Mayor, Councilman to Propose Cutting Unfilled Positions

Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis and Councilman Joseph Sangiovanni will propose an ordinance at the next township council meeting that will do away with five unfilled positions in township government.

The positions were included in the recent restructuring plan that was vetoed by the mayor. The mayor's proposal will not include cuts to any filled positions, nor will it create any new positions.

The previous restructuring ordinance would have cut several positions, including those filled by deputy business administrator Juan Bellu, recreation department head Dave Francese and council secretary Jennifer Hartmann, and created three new positions, including a deputy township clerk.

Officials from opposing sides of the political aisle argued over whether the move would have saved money or cost money.

While the new set of cuts does not eliminate any current salaries from the books, there is the potential for saving as much as $866,000 since there would be no chance of the positions ever being filled.

"The positions were created but never filled during a restructuring of the township," said Acropolis. "Our department heads and employees are doing a great job so we never saw the need to fill the positions and add supervisors.  Taking these titles off the books will prevent them from being filled now or in the future by any mayor which will potentially save our taxpayers a lot of money."

Acropolis said if he had line item veto power, he would have allowed the unfilled positions to be eliminated but rejected the other aspects of the restructuring.

"This ordinance will give the council another chance to eliminate these positions to make sure they are never filled and not add any further supervisors," Acropolis said.

Council President John Ducey, a proponent of the original restructuring plan that was vetoed by Acropolis, told Brick Patch he would support the new proposal, but wishes it went further.

"I'd rather see him go all in," said Ducey, of Acropolis. "The mayor's plan has potential savings, which is good. Actual savings is better, but at least it's a step in the right direction."