Employee cuts in offing in Englishtown

Two DPW workers will be reduced to part time

Blaming constraints in the present municipal budget, Englishtown officials are preparing to eliminate one clerical position from the municipal payroll and to reduce two full-time Department of Public Works (DPW) employees to part-time status.

As of Jan. 1, Englishtown’s three-man DPW will adjust its staff so that two of the department’s employees will become parttime workers.

Laurie Finger, who is Englishtown’s administrator and chief financial officer, said a decrease in state aid is what led to the decision tomake two of the three DPWpositions part time.

Finger also said one part-time clerk’s position in the borough clerk’s office is being eliminated.

According to Finger, only the DPW director will remain as a full-time employee in
that department. The other two DPW employees will be reduced froma 40-hour work week to a 20-hour work week. Those two employees will no longer receive health benefits and they will not receive sick, personal and vacation days.

“The borough is looking to offset the loss in state revenues and offset costs. It is being done in an  Finger said.

The resolution authorizing the changes was passed unanimously by the Englishtown Borough Council on Oct. 22, but Finger could not furnish a copy of the resolution to the News Transcript because she said Borough Attorney Stuart Moskovitz had not drafted it as of Oct. 31.

When asked if any officers on Englishtown’s eight-man police force will be let go in the face of the borough’s economic situation, Finger said, “We are considering all options.”

In September, the Borough Council adopted a $1,975,896 municipal budget for 2008. Officials projected the collection of $851,161 in property taxes from Englishtown property owners to support that budget.