for the department for the last four years:
 
 

As can be clearly seen, the department’s activities have steadily declined over the last four years. The decline in activities equaled 3,719 calls for service or a drop of approximately 30%. Although the number of calls for service has been on the decline, the department still responds to a relatively high number of calls for a municipality the size of Fanwood. This is due to the department being very service oriented and providing services that other municipalities can’t due

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to excessive workloads and time constraints (i. e., lockouts and house checks). Additionally, the department’s number of calls for service is increased due to the emphasis on motor vehicle stops and traffic safety. In 1999, the department conducted 2,774 motor vehicle stops, which represents approximately 33% of their workload.

Rules and Regulations
The review team requested the department’s rules and regulations and policies by which the officers are to abide by. The department provided the team with a manual that is supposed to be given to each officer. Said manual has not been updated for some time, as there are references that date back too as early as 1975. According to department officials, they are aware of the need to update their rules and regulations and policies and are presently undertaking the task of updating the manual. Through a review of the manual and the interview process, it seems apparent that some of the written procedures contradict current practices. It was also a perception of some of the officers that this contradiction allows for discretionary application of discipline. This perception creates an “us versus them” attitude between the lower ranking officers and the police administration and adds to a morale problem that exists in the department.

Recommendations: It is recommended that the administration continue in its efforts to review and update the rules and regulations and policies of the department as soon as possible. This is necessary so that each officer knows exactly what is expected of them and so supervisors can correct improper procedures and discipline when appropriate. It is recommended that when this manual is updated the department should conduct inservice training for each of the officers. Employees should be trained on what is expected of them and supervisors should be trained on how to implement the manual. Consistent application of department rules results in a more professional department and should help to address a portion of the department’s morale problem.

Organization
The department is under the supervision of a chief. One civilian employee assists the chief with daily activities. The rest of the department is divided into two divisions: patrol and operations. The patrol division is under the supervision of a captain and the operations division is under the supervision of a lieutenant. Each of these personnel works a staggered eight- hour day on Monday through Friday. Coverage by these supervisors begins at approximately 7:00 a. m. and ends at approximately 5:00 p. m.

Patrol Division
The patrol division is under the supervision of a captain. The captain, in addition to overseeing the traditional patrol and dispatching functions, is responsible for officer training, uniforms and equipment, scheduling, building maintenance, office supplies, and overseeing two special policemen. The traditional patrol and dispatching functions are provided 24- hours per day, seven days per week by four platoons. Each platoon consists of a sergeant, corporal, and two

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patrolmen. At the time of review, the fourth platoon was where there was a vacancy. The total salary and benefit cost for the patrol function, including the captain and excluding the one vacancy, was approximately $1,419,048.

Patrol - Supervision
The sergeant is the shift supervisor and typically is responsible for staffing the police desk and performing the dispatching. If the full platoon complement is present, there is a protocol that calls for the sergeant to provide a few hours of road supervision while the corporal dispatches any calls for service. No records were provided as to how much time the sergeants actually spent on the road supervising patrol officers, but it was reported by more than one person that this protocol is not regularly enforced and is left to the discretion of the patrol sergeants. The corporal, which does not require a test for promotion: 1) will act as road supervisor for the majority of the shift if there is a full complement of patrol employees; 2) will act as a patrolman if one of the patrolmen is absent; or 3) may cover the dispatch area if the sergeant is absent. (During the daytime hours, officers not assigned to patrol will often be assigned to cover the desk area.) Since there is a sergeant, corporal, and two patrolmen on each platoon, the resulting ratio of supervisors to patrolmen is one to one. This ratio far exceeds acceptable standards of one supervisor for every four to five patrolmen. Some reasons given why the corporal position is in existence is to assist with supervision as the sergeant is typically on the desk doing dispatching and it acts as an incentive for patrolmen as there is typically not as much upward advancement in small departments as there is in larger departments. The corporal rank receives an additional $750 per year and the resulting cost for four corporals is $3,000 per year.

Recommendations: It is recommended that the position of corporal be phased out of the department’s organizational structure.

Cost Savings: $3,000 It is recommended that as a result of the above recommendation, the department should create an “acting pay” policy. This policy should assign appropriate authority to one of the platoon patrolmen, if the sergeant is absent, and should only appropriate additional pay if the acting supervisor is consecutively in the position for an extended period of time (e. g., two full rotations or eight consecutive days).

Patrol - Dispatching
Uniformed officers currently conduct the dispatching function for the borough. Typically, the platoon sergeant or corporal perform these duties. These officers not only dispatch for police calls, but they also dispatch fire and EMS calls. Using the average cost of $96,337.50 for a sergeant in Fanwood, the approximate salary and benefit cost to provide dispatching services to the municipality is $385,350. (This figure is included in the total patrol cost of $1,419,048.)

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It has been common for many municipalities to replace uniformed officers on the dispatch desk with trained civilian dispatchers or contract with another entity to provide the service. In these instances the municipality will generally receive similar or better quality dispatching at a much reduced cost. The review team feels that there are three options available to Fanwood and that it would be in the borough’s interest to investigate such options and implement the one that works best for the municipality.

Option #1 The first option would be to hire civilian dispatchers to cover the entire day. Under this scenario, the borough would have to hire four full- time dispatchers (one for each platoon) and utilize perdiem dispatchers and trained officers on overtime to cover for any full- time dispatcher absences. In past LGBR reports we have found salary and benefit costs for trained, civilian dispatchers to be approximately $22.13 per hour or $46,030 for a 2,080- work year. The cost for four full- time dispatchers would be approximately $184,120. Additionally, the borough would have to fund replacements for full- time dispatcher absences. From our past reviews, we have found that a typical employee can be expected to be on vacation, sick leave, personal leave, etc. for approximately 400 hours per year. As a result, there would be approximately 1,600 hours per year that would need to be covered by other personnel. If per- diem employees could be utilized to cover 800 hours per year at $15 per hour, that cost would be approximately $12,000. If trained officers were utilized for the other 800 hours at an average overtime rate of $42.20 (based on an average patrolman salary of $58,500), that cost would be approximately $33,760. The approximate salary and benefit cost for the dispatching service, under this scenario, would be $184,120 for the full- time dispatchers, $12,000 for additional civilian coverage, and $33,760 for additional uniformed coverage. This results in a total salary and benefit cost of approximately $229,880.

It is the opinion of the review team that Option #1 is the least attractive option as it results in having a civilian in the building alone during the evening hours. The review team feels there is a potential liability now, when there is a uniformed officer in the building alone and the public is free to come into the building and conduct business. There are also times when the officer has to oversee prisoners. We feel this potential liability would be significantly increased with having a civilian in the building alone during the evening hours.

Option #2 The second option would be for the borough to hire two full- time civilian dispatchers for the day shifts and enter into an inter- local agreement with one of their surrounding municipalities to provide dispatching services during Fanwood’s night shifts. Since typically calls for service diminish during the late evening hours, it is believed that Fanwood’s calls for service could probably handled by the other municipality’s dispatching crew, with Fanwood paying for a portion of the associated costs. Since all of the information was not available to the review team, however, we cannot be certain and we will provide a “worst- case” scenario.

Under this scenario, the cost of salary and benefits for two full- time dispatchers during the day would be approximately $92,060 and the cost to provide coverage for time off would be approximately $22,880. Additionally, under this worst case scenario, the borough would have to

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pay the municipality providing evening dispatch service for approximately $92,060 in salary and benefit costs to hire two additional dispatchers to handle Fanwood’s calls for service during the evening hours. We do not feel there would be a need to pay additional money to cover for time off, since there should be adequate full- time resources to cover for the time off. The resulting cost under this scenario would be approximately $207,000.

This scenario is seen as an attractive one in that it reduces the liability of having a person alone in the police station during the evening hours and it also allows the borough, during the daytime, to have an additional contact with the public to conduct official business. As said earlier in this report, the administrative officers stagger their workday to ensure supervisory coverage from 7: 00 a. m. to about 5: 00 p. m. Under this scenario, the workday should be staggered a little more to ensure supervisory coverage from 7: 00 a. m. to 7: 00 p. m.

Option #3 The final option would be for the borough to enter into an inter- local agreement with a surrounding municipality to provide 24- hour per day dispatching services. Similar to Option #2, the review team feels that the borough could be able to obtain these services without having to pay another municipality to hire additional dispatchers on all shifts. There may be portions of the day where existing staff could handle Fanwood’s calls for service in addition to what is already handled and Fanwood would just pay a portion of the existing dispatcher’s salary and benefit costs. Since all of the information was not available to the review team, however, we will again take a “worst case” scenario to this option.

The worst case scenario for this option would be to pay a surrounding municipality approximately $184,120 to hire four dispatchers. That municipality would then provide complete 24- hour per day dispatching service to Fanwood. Similar to Option #2, we do not feel there would be a need to pay additional money to cover for time off, since there should be adequate full- time resources to cover for the time off.

Conclusion
Regionalized dispatching has worked remarkably well in many other communities and there is no reason to believe that it would not work in Fanwood. In addition, the borough should investigate the possibility of receiving grant money from the State of New Jersey’s REDI & REAP programs which encourage regionalized services.

The review team did not factor in the cost of equipment and equipment maintenance when we did our analysis. As one might expect, the borough would realize substantial savings and achieve greater economies of scale if they combined with another municipality. Instead of having to pay for all of the equipment and maintenance costs, the borough would only have to pay a portion of those costs if it entered into an inter- local agreement for dispatching services with another municipality.

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Recommendations: The borough should eliminate the current practice of utilizing patrol sergeants for dispatching and place them back on the road.

The borough should act on one of the options above for utilizing civilian dispatchers. Value Added Expense: $184,120 - $229,880 Depending on the option that is selected, the borough should investigate the possibility of holding prisoners at the municipality providing the dispatching or taking prisoners directly to the county jail for processing when there are no officers available to provide the necessary attention to said prisoners.

Patrol – Staffing & Schedule
The uniformed officers in this function work a four on, four off schedule consisting of 12- hour days. The officers rotate from the day to night shift after two rotations. The current schedule results in a workweek of approximately 42- hours. Since this workweek results in a work year in excess of a standard 2,080 hour work year, officers are given approximately 100 “Kelly” hours to utilize as time off when the schedule permits. As part of our review, we conduct a staffing analysis based upon standards created by the State of New Jersey’s Division of Criminal Justice.

The borough is split into two patrol sectors and the department utilizes a minimum of two uniformed officers on the road at all times to provide routine patrol services. While the review team does not feel that a municipality the size of Fanwood necessarily requires having two patrol sectors and a minimum of two patrol officers on the road at all times, we do realize the need of the department to provide some semblance of backup to their officers. As a result, we agree with the minimum of two so long as the shift commander is included in the analysis. In including the sergeant in the analysis, it should be pointed out that there will be times, because of time off, when he/ she must be a responder to calls for service. In utilizing the beat patrol method of the staffing analysis, which accounts for employee leave time, we found that the borough would need approximately 11 patrol officers, including sergeants, to maintain a minimum of two patrol officers on the road at all times.

The review team also utilized a formula that is based upon Fanwood’s calls for service and employee time off. Since the department’s computer system was not able to provide an accurate average time that officers spent on a call for service, the review team utilized Division of Criminal Justice standards. Based on the 8,445 calls for service and the division’s universal standard of approximately 45 minutes spent on a call for service, we found that the department should have 11.39 officers assigned to patrol to deal with the workload. Using 8,445 calls for service and the divisions standard of 30 minutes per call for service for small municipalities, we found that the department would need 7.59 officers assigned to patrol to deal with the workload.

As a result of the above staffing analyses and taking the sergeants off of the dispatch desk and placing them back on the road, we feel that the appropriate staffing for each of the platoons

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should be one sergeant and two patrolmen. The borough, through attrition or layoffs or firings, should eliminate four patrolmen positions from its police department. Using the four lowest patrolmen salaries, the resulting salary and benefit savings to the borough would be approximately $306,093. The review team does not feel that this should have any appreciable impact on the amount of overtime taken to cover short- shifts due to sick leave.

Recommendation: The borough should eliminate four patrolmen positions from its police department.

Cost Savings: $306,093 (salary and benefit costs)

Probably the biggest factor to the morale problem within the department concerns the rotating shifts. Numerous officers complained that rotating from the night shift to the day shift every 16 days was difficult to do and took a toll on them physically. Some of the officers see the schedule as some sort of punishment. Discussions with the administration gave some valid reasons for rotating the officers from the day to night shift. A few reasons included giving the opportunity for personnel to be introduced to all types of criminal activity, making it possible for the administration to keep in contact with all of the officers, and making it easier to schedule training, as many training sessions are only conducted during the daytime hours. Discussions with the administration made it clear that they did not want to go back to steady shifts.

Recommendation: While the review team fully recognizes and supports the administration’s prerogative to create department schedules, we do recommend, however, that the administration and the officers create a dialogue to possibly find a middle ground to the rotating schedule. One possibility would be to extend the time between rotations to more than every 16 days.

The department calls people in on overtime when another officer is needed to make the minimum of two officers on the road. In order to minimize the amount of overtime issued, the department has a policy to only allow one officer on a platoon to schedule time off on a particular day. The department should be commended for this cost- effective policy.

Police – Special Officers
The department utilizes special officers to act as court bailiffs, conduct traffic control at special events, and to conduct a walking patrol for two hours on Thursday evenings in the downtown district. This practice of assigning a special officer to the downtown district stems from a past practice dating back to when local banks were open late on Thursday evenings and needed additional presence. The practice of assigning a special officer to the downtown district on Thursday evenings costs the borough approximately $1,150 annually. The review team feels that this is an unnecessary expense and patrolmen on duty could easily handle this service by creating a “park and walk” patrol in which the patrolmen would walk the downtown areas at various times of the day and throughout the week. This would serve to further deter any potential

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criminal activity and would provide for healthy interaction with the business owners in the downtown district. This type of interaction with the public is imperative for any department trying to create or enhance a community policing philosophy and at the present time, the review team feels that this interaction is somewhat lacking on a department wide basis.

Recommendation: The practice of assigning a special officer to the downtown district on Thursday evenings should be eliminated. In its place, we recommend that the department create a “park and walk” policy, in which the patrol officers would park their police cars and walk the downtown area during various times of the day.

Cost Savings: $1,150

Patrol – Motor Vehicle Stops
According to department policy, each officer is required to put in at least one- hour of radar work during his shift. This policy is a reflection of the department’s focus on motor vehicle stops. The administration feels that if a department focuses on motor vehicle activity, it will create a much safer environment for the residents and will help to deter crime as would be criminals would not want to risk the chance of being pulled over on a motor vehicle stop. In 1999, the department conducted 2,249 motor vehicle stops and 435 equipment stops. As a result of those stops, the department issued 1,431 moving violation summons and 15 driving while intoxicated (DWI) summons. For comparison purposes, in 1996, the department conducted 2,679 motor vehicle stops and 1,438 equipment stops. In 1996, the police stops resulted in 2,789 moving violation summons and 40 DWI summons. In just four years, the number of moving violation summons that were issued declined by almost 50%.

This decline in issued summons has become somewhat of a point of contention between patrol officers and the police administration. The patrol officers feel that they are giving adequate attention to motor vehicle activity, while the administration feels that motor vehicle activity has been somewhat neglected and has resulted in a less safe environment for the borough residents. We feel that a comprehensive review should be done of accident data over the past four to five years. This data should then be compared to the number of motor vehicle summonses that were issued during the same time period. If it is found that accidents increased during these years when motor vehicle summonses decreased, both the patrol officers and administration should come together and discuss alternatives to address the problem.

Recommendation: The traffic sergeant should do an in- depth analysis of motor vehicle accidents versus motor vehicle summonses issued over the past four to five years, in order to assess whether the department should address the amount of attention given to motor vehicle activity.

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Operations Division
The operations division is under the supervision of a lieutenant. This lieutenant, although in a supervisory position, spends the majority of his time doing criminal investigations and its associated duties. Other duties of the lieutenant include maintaining the department’s records function, controlling the evidence room, reporting NCIC statistics, and dealing with firearms (permitting, training, qualifications, and maintenance). Besides the lieutenant, there is a traffic safety sergeant and one detective. The salary and benefit cost for the operations division was approximately $291,133.

Operations – Criminal Investigations
As was stated in the previous paragraph, there are two people assigned to do the department’s traditional detective work. The detective is assigned these duties full time, while the lieutenant estimates that he spends more than half of his time on detective work. The traffic sergeant also has been trained in criminal investigations and assists when his services are needed. The staffing of this function has remained constant for many years. Both the lieutenant and detective are scheduled to work Monday through Friday during day and early evening hours. Both employees are on- call for any after- hours assistance that may be required. These personnel conduct all of the criminal investigations for the department, including adult crimes, juvenile crimes, and drug offenses. Each criminal investigation also triggers a follow- up investigation. The three personnel also process any crime scenes for evidence.

Although the department’s workload has decreased significantly over the past few years, the staffing in this function has remained stable. The actual amount of criminal activity within a town has a direct impact on the workload in the criminal investigation function. As was shown earlier in this report, the actual criminal activity (total crime index) within Fanwood went from recent highs of 160 in 1996 and 186 in 1997 to lows of 99 in 1998 and 107 in 1999.

As a result of past LGBR reviews, we have been able to create some benchmarks for the number of investigative personnel necessary for a municipality. For purposes of our analysis, we utilized a full- time equivalent (FTE) of 1.75 officers assigned to the detective function. We have found departments that range from 81 crimes per detective to 237 crimes per detective. As a result of this information, we typically recommend that a municipality needs a detective for every 100- 150 crimes within its borders. Utilizing an FTE of 1.75 detectives, Fanwood had about 57 crimes per detective in 1998 and about 61 crimes per detective and during 1999. Both of these figures are well below LGBR internal benchmarks.

As a result of these benchmarks and the significant decrease in criminal activity within Fanwood, we recommend that the detective position be eliminated and a part- time civilian employee be hired to assist the operations lieutenant and traffic sergeant with their other duties so that they can expand their focus on criminal investigations. In doing so, Fanwood’s crime per detective would increase to approximately 100 crimes per detective and fall within LGBR benchmarks for the appropriate number of detectives within a department. Even if Fanwood’s crime index were to increase back up to the level approaching 160, this would still create a crime to detective ratio that would just barely exceed acceptable LGBR benchmarks.

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In order for the above to work, changes must be made in the area of patrol dispatching. During 1999, operations division personnel spent 808 hours, or a little less than half of a full- time work year, filling in for absences on the dispatch desk. Under the options given to the borough concerning dispatching, there would no longer be an issue as dispatching would be the concern of another entity or there would be appropriate funding available to utilize per- diem employees or officers on overtime to cover for the absences.

Recommendations: It is recommended that the borough hire a part- time civilian to assist the operations lieutenant and the traffic sergeant with duties not required to be completed by a sworn officer. Such items could include working with the records function, assisting with NCIC reporting, maintaining firearms training logs, coordinating crossing guard schedules, counting parking lot money, scheduling and logging vehicle repair and maintenance, and providing valuable administrative assistance (answering phones, preparing correspondence, copying, and procurement).

Value Added Expense: $17,500 (salary costs) ($ 12.50/ hour – 25 hours/ week)

It is recommended that the position of detective be eliminated from the department’s organization and that the lieutenant be responsible for all investigations with expanded assistance from the traffic sergeant.

Cost Savings: $90,922 (salary and benefits)

The review team noticed that the operations lieutenant didn’t have much input or control into his annual budget. Any purchases that he would like to make need to go through the chief and are accounted for in a departmental line item.

Recommendation: It is recommended that the operations lieutenant is given some input into what his annual budget will be and a line item should be assigned to the investigation function as many supplies are purchased specifically for usage in this area.

Operations - Traffic Safety & Municipal Parking Lots
Under the supervision of the operations lieutenant, a sergeant is responsible for the department’s traffic safety function. This person is currently responsible for enforcing motor vehicle and parking regulations, collecting money from the municipal parking meters at the railroad station, overseeing the crossing guards, investigating accidents, and scheduling the repair and maintenance of department vehicles. In addition to those duties, this person also assists with criminal investigations when the workload warrants.

Fanwood maintains municipal parking areas at the railroad station. The vast majority of the parking areas have been assigned to long- term parking where people can purchase monthly, quarterly, or yearly permits. Fanwood residents get the first chance at the parking permits.

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Yearly resident permits cost $180 and non- resident permits cos