FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PARSIPPANY – On May 18, Councilmember Janice McCarthy issued the following statement to the Township Council regarding the Soriano Administration’s proposed use of a five million-plus dollar bond in order to balance the budget.

“The Finance Committee met for the first time on Monday with Business Administrator Fred Carr, Chief Financial Officer Juan Uribe and the township auditor for clarification on where they stand with the $5M special emergency borrowing and the status of the budget.

At the request of the Finance Committee, BA Carr and CFO Uribe agreed to work with township auditors to clarify outstanding issues with the State Division of Local Government Services on whether the town will be allowed to borrow $5M. So, the borrowing decision is pending with the State. The resolution on the agenda is tabled again by the council pending clarification.

If $5M or a lower amount bond is allowed by the State Division of Local Government Services, it cannot be included as revenue in the 2021 budget. Whatever amount the State allows, it is only for COVID related expenses and not any underlying issues inherent to the budget.

Based on whether Parsippany will be able to borrow the $5M, that will determine how the Administration goes forward with the 2021 budget and what steps or actions will be necessary to balance the budget.

Recent remarks criticizing the council for trying to fully understand how borrowing $5M fit into the 2021 budget were unnecessary. This budget is very complicated because of structural deficit issues made worse by the pandemic. We would like this to be a collective effort.

Just to clarify any misunderstanding, as of today Parsippany does not have a 2021 budget. So, there is no budget for the council to approve. Any decisions on taxes, proposed capital projects, raising or reducing expenses which includes staffing levels, pay increases etc. are the responsibility of the Administration in preparing the budget prior to giving it to the council.

Once the auditor signs off on the budget and the town council is given a balanced, legal budget, the council can review and offer recommendations. So again, just to clear up any misunderstanding the town council does not have a budget from the Administration to approve.

Also, there were comments at the last council meeting claiming the township auditor made a mistake in preparing annual financial statement which it was claimed caused the town to reduce proposed revenue that was being anticipated. However, the revision made by our auditors and the financial statement the auditor prepared was correct. So, we would like to apologize to them for any misunderstanding.

Finally, the fact is that while other municipalities, just as Parsippany did, suffered revenue shortfalls related to the pandemic and need relief, Parsippany’s fiscal mismanagement in the last 12 years has created an unsustainable structural deficit that everyone, all elected officials past and present, are responsible for. The deficit has only been made worse by the pandemic. These 2 events should not be conflated. Resolving an estimated $9M structural deficit if it begins in 2021 will take several years to correct.