Salisbury Township Commissioners balked at a proposed new administration employee, that of human resources director, took umbrage at a proposed 2017 budget said to contain a $1 million shortfall and said the budget presentation was confusing.

At the start of the workshop discussion of the budget, when Township Manager Randy Soriano asked, ”Do you have any questions?,” Commissioner Deb Brinton responded quickly and with emphasis, “Oh, yes.”

Brinton added, “We’re going to be in the hole a million dollars? No.”

“Most are capital items,” Soriano explained.

“The budget includes capital expenditures,” Salisbury Township Assistant Manager-Director of Finance Cathy Bonaskiewich agreed, adding, “The million dollars includes park improvements.” Lindberg Park is to undergo the next phase of its Master Plan, which includes a new pavilion.

The 2017 General Fund budget figures presented to the board were:

Total Revenue: $7,682,800;

Operating Expenses: $7,612,215, and

Non-operating Expenses (Capital): $759,340 plus (Debt): $184,400.

The projected deficit for 2017 from the figures presented is $873,155.

“These are raw numbers,” Bonaskiewich continued, “and we have to pare them down.

“The revenue is conservative. The expenditures include all requests,” Bonaskiewich said, referring to township department head budget requests.

“Something’s got to give,” Brinton said.

“I agree with you,” Commissioner Joanne Ackerman echoed.

Commissioner James Seagreaves expressed frustration with the format presented by Soriano for the 2017 budget.

“Prior years, you would do a lot of paring and you did not do that this year,” Seagreaves said. “I don’t have a problem with seeing department head requests.

“In planning, in the past, Randy [Soriano] and Cathy [Bonaskiewich] have done 80 percent of the work,” Seagreaves said.

“It’s presented in a different way,” Bonaskiewich said.

“It was a total shock,” Seagreaves said of the 2017 preliminary budget presented to commissioners, which mixed general fund expenditures and capital projects.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Ackerman said about reading the budget.

“You’re absolutely right,” responded Bonaskiewich.

“Do you want to raise taxes to support services?” Soriano asked.

“No,” Brinton replied emphatically.

“The Chief [Allen W. Stiles] will get the corporal. The chief will get the full-time [officer],” Soriano said.

“You pretty much have a balanced budget,” Soriano said.

“I pretty much agreed with all the capital requests. Now is the time to go ask questions. If you don’t agree with it, that’s why we discuss the budget,” Soriano said.

The budget discussion began at the start of the workshop at 8:40 p.m. and continued for one- and one-half hours until 10:10 p.m. Oct. 27. The regular meeting had started 7 p.m. Oct. 27.

“There’s no one thing that’s determining this [the budget]. It’s a combination of things,” Bonaskiewich said.

“Why don’t we just do this [proposed budget review] page by page?” Brinton asked.

Brinton immediately zeroed in on the proposal to hire a township human resources director, first mentioned by Soriano at the Oct. 13 workshop discussion of the budget.

Brinton asked how many employees the township has. She was told the number is 50.

The township police department has 17 employees, plus two possible new officers to be hired and one promotion.

The township Public Works Department has 20 employees, with one new department hire planned.

“I can tell you that I don’t think we need an HR [Human Resources] director for 50 employees. I think that’s ridiculous,” Brinton said.

“There are classes that can be gone to rather than hiring someone at $71,000 [annually],” Brinton said, adding, “You might have an HR person, but not as director.”

“I don’t have a problem with not having an HR director,” Seagreaves said.

A permanent part-time person at a salary of $26,000 annually is proposed to bolster MS4 and Zoning and Building Code enforcement in the township.

“This is a low number compared to what other townships budget,” Township Assistant Zoning Officer, Code Enforcement Officer and MS4 Coordinator Sandy Nicolo said.

“And next year, we’re looking at an even bigger number,” Nicolo added.

“I’m concerned that we have no growth. We only have 5,200 households,” Ackerman said, noting, “A very high percentage of our residents are on fixed incomes.”

“You either cut services or raise taxes,” Soriano said.

“We’re not going to raise taxes. Forget about raising taxes,” Brinton said.

“If we do another bond, we still have to pay [on it],” Commissioner James A Brown said.

“If we’re going to do something, we have to do it now,” Brown said,” adding, “Everything comes at a cost. You either cut services ... I don’t want to borrow more.”

“We won’t be $1 million in the hole,” Bonaskiewich said.

“We will revamp the budget,” Soriano said.

“You don’t just have the operating budget. I will provide that,” Soriano said.

“That’s probably an easy way to explain the line items with a narrative,” Soriano said.

The 2017 township budget discussion is expected to continue during the workshop following the next township meeting 7 p.m. Nov. 10 in the meeting room of the municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Ave.

A public hearing on proposed zoning amendments will be held 6:30 p.m. Nov. 10 in the municipal building.