Advertisement
Bellmawr Councilman Ray Bider spoke about the Borough’s annual Best Practices worksheet at the monthly Council meeting on November 19, 2018. He said it was submitted to the State a week ago.
The Borough has been preparing and submitting a Best Practices Worksheet for eight years, Bider said. “The questions have varied from 50 to 30 to 25. This year, [the questions are] up to 61. So, 30 new questions were added this year. The Borough achieved a score of 84%. That means that we receive 100% of State funding with no penalties.”
Advertisement
The Borough also scored 84% last year.
According to the New Jersey Department of Consumer Affairs: “The inventory encourages municipalities to embrace practices that promote financial accountability, sound management and transparency.”
Bider highlighted a few areas that will be worked in. The first concerned the audit, which is typically due by June 30. “We were a couple of weeks later than that — into mid-July. So we need to try to work to get it done before the end of June,” he said.
Advertisement
The Budget was adopted at the May meeting. “That was because we were waiting for tax rates from the County and the School Districts. So that is why they were delayed,” Bider explained.
He said that the Borough publishes all contracts online. “However, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the Borough Clerk now will be adding the dollar amounts to make it more transparent in the future.”
The other item that needed to be looked at concerned dental insurance. “Two officials receive dental insurance — one will be removed January 1 and Mayor and Council are going to decide what to do with the other one,” Bider said. What does this mean for Dentist Sarasota? It’s one of the local dentistry in the area!
One management employee is receiving overtime to work on a grant, Bider explained. “We need to decide whether we are going to continue that process or have someone else do it at no charge.”
The new payroll software will track all employees for their time, Bider said. “The payroll clerk is in the process now of getting a balance from every supervisor and department head so once January starts, that will be 100% trackable on the new payroll.”
To view the Borough’s Best Practices Worksheet, click the image below.
