Commissioner Urges Balanced Budget
BY ROB KUNZIG • STAFF WRITER CAPE GAZETTE • FEBRUARY 17, 2009
Dewey Beach - At the tail end of a grueling six-hour meeting, Commissioner Marc Appelbaum unleashed an impassioned warning to the council: Get smart or go broke.
“To the commissioners, to the town manager, to everybody here – it’s time to wake up,” he said, his voice rising to a shout. “We don’t have it together. We’d better start getting this together or we will run out of money.”
The Valentine’s Day meeting had already seen its share of fever-pitch passions and intense arguments. Earlier, several commissioners clashed with Mayor Dell Tush over the creation of a personnel policy committee, which ultimately failed to form. Appelbaum’s color rose over a discussion of a Dec. 5, 2008 letter he wrote to the town council, asking it to commit to the concept of a balanced budget.
In the letter, Appelbaum urged the council to act quickly and capture the anticipated $200,000 of revenue from the accommodations tax on rental properties. At the meeting, however, it became evident that few knew who pays the tax – the renters, the property owners or the rental brokerage. If the town fails to collect the money, Appelbaum said, a corresponding round of budget cuts will be required.
He said the accommodations tax confusion is the kind of oversight that caused last year’s massive $700,000 deficit.
“We didn’t pay attention to it,” Appelbaum said. “If we go over one month, we need to commit ourselves to finding it the next month.”
Appelbaum recognized that adjusting the budget on a month-to-month basis would necessitate hard choices. He said town employees should help pay for their health insurance, currently provided in full for employees and their families.
“Will the employees say ‘I’m not making enough money,’ and quit? Maybe. That’s something we’ll have to deal with,” said Appelbaum.
He also recommended adjusting wages to the seasonality of town workers. He said many full-time, salaried positions were necessarily less active during the winter. If their wages became hourly, the town would pay only for work performed, and save money.
Commissioner Rich Hanewinckel shares Appelbuam’s concerns, but found encouragement in his outburst.
“I took it to be a good thing in two ways,” Hanewinckel said. “He’s ready to make some action, and he sent that message to the public.”
While he doesn’t agree that the town could be bankrupt within a year and a half, Hanewinckel said, “I am very concerned that we’re going to be coming up short this year,” he said. “There just doesn’t seem to be any appetite for making cuts.”
Dewey Beach Police Sgt. Cliff Dempsey would be directly affected by any cuts in pay or benefits. He said any cuts may cost the town its workers.
“It would be a blow to all of us,” Dempsey said. “The risk of losing employees would be greatly increased.”
A special town council meeting will be held Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Lifesaving Station on Dagsworthy Ave. Though the agenda has yet to be posted, Hanewinckel expects the concerns raised by Appelbaum’s remarks to be addressed.
“I think that the meeting on the 28th will be very telling,” said Hanewinckel.