Reducing Government Overhead Costs Through Consolidation

The Gloucester Board of Supervisors and School Board now have an opportunity to begin a process of consolidating certain functions that would result in considerable annual savings and streamlined operations. Currently, the school system has openings for a finance director and a human resources director. Instead of hiring two new directors, all school system financial and human resources functions, personnel and equipment should be transferred to the county finance and human resources departments. Consolidating these two areas alone would save approximately $243,000 annually in salaries and benefits alone.

 

The county needs a new vehicle maintenance garage and the school system needs to upgrade and expand its’ bus garage. All vehicle and equipment repair and maintenance activities should be consolidated at the bus garage property under the control of the school system. This would allow the school system to retain 100% control over the bus fleet which is essential to school system operations. It will also allow the county to sell the current garage property at Providence Road as suggested by Mr. Curry during the September 1^st BOS meeting. All public works type functions, employees and equipment should be consolidated at the old Page site under the county’s control. Consolidating these areas will also produce considerable annual savings in salaries and benefits

 

The public utilities department “desperately” needs a new office and storage yard. Money was borrowed to purchase land and to design and construct them. Part of the money was spent on design work and a parcel of land was found, but the BOS froze the project over the land purchase aspects. The Board wanted to know if suitable property was already owned by the county or school system. It was determined that the old Page property and the new Page property are the only suitable properties. Construction of utilities’ office and yard should occur at the old Page property as the first phase of consolidating all public works type functions. A strip mall type office building should be constructed in phases along the alignment of the old school building and extending as long as necessary to provide office space for utilities, public works, buildings and grounds maintenance and any other appropriate public works type services.

 

Consolidation on the old Page property does not seem to appeal to those who have been set, since the tornado, on seeing the property sold. The interests of a few should never take priority over that which is in the best interest of the citizenry overall. Our public works type infrastructure is and has been in need of serious attention for many years and now is the most opportune time to render that attention through restorative and fiscally responsible action. The money saved and generated from the suggested consolidations could be used for associated construction costs and improving our school system. Growth in Gloucester will continue to be severely restricted as long as the toll remains on the Coleman Bridge and history demonstrates business growth in Gloucester occurs only as fast as the population grows. The only real way to spur growth under the current conditions is by making it worthwhile and attractive to live in Gloucester. The best way to do that is by developing a good county appearance and reputation and developing the “best” public school system. Consolidating the suggested services would be a step in the right direction, as it will ultimately free up funds that can be better invested in making our public schools the best in the Country. If our public schools are the best to choose from, people and businesses will come to Gloucester despite the toll.

 

Kenneth E. Hogge, Sr.

Gloucester Point

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Hurricane Sandy America's Next Big Financial Boom And Bust- A Word To The Wise

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 31: Firefighters stand among the remains of homes in the Rockaway neighborhood destroyed by fire during Hurricane Sandy on October 31, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. With the death toll currently at 55 and millions of homes and businesses without power, the US east coast is attempting to recover from the affects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by Hurricane Sandy. JFK airport in New York and Newark airport in New Jersey expect to resume flights on Wednesday morning and the New York Stock Exchange commenced trading after being closed for two days. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 31: Flood damaged streets are viewed in the Rockaway section of Queens where the historic boardwalk was washed away due to Hurricane Sandy on October 31, 2012 in the Queens borough of New York City. With the death toll currently at 55 and millions of homes and businesses without power, the US east coast is attempting to recover from the affects of floods, fires and power outages brought on by Hurricane Sandy. JFK airport in New York and Newark airport in New Jersey expect to resume flights on Wednesday morning and the New York Stock Exchange commenced trading after being closed for two days. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Look out Henry, the wolves are already here and the vultures are already flying up above and more are quickly on their way.  While the North East was being hit by the devastating effects of hurricane Sandy, the wolves were already printing up new business cards and ordering new magnetic signs for their trucks.  The businesses?  Property recovery and contracting services.  Licensed, bonded and insured.  If you are willing to believe that.  Some just may be some or all of the above, however, not particularly in your state or area.  Others won't be at all.  With local contractors in devastated areas already being booked for months out already, your chance of getting a hold of a reliable and reputable contractor are going to be near impossible unless that contractor is a very close friend.

  Fortunes will be made from this travesty at all levels and fortunes will be lost that have not already been lost.  One may not have a choice as to whom they hire to get clean up jobs done.  The best advice we can give you is to check out each potential contractor out to the fullest and do not let them pressure you.  If they offer a lot of pressure, then let them move on and even help them to do so.  Check out where they are licensed, bonded and or insured.  Make sure that coverage also covers any job the potential contractor may do for you.  If you have no choice and there will be plenty of you who don't.  At least check out the backgrounds of the potential contractor and confirm where they presently live and get copies of their drivers license.

  We know what you are about to go through and these words are based on actual experience.  We had no choice but to hire a rogue contractor who said he was local and as it turned out later, he was from Florida.  He was supposed to remove a tree from our property before it fell and hit our house.  To make a long story short, we didn't have to worry about the tree falling on our house, the contractor made sure that it did.  While cleaning up the mess and removing the tree he dropped on our house, he and his crew were dropping tree branches on our new Lincoln Town Car.  We had the car for less than a month.  We had to sell it for scrap a few weeks later as it was beyond repair.  Of course the contractor gave us a ton of false information and we were never able to recover our loses.  Our insurance company even tried to help us find him to recover anything at all possible.  The guy just fell off the face of the earth.

  The insurance fraud that is about to be committed by many would be folks seeking gain from this travesty are going to be everywhere.  The insurance companies know this and there will be a good amount that gets paid out even though the insurance companies know of the potential fraud.  Higher premiums for us all.  Not to feel all that bad for the insurance companies, they to are going to be playing some serious games and many people are going to wake up to see just how bad their policies really are.  The insurance companies will claim higher payouts than actually paid, and will pay out smaller claims than they will actually state.  This is just the nature of life these days.  Rates for property insurance will go up all over the nation to help recover the payouts claimed by the insurer's.  Prices on many goods will also go up due to claims of loss and the loss will be lower than the claims stated.  Plus there is the real issue at present of transportation in and out of distressed areas that will raise costs temporarily.

  There will be a serious credit crises arising out of all this as many people will stop paying their consumer credit, instead opting to pay rent and for food instead.  Many are now homeless and there will be a good number who will remain homeless because of this storm.  Both car loans and home mortgages will be highly stressed as many will walk away from the payments and just let the banks or insurance companies take the hit on the loss.  Some will rebuild but it's only some who will be able to afford to rebuild.  The overall costs that hurricane Sandy will hit us with will be in the hundreds of billions if not well over a trillion dollars.

  And we have yet to discuss all of the vehicles that have been damaged by the flood waters.  Many of these vehicles will end up having their titles washed and cleared and these cars will be chopped, cleaned and resold as clean at the highest values that can be had.  Those stuck with the purchase of these vehicles will end up with a vehicle that has a very early ending or very high repair bills.  The gas tanks, gas lines, brake lines and fuel intake all need to be cleaned and in many cases replaced.  This simply will not get done.  Within the next year there will be a flood of slightly used cars all over the country that are not fit to be bought, but how will you know?  When your wallet is drained you will know and there won't be any recourse.

  The auto manufacturers should be gearing up for increased output as many people will need new transportation.  Entire fleets will need to be replaced.  Look for increased shipments into the northeast within the next three months.  Used goods of every kind will hit markets on line such as eBay and Amazon being sold as new or slightly used that came out of flooded areas and will be less than desirable.  The tremendous amounts of food being thrown away even as you read this could feed a third world country for probably about an entire year.

  Yes there are a lot of profits to be made on all of this.  Devastation is good for business.  The more the merrier.  Wait, what about the coming tax increases to offset the cleanup costs the local, state and federal government are going to have to pay.  Yes that is coming to.  And do not forget about your friendly IRS man who will be highly scrutinizing returns and claims for losses.  What each of you can do to help make it through this mess?  Help thy neighbor and also seek help from thy neighbor.  Learn to trust and respect one another again.  Don't look for or wait for the handouts.  Your going to be disappointed when they are either not there or you do not qualify or you just missed the boat or it's no where near close enough to even be considered help.

  Come together as a community.  Put your faith and trust back into God and each other once again.  Those who do will succeed.  Others will complain for years to come and still do nothing.  For one last idea.  There are opportunities waiting.  Recovery services can be a very big business.  If you can recover wood, doors, paneling, or any other useful building materials in a honest fashion without taking advantage of another's misfortune, then you could help build a business and a tremendous service to others.  What can come out of this experience can either be good or bad,  What will you make it?