Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents press council on change orders, large disbursements and delayed municipal budget
Summary
At public comment residents pressed the council for explanations of change orders (including a ~ $32,000 HVAC-related modification), engineering oversight fees and a $13.9 million current-fund disbursement amid concerns the municipal budget was not introduced by statutory deadlines; council said the town is operating under a temporary budget and explained technical reasons for the change orders.
Several residents used the public-comment period on May 6 to press Edison Township leaders for details about construction change orders and large disbursements, and to ask why the municipal budget had not been introduced on the timetable residents said state law requires.
Resident Joel Bassoff asked for clarification on a roughly $32,000 change order for Hannah Mechanical (described as modifications to access panels and load-bearing walls) and additional engineering fees for Lero Engineering tied to architectural changes on the sports building and a health center. He also pointed to a line item of $13.9 million in the current-fund disbursements and asked how that fit into an overall budget while the town had not yet publicly presented a new municipal budget.
Administration and council leaders replied that the items cited are change orders to projects already under construction; the engineering fees reflected structural design adjustments required after architectural changes. Mr. Picarillo, an engineer called to the podium, said that HVAC access panels required modifications to openings in load-bearing walls and that the change order included structural-engineering work to design those modifications. For the sports building, architectural revisions cascaded into additional structural work, he said.
On the budget timeline, council leadership acknowledged the budget presentation was delayed and said the town is operating under a temporary budget based on last year’s spending while council review continues. Council President Coyle said the council committee was reviewing the budget line by line and that additional time was needed to consider cuts. Residents said they were concerned about the legal requirement to present a budget and the practical impact of not knowing tax rates.
The public exchange recorded both the technical reasons the administration offered for change orders and a civic-framing dispute over timing and transparency for the municipal budget. Council members said they would continue deliberations before formally introducing and adopting the budget.
