Laurie I just don't understand why we need a Cheif and a Deputy Cheif? Cut the Deputy Cheif position and save some money there. Seems like it was created to give someone a higher paying job.

yahoo has it right, how can law twp residents sustain 100k anually for a cop after 1 yr of service, we cant. so cut the salaries in half,, dont like, it leave, the jobs will be filled with qualified canidates in know time, deputy chief i think not. This will solve the problem almost single handedly.

Joe, I'm fully aware of the steps. My statement, "who told you that cops make 100k after 1 year of service?" did not imply that I did not know, it was to question the previous post who claimed Lawrence cops were paid 100K after one year.

And, yes, the second part of your post in correct. Lawrence police salaries are in line with everyone else and are not the problem!!

My apology, 2Big is the culprit here, along with Wahoo.

I just ran into this and to be honest I feel the fire,EMS,and police should all have priority when it comes to support
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Senior services — 1 percent <~~Be more specific.
Police — 51 percent
Fire and Rescue services — 9 percent <~~~Very wrong and unfare
Check the STATS and you'll see how many lives are saved by police and Fire/Rescue units

With crime rising as much as has been reported, there must be more that did not get reported. There always is more that we don't hear about. A serious confrontation becomes more likely. That's why we need more K-9 Officers and Police Officer handlers. We have a top notch K-9 Unit, but, they can't operate 24/7! Every shift deserves the support of a Police Dog. Our police need an Armored SWAT/Rescue Truck. If an officer is wounded in a hostile zone, how can an ambulance get to them. The armored rescue unit advances to make the rescue before the officer dies from shock and blood loss. A used Bank Money Truck will serve for this purpose. CERT Team volunteers can assist. West Windsor did just this. But, the vehicle must be on scene in the First Five Minutes, not 20 minutes away. That's why Lawrence needs it's own vehicle. Polcie are combatants, subject to ambush attack, without warning. Hire more K-9's, obtain the best body armor, and a used Armored Bank Money Truck. KEEP LAWRENCE POLICE STRONG.

DON'T DIMINISH ANYTHNG OF LAWRENCE TOWNSHIP.
LOVE THE POLICE, FIREMAN, EMERGENCY TEAMS, ETC.
I LOVE WHAT JOE RUSSO POSTED.

Get rid of the deputy police chief immediately and save money. Get rid of the spineless chief to. The chief has almost 30 years why would he stay and allow a new cop to be laid off anyway because he doesn't want to retire. Greed. How do these people sleep at night allowing a young father to be laid off because of selfishness. Retire and help save someone's job who doesn't have a pension available to them. Or stay and look like a real hero as guys get laid off so u can line ur pockets some more.

Police are paid too much. The correct comparison should be toTrenton where the police face major risks daily. Wealthy towns are paying too much for similar services.The poll looks like it was answered by police and public wroks employees. Why does Lawrence need a very very expensive soccer field where the old airport used to be? Every field will require maintenance increasing need for more public works employees.

Once again...the cries of police being paid too much. Do some research and look into towns similar to Lawrence...similar, if not, more pay. Don't compare a large metropolitan area to the suburbs. Large cities always get paid less...everywhere in this country, not just here...if you don't understand why, research it.

I say the first thing to go should be Senior Services. I am so tired of hearing Seniors complain that they are on a fixed income and cannot afford to pay more. I am salaried, and did not get a raise the last 2 years. I am on a fixed income too and cannot afford to pay more. I say close the Senior Center and eliminate all Senior recreation services. The voters, many of whom were seniors, made it clear that they want less services. Let's start with Senior Services, which IMHO, are discriminatory anyway (in that you have to be a certain age to qualify).

After cutting Senior Services, recreation should be next on the list. Either cut the recreation programs entirely, or charge enough such that the program is self-sustaining and does not require taxpayer dollars.

http://www.valleybreeze.com/2012/05/02/cl/what-is-a-firefighter-worth

I beg all of you to read this link! Think about it....This goes for Police,Fire and EMS. (now before I get all the hate mail, I AM A FIRM BELIEVER that the chief and deputy need to go!! Our emergency services are the best and we may be alittle on the higher side of pay but that is not the only reason we dont have money in this town!!)

I read the contract left by Joe Friday's link and am astounded at the benefits and costs in the police contract. I have run businesses in the private sector,non profit sector and been an employee in the federalgovernment and never came close to the entitlements for overtime, sick leave (unlimited accumulation) funeral days off. Nor do I think a contract should devote so much to Union benefits . The contractual protections included in a police investigation of a fellow police officer are not afforded to citizens -they should be identical. And it goes on and on. Time to get off the gravy train. Read the link-it will amaze you:
http://www.perc.state.nj.us/publicsectorcontracts.nsf/Contracts%20By%20Employer/ACD952BF81C9F524852577D600602B38/$File/Lawrence%20Tp%20and%20FOP%20Lodge%20209%20R&F%202009.pdf?OpenElement

1 of 3:

The penny-wise, pound-foolish mentality of some comments is disturbing. Former councilman Bob Bostock pointed out the #1 priority of local government is to provide for public safety. Rumors are swirling about what council will do. Layoffs and not filling needed positions are possible. Despite what people will admit, the police are operating with a barebones staff to answer a large call volume. Comments about the response to the people selling counterfeit goods at the street fair show how out of touch with reality people are or how they don’t understand the risks involved. Go to the Officer Down website www.odmp.org/ to read about cops getting killed every few days going to “routine” calls and “petty” crimes in sleepy suburban towns like ours. Last summer burglaries in Lawrenceville were through the roof. People demanded action. Now some want to lay cops off. It’s getting warm out. Burglaries may start again. Getting rid of the 2 recruits who started the police academy a few weeks ago (replacing cops who retired) would be foolish, as would other layoffs.

2 or 3:

It would also be foolhardy not to follow through and fill the 2 fire positions that have been staffed with per diems for the last 2 years while civil service tests happened. Volunteer firemen are burned out from answering calls, doing mandatory training and fundraising to stay in business. Many are disgruntled from the lack of support – be it real or perceived – they get from the town. Anyone with a scanner can hear how it often takes 10+ minutes (sometimes 20 at 3 AM) to get enough volunteers to show up to get a fire truck on the road. Add to that the time it takes them to get where they need to be. Yep, many fire calls are false alarms. But alarms sometime turn out to be real emergencies. A fast response can mean the difference between someone living or dying. It’s a game of russian roulette the town is going to lose at some point. It already happened a few years back: a woman was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning during a “routine” alarm. The volunteer system is at a crossroads. Volunteers save the town millions of dollars by providing a free service. The town can either show support by filing the two firemen to help ease the call burden, or they can turn their back and accelerate the decline of the volunteer dept.

3 of 3:

The lack of support from the town sped up the demise of the volunteer rescue squad and led to the need for a 24/7 paid ambulance staff. If you think the trash fee is too much to pay, you won’t want the bigger fire district tax that would be needed to support 24/7 paid firemen. It would be another mistake to fire the town’s ambulance staff and go back to Capital Health. That didn’t work before. It won’t now. A reliable person in the know told me ambulance staff makes a profit. The figures quoted in the town meetings showing a deficit was because a billing error (that has been fixed) meant that a lot of bills never went out. I encourage council to protect us by maintaining our public safety services. Savings can definitely be made in the long-term (personnel buyouts, delaying fire truck or ambulance replacement, new terms negotiated into future contracts, reducing litigation spent on lawsuits, etc.) but don’t jeopardize our future safety by getting rid now of our most valuable asset – our dedicate emergency responders, both present and future.

For making cuts, please do NOT look towards the emergency services or programs that help our kids. We need these services to maintain a safe and likable township that we all have known Lawrence to be.

I'm not an accountant so I can't understand why the Township Council has voted to give itself a handsome raise when we are all talking about cuts. Can someone please explain to me why was this allowed. Is there any way we can reverse that decision? I know this will not amount to anything in the large scheme of things but atleast the Council has to get the message that they are accountable for the mess and will not be wrongly rewarded.

I recommend the Council take help from the Lawrence Board of Education (Tom E & others) to balance the budget.
The BoE did a great job with their budget but got voted down due to the mess created by the inefficient Township Council. What a slap in the face of people who do good job!

Why doesn't town council take the four newer unmarked Police cars away from the Lieutenants, Captain, Deputy Chief and the Chief? They use them to drive back and forth to work every day. This is a high cost, with the price of the car, the maintaince and fuel. Its not like they are "on call" because they are not. If they were they would get the on call stipend, as per the contract.
The thing with the Deputy Chief is that he doesn't even live in Lawrence Twsp., he doesn't even live in Mercer County. and he does an approx. 50 mile round trip each day. That's a lot of fuel at todays prices. Also when he works an overtime job he uses the township car, sits in it with the engine running for hours, while patrolman, doing the same job have to use their own personal cars. If Council uses common sense, we could start saving money today.

I cannot believe what I am reading I cannot believe how many of you want police officers to lose their jobs Do you realize how many people are out of work already? Blaming the police for the mess this twp is in is way off base. If you want to blame someone the blame clearly falls on Town Council. Were they not the ones who said we don’t want a hospital? I hate to beat a dead horse, but if they had built the hospital in Lawrence these problems would have been solved!! The police are way at the bottom of the list of people to blame for this mess. I read in letters that we should take the cars away from the police chief and asst chief and maybe they are right that they shouldn’t have a car to take home, but shouldn’t we first look to take the cars away from the township inspectors, the recreation head. Why do those people need a car, they can use their own cars!! We are yelling to cut the police officers salaries, but no one is yelling to cut the school superintendent’s salary or a teacher’s salary.Yes a good teacher is worth the high salary, but look at where our schools rank in the state, it’s not as high as you may think. Maybe tenure should be removed, so that bad teachers may be given their walking papers. $100K for a cop may be high, I don’t know what the scale is for police officers, but they put their life on the line every day Has any one from this town gone to the Lawrenceville School and said listen times are tough we need X amount of dollars more.

Not only the school superintendent's salary should be cut, but the same should be done to the school business manager, personnel director, many other departmental directors, curriculum supervisors and managers. Lawrence school system is an average one. For example, the 2011 Lawrence High School graduation rate was 8th in Mercer Co (among 16 high schools, including 2 Mercer County Vocational ones). Check for yourself:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/05/nj_high_school_graduation_rate_1.html

Other scores/grades (for example mandated by state) are also not so great (http://www.ltps.org).

Those who say that the school system is excellent are very far from the truth!

The Chief and Deputy Chief should retire immediately. This would save the town almost half a million dollars and save several layoffs. Do the right thing and retire. If you have your 25 years in you can retire and collect your pension and allow someone else to work and support their family. Stop being so damn greedy. Retire NOW

A million dollar fire truck? Is it a necessity?

"Township Manager Richard Krawczun offering council members a list of suggested cuts that would reduce the amount to be raised through school taxes by $700,549. Those cuts included the $375,000 already identified by school officials, as well as other actions like using $100,000 from the district’s capital reserve surplus fund and another $100,000 from the district’s capital maintenance reserve surplus fund as revenue.

School officials were particularly concerned about council’s suggestion the district dip into the two surplus funds.

“Our reserves impact our ability to maintain the stability of our tax levy,” Eldridge said during the meeting.

“We don’t want to take money out of either our capital reserve or our maintenance reserve. That, to us, is counter to the concept of a fiscally sound district. It undermines our strategic plan to control the tax levy, not just this year, but over years forward,” school board President Laura Waters said to council."

Read the above pasted from the school budget article - This is the reason the town is in this mess. Thanks to Richard "Use up the Surplus Fund" Krawczun, the town's surplus has been dwindling the last few years, now he wants more taxes to re-fund it. Is this all he knows how to do? His is the salary that needs to be cut or better yet eliminated. He is not fit for the job, For what he is getting paid, finding a much better replacement can't be that difficult.

Clarity, The only way to eliminate the Chief position would be for the town to hire a public safety director like many other places in NJ are doing. Trenton and Hightstown are two places that have one here in Mercer County. This position is a non sworn executive who is generally a retired Chief or higher ranking officer who makes significantly less money then a Sworn Chief does. Most directors make around 100K as opposed to 160K for the Chief here. Being retired police officers, most times the towns hiring them do not have to provide benefits as the director is already receiving them from retirement. If this is the route the township is taking, it is conceivable that they could save 100K by getting rid of the chief position and hiring a director when Benefits, Pension, and Pay are taken into account. This is why alot of town do this, in addition to have more control over management as opposed to a Chief.

This can be solved very easily. The time has come for the Lawrenceville school, in cluding their numerous private residences (somehow classified as learning centers and are somehow exempt from taxes) they own thorughout the township, also Notre Dame and Rider University to start paying their share of property taxes. It is a no brainer! What's fair is fair.This would solve everything.

I agree that it may be time for a fresh face in the manager's office. For a town that I have heard claim to be so fiscally responsible over the years, it doesn't make any sense to be in this situation. And I now it's just the nature of the beast, but I'm so tired of these politicians buckling under the pressure of the outcry of a mere few. In this situation, the simplest, cost effective and efficient thing to do would be to cut the municipal trash collection. I think many were upset about the trash fee because it was presented poorly and in a blackmail manner due to one provider forced on them and the inability to opt out.

Just cut the service and let people choose their collector if that's the issue or just stand your ground as a governing body and impose the fee.

I just looked at the private trash collection bill of someone who lives in another very desirable town in the area (and generally higher taxes for similar property as Lawrence) and it cost $125.00 each quarter ($500/year) for one pickup per week. Lawrence was going to charge around $350.00/year for the trash fee...doesn't seem outrageous to me. Cranbury, Princeton Twp., Hopewell Twp., Montgomery Twp., Plainsboro all have private trash collection. And as previously mentioned, these towns cost more to live in...they aren't crying for the town to provide the service. All of these towns also have school districts that FAR exceed the quality of Lawrence. If you want a bargain, don't expect superior services

I'm wondering where all the criticism of the manager comes from. Fiscal management has always been a priority of the township and the mangers who work for council. Blaming the manager for the tax appeals is like blaming a gas station attendant for high fuel prices.
To address the comments about the unmarked police cars; those who have them are chief executives and as such are required to respond as needed with maybe one or two exceptions. The cars are not even a realized expense.The funds, before anyone starts to complain can only be used for such things as equipment and not salaries. And, even if well intentioned, Lawrenceville does not need armored personnel carriers and does not need to pay the insurance for them.
To Bob, you are missed but your party, our party would never agree to a property tax increase by anyone including schools. No disrespect to you Bob. Your intentions were good and you ultimately did get what you wanted in respect to municipal employee contributions for health care. Once this year ends, anyone making 100,000k which seems to be a benchmark of criticism will be paying 35%. More than most non government workers.
So I ask again, any other questions or concerns?

The frivolous spending has caught up to them. In such bad economic times, why would a town drop between 3-4 million in greenacres/open space? Its a classic case of self centered people in positions of power unloading on the rank and file to take the heat off of them for their choices of poor financial management. The manager and council have no one to blame but themselves.

Us residents WILL feel the hit if the emergency services get messed with. Mark my words!!!!!!!

I am just another taxpayer wondering why the deputy chief and chief have not been given their walking papers. Swallow your ego's and do the taxpayers and employees below you a favor. For once put the arrogance and selfishness aside. Retire

I just love it when taxpayers say no to higher taxes and no to cuts as well. One you have a choice about but when you do make that decision you can't complain about the latter. I'm all for going after waste but sooner or later you have to decide which is more important paying more or getting less. You make this decision every time to go to the store so it shouldn't be so painful nor so dramatic. Did you really think that 2% cap wasn't going to come back and bite us in the rear end sooner or later. Were you so taken in by the Governors trickle down economic plan to believe our costs would remain below 2% during an economic downturn? I'm thinking basic economics should be a requirement in school because most people are clueless. The state was living above it's means and passing money down to townships now that money is no longer available so we have to pay it ourselves or cut all but basic services. There is no longer much middle ground. By all means cut the waste but that won't be enough. Oh and perhaps we can let a few new businesses open up without everyone within ten miles crying like a little girl.