By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

For nearly four years, Rumson officials and its police union have been at loggerheads on a new contract. Earlier this week, a state arbitrator delivered a decision that has the council shocked and disappointed.

The governing body will appeal the decision given by arbitrator James Mastriani, said Mayor John Ekdahl. The terms Mastriani proposed, he said, create a “privileged class” of employees.

The award calls for 3.5-,  3.5- and 3.25-percent pay increases retroactive to when the union’s contract expired at the end of 2006. For 2010, officers would get increases of 3 percent, and 2.75-percent next year if Mastriani’s award holds up.

But given the state’s economic turmoil — plus a pending 2-percent tax cap — Ekdahl finds the terms of the police contract unfair to the borough and its taxpayers.

“It completely flies in the face of the (Governor Chris) Christie-mandated budget caps of 2-percent,” he said. “The arbitrator has termed a privileged class of people. That’s just not right. You can’t have a group of employees getting a raise that’s more than the cap.”

Ekdahl said the borough has money set aside to cover the first three years’ worth of increases, but not enough  in 2010 to cover the 3-percent raises. Police salaries presently cost borough taxpayers about $1.25 million annually.

If the Public Employment Relations Commission, which will handle Rumson’s appeal, upholds Mastriani’s award, Ekdahl said the 2.75-percent pay raises will leave the council scrambling to cover the cost.

“To try and balance next year’s budget, we’ll have to take money out of somebody else’s pocket,” he said, “and that’s just not fair.”

One possibility brought up at Monday night’s council meeting, when Ekdahl shared the terms of the arbitrator’s decision, was cutting down on the borough’s 16-member force so as not to take money from elsewhere in the budget.

“That would be a possible outcome if we adhere to these terms,” Councilman Mark Rubin said.

One bright spot, from the council’s perspective, concerns contributions to healthcare insurance, which led to the multiyear impasse between the council and police union. The council wanted union employees to contribute, and the department did not, he said. Under the arbitrator’s terms, employees would contribute 10 percent of the costs of insurance.

Mastriani’s decision comes seven months after he stepped into the contractual deadlock between the two parties. Ekdahl said PERC shouldn’t take that long to render a decision on the appeal, but it may take a couple of months.

And Ekdahl is hopeful that Rumson will win the appeal. In its last offer in the contract, he said the borough offered free uniform cleaning service for the life of the contract. It was rejected.

“I think anybody who turns down free unlimited dry cleaning, you have to wonder if they’re fit for the job,” he said.

Patrolman Chris Isherwood, the PBA unit’s rep, did not respond to a request for comment.

Recession-pinched consumers: this is your weekend.

The 56th annual edition of the Red Bank Sidewalk Sale opens Friday and runs through Sunday.

Racks and tables laden with clothing, footwear, housewares and other merch will offer up a smorgasbord of deals along Broad, Front, Mechanic, White, Wallace and Monmouth Streets, as well as Linden Place and Wharf Avenue.

Though meters won’t be bagged as in years past, parking is free in the municipal lots throughout the event.

In addition, StreetLife artists, normally out on Saturday nights in the summer, will also perform that afternoon.

For more information, call Red Bank Rivercenter at 732.842.4244.

A collective groan was heard through downtown Red Bank earlier this month went a court-appointed official abruptly shut down Ashes Cigar Bar, a high-profile if controversial eatery and bar that served as a nightlife anchor for more than a decade.

Just what we need when the retail and restaurant sectors are struggling to claw back to profitability, store owners said: a honking big vacancy in a town with plenty of small and medium-sized ones. How will the building’s owner find a tenant to replace Ashes in this economy?

Well, landlord Jack Anderson doesn’t think the outlook is dire. He says he’s already got offers for the three-story building on his desk across the street at Jack’s Music Shoppe, and he’s “motivated” to get a deal done ASAP.

“I have proposals from five or six people who are serious players,” he tells redbankgreen. One, he says coyly, is from “a well-known personality — everybody in the country knows him.” Another is from a major steakhouse, and yet another is from a restaurant chain he’s been doing a slow dance with for several years.

He’s also “motivated” to close a deal with the right tenant, he says.

“I can’t afford to let it stay that way,” says Anderson. “I want to sign a deal as fast as possible with somebody who’s totally financially responsible, isn’t a felon and can get a [liquor] license, and can run a restaurant.”

Court records indicate that Anderson is owed more than $230,000 in back rent from the last tenant, a sum that is expected to be paid when the Ashes liquor license is eventually sold by court-appointed receiver Bunce Atkinson. Legal complications over that license prompted Atkinson to close the business July 7, as detailed by redbankgreen last week.

Anderson’s ace, though, is that he also owns a liquor license, one formerly held by Dieter Bornemann of the now-shuttered Little Kraut/Oakbridge Tavern/Red Bank Beer Garden. Anderson says he bought the license earlier this year “just in case.”

It remains to be seen, however, if the last operators of the club in receivership, Charlie Mayo and Jimmy Vastardis, will re-enter the picture. The state Alcoholic Beverage Control agency blocked their proposed purchase of the Ashes license because of a purported relationship to the nominal owners of the license, who are accused of concealing the true identities of stakeholders in the license, including one with a felony record.

But Mayo and Vastardis, who owns Blue Water Seafood restaurant in East Brunswick and hoped to transform Ashes into a seafood place called Blue 33, are free to buy his license, Anderson says. A deal for such a transaction fell apart in recent weeks, but Anderson says a lawyer for the pair contacted his attorney after the shutdown to ask, “Are we still talking?”

With all the interest in the building, Anderson says, “it won’t stay empty long, believe me.”

Overruling concerns that the signs would pose a safety hazard to pedestrians and violate the intent of the borough’s master plan, the council voted 5-1 for an ordinance permitting free-standing signage, which they said is needed to help stores attract customers in a difficult economy.

Councilwoman Sharon Lee, who as a member of the planning board joined the majority in rejecting the ordinance last week, cast the lone no vote last night. She repeated concerns that the ordinance raised public safety issues.

“When you look at how many obstacles are on our major roadways… menus, out door seating,” she said. “You can’t walk down there with a stroller.”

Debate over the law prompted a rebuke of Mayor Pasquale Menna by Councilman Mike DuPont after Menna expressed doubts that the ordinance would be allowed to expire as scheduled on December 31.

“I would be extremely shocked” if the ordinance isn’t made permanent, said Menna, who only votes in the case of a tie, “but you guys are going to do what you want.”

That brought a sharp retort from fellow Democrat DuPont, who said Menna had “disrespected this council by saying we will not listen to criticism.”

Here’s the ordinance: 2010-25ordinance

The property will be sold as two building lots, officials say. (Click to enlarge)

By EVAN SOLTAS

With its new municipal complex completed, Rumson plans to demolish its historic Center Street police station and sell the land as two residential lots, borough officials say.

The borough intends to raze the now-vacant station, which has long stood out among its residential neighbors, and sell the land as building lots that conform to residential zoning law, according to Mayor John Ekdahl.

In the process, the town hopes to pocket as much as $400,000 from each, and use the proceeds to pay down debt incurred from relocating police headquarters, officials said.

Plans to raze the former station had emerged early in discussions to construct the new hall. Ekdahl said that the time frame and cost for the building’s demolition will be established by the borough council sometime this year.

The police began occupying the Center Street building, a former AT&T switching station in the heart of a residential area, in the 1960s, but the space has outlived its usefulness, said Ekdahl.

Its layout was poorly suited to the daily needs of the police force, officials said. It didn’t comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and could not affordably be renovated, officials said. The building was also plagued with leaks, the windows and boiler system were inefficient and faulty, and there was no storage space to be found.

Center Street residents, some who had grown attached to the awkward, out-of-place brick structure in their community, were already feeling nostalgic about its demise last week.

“The quaint, old-town cops are no longer,” said Erica LoPresti, who lives across the street from the station. “We welcome our new neighbors, but it won’t ever be the same.”

Patty Shanes, who live a few houses down from the station, said she’s glad the site will find a new use. “I think it’s good to do something with the space instead of letting it sit there,” Shanes said.

Already, at least one developer has had an eye on the property. Several residents told redbankgreen they had been contacted by a builder who asked them if they would support the construction of condominiums in the soon-to-be razed lot. The residents, however, said that the builder apparently dropped his interest after their opposition became evident.

Other homeowners on Center Street, including Amy Kresloff, said that reusing the buildings, rather than razing them, would be a better solution.

“I would prefer that the borough repurposed the space,” Kressloff said. “We as a town could use housing for the elderly, or space for other municipal purposes, and to just tear the building down seems to be a waste to me.”

Ekdahl said that repurposing the building, as well as selling the space as-is, had been considered, but only briefly. “We are guessing that the building would be less valuable if we were to put it up for sale as-is, largely because of the age of the building and the awkward layout issue,” he said.

Zoning issues, as well as the expected community opposition to a business moving into a residential neighborhood, would complicate the sale further, Ekdahl added.

As the housing market soured, Ekdahl said, the borough took 20 percent off its originally intended listing price of five hundred thousand dollars. Even this reduced estimated value, however, is likely too optimistic, said a local branch representative of Diane Turton Realtors who asked not to be identified individually.

A home on a 50-foot by 167-foot lot on Center Street closed for $550,000 in 2009, but had its land assessed for only $242,000. The police building sits on a lot of 100 by 150.

“New construction in the Rumson area is hard to come by, so it may sell for as much as they would like,” he said. “But to me, the $400,000 listing price seems a little too hopeful.”

Borough Administrator Tom Rogers says the proceeds are expected to more than cover the $800,000 in costs the town incurred in moving the police into the new town hall, an expense that was financed through a short-term loan.

redbankgreen summer intern Evan Soltas of Rumson is entering his junior year at Phillips Exeter Academy, in New Hampshire, where he is a reporter for the Exonian, the campus newspaper.

Less than a year after a new zone was created at Red Bank’s train station to encourage a mix of high-density housing and retail activity, the borough zoning board last night greenlighted a plan that could put even greater density, but no stores, on a vacant Monmouth Street lot.

The move, on a 5-2 vote, was driven by a desire to see something built on a lot frequently described as an eyesore and the belief that adding retail space in a town with numerous store vacancies was the wrong way to go, said board members who favored he plan.

“Yes, it’s a very dense project,” said board chair Lauren Nicosia. “But this is a property that hasn’t been developed and that Red Bank needs to be developed.”

Amboy Bank, which owns the property, had asked the board for variances to allow it to build up to 57 housing units on the site, which is bounded also by West and Oakland streets. Twelve of the units would conform to state guidelines for affordable housing, and all would be priced below $300,000, bank representatives said.

In giving their approval, several board members alluded to testimony by real estate expert Jeffrey Otteau, who said a new “economic reality” made adding retail square footage in town unwise, despite the view of town officials who last year touted a mix of retail and housing as the key to sparking vitality in the train station district.

After hearing Otteau, “I came to believe that retail would not be sustainable,” said board member Tom Williams.

Member Manny Carabel noted that the Amboy plan had the backing of Red Bank RiverCenter, which had previous made the inclusion of retail in the train station overlay zone a priority.

Board members Rosemary Minear and Vincent Light voted against the variances.

“I think this flies in the face of the recently adopted ordinance of the council for the overlay zone,” Minear said. “You’re asking for three times the density that’s allowed. That’s a lot.”

“This is the zoning board of adjustment,” said Light. “This is not the zoning board of rewriting. This application would be much stronger with retail or open space.”

The approval marks the third time in less than a decade that a housing project has been approved for the site, but Amboy still has to gain approvals for  detailed site plans before it can start construction. Neighbors last night pressed for more open space, lower rooflines, shared parking with non-residents of the project and the inclusion of space for a food market.

Bank officials pledged to provide an overall mortgage to a developer of the 1.24-acre site, or to joint venture with one, to ensure the project gets built. They also pledged to make mortgages on every unit sold.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Unlike its neighbors to the west, Little Silver and Fair Haven, Rumson won’t be able to pull off one of those improbable shrinking New Jersey budgets in 2010.

After two years of holding the line on taxes, Rumson officials, faced with declines in revenues and increased costs, moved forward on passing a $15.2 million budget that includes a 6.9-percent spike in property tax bills.

That translates to a tax rate of 32 cents per $100 of assessed property value, up 2 cents from last year. The average home, assessed at about $1 million, will see an approximate $200 annual increase over last year’s $14.5 million budget, administrator Tom Rogers said.

This is only the second time in five years that taxes have gone up, he added.

The common theme in the state runs through Rumson: revenues are down, state aid cuts hurt and costs have gone up.

Including decreases in local and interest revenues and a shortfall in receipts from delinquent taxes, the borough lost more than $500,000. Coupled with pension, health insurance and contractual costs, local officials weren’t in the cushy position they had been in recent years to keep taxes static.

“We just had very little control over the items that go up, in double figures sometimes,” Mayor John Ekdahl said.

One big-ticket item included in the spending plan is a long-awaited road reconstruction project on Shrewsbury Drive, which, at $900,000, is expected to be offset with nearly $400,000 in county and state funds, Rogers said. The remaining balance will come from the borough’s bank, but he says these are funds that are built into every budget. Rather than repave and upgrade three or four problematic roads in town, all the attention will be focused on Shrewsbury Drive, which has been prone to flooding and has been at the top of the borough’s wish list to get done, Ekdahl said.

The road will be completely redone, with new drainage, curbing and  pavement.

“It’s still a very expensive project for us, and it’s one we’ve been working on for four years,” Ekdahl said, adding that he hopes it will be complete by the end of summer.

The borough also decided to transfer some money from its surplus account — about $200,000 — as a precaution for next year’s budget.

“This year we’re taking a cautious approach, as we did last year, with the economy,” Rogers said. “We’re being very careful to watch with that.”

When asked about how he felt about developing the budget and having to raise the tax rate, Ekdahl was disappointed but realistic.

“Well, we gave (taxpayers) two straight years with no increase,” he said. “My guess is the average resident, knowing what’s going on economically, and the noise coming out of Trenton, the taxpayers wouldn’t be surprised with a tax increase.”

Because of a shifting of funds within the budget, the council was not able to adopt the plan. Another public hearing will be held at 7:30p on July 13 at borough hall. It’s a formality, and total spending and the tax rate will not change between now and then, Rogers said.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Shawn Sharkey is trying to balance his dejection and confusion these days.

Last summer, he and his friends would head to Middletown’s municipal skate park, in the Port Monmouth section of town, and skateboard all day, almost every day, he said. It was their place, where they’d be free of hassle from the police that they’d normally face skateboarding through town.

This summer, though, their safe haven is beyond at risk of becoming a vacant, useless patch of asphalt decorated with ramps and rails. The padlocks on the park’s gates haven’t even come off since they were strapped on last winter, Sharkey says.

“I think it’s stupid. Public places, we can’t go,” says Sharkey, 16. “Cops say this what skate parks are for, but when the skate park is closed, that leaves us with nothing.”

Middletown’s mini-golf course has also been closed due to budget cuts. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

The skate park is victim of township belt-tightening, but its closure isn’t the only sign of dire times. Across the street from Middletown North High School, the town’s miniature golf course has been shut down. Both are part of cost-saving measures, of which there will be more, says Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger.

In true Z-Boys fashion, Sharkey and his friends find a way to skate, and have taken advantage of the park despite its padlocked gates, with the rationale that it wasn’t monitored before, and it isn’t monitored now.

But at the mini-golf course, one would have to come with a putter, balls and a weed wacker to properly buck the system. Grass and other plant life are sprouting and beginning to intrude upon the kelly green Astroturf that encases each hole.

A couple of weeks ago, when resident Ralph Rubino saw the shabby-looking course, he wondered if his family-time activity was at risk. He’s lived in town for 10 years, and said he’d come all the time to go putting.

“It was, like, two dollars. It was cheap,” he said. “Ever since we’ve been here we’d go. It was like a tradition.”

When Rubino found out about other cuts, particularly the police department’s D.A.R.E. program, he shook his head.

“Oh, wow,” he said. “I’m glad my daughter already finished that.”

Between now and July 19, when the township committee is expected to adopt its $65 million budget, Scharfenberger said the spending plan will probably look “radically different” than when it was introduced last week. In other words, more cuts.

On the table are the cancellation of the annual Middletown Day celebration, unless significant sponsorship comes through; eliminating or reducing an annual $25,000 contribution to the Poricy Park Conservancy; and six police officers who were expected to be hired may not.

Scharfenberger also anticipates there’ll be more costly government worker retirements, which has become a common occurrence in town this year ever since Governor Chris Christie announced changes to the state’s pension and retirement plan.

“There’s a lot of things we’re looking at to trim back the budget,” he said.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

As it appears now, the total tax bill for Middletown Township property owners for the current year will be 2.8 percent larger than last year’s.

But that hardly matters to those keeping an eye on municipal spending, according to committeeman Sean Byrnes.

As the township committee Monday night introduced a $65 million spending plan that will raise the average tax bill by $211 annually, the body’s lone Democrat pressed chief financial officer Nick Trasente on details to make a point: That the presentation Trasente gave was more smoke and mirrors than government transparency, and something needs to change with how the budget is put together.

Byrnes told Trasente that while the overall tax bill — including levies for schools, Monmouth County and municipal utilities — was up 2.8-percent, the local portion alone soared by double digits.

The amount to be raised via the property tax by the municipality — $45.55 million, up from $40 million — is up more than 13 percent, he noted. The new tax rate of 39.85 cents per $100 of assessed property value, up from 35 cents, also represents a jump of more than 13 percent, he said.

Byrnes cast the single vote against the spending proposal.

“It’s important to focus on what we’re introducing,” Byrnes said. “There’s a lot, I think, we could have done before we got to this day, with a 13-percent increase.”

Byrnes went through examples of ideas he floated to the committee on ways to trim spending, such as contracting out leaf and brush collection, negotiating with attorneys to accept a flat fee for services and going out to bid for engineering projects.

Months ago, as the town languished in a fiscal haze without a CFO, Byrnes pushed for the formation of a finance committee, but failed to get any support, he said.

He said one-off additions to this year’s budget, like a $365,000 transfer from the town’s sewer authority into municipal surplus, won’t be available again next year. He also said that 15 percent cuts across every department are not specified in the budget and can’t be relied upon to be there in next year’s spending outline.

But what started as a simple explanation of a ‘no’ vote turned into something more candid, and considering he’s up for re-election this year, risky, for Byrnes.

“I don’t expect I’ll be sitting here come January with the way things have gone the last couple years,” he said. “I’m just telling you straight up what I think this town needs.

“I really do have a problem with the budget that we’re introducing.”

So did a couple of residents, including Jim Grenafege, who lauded Byrnes for clarifying the town’s spending plan. Grenafage scolded the committee for its budget spin, saying it was misleading, and that a 13-percent increase in unacceptable.

“Rather than being transparent with that presentation, you just made it more opaque,” he said. “I just haven’t seen any thought leadership whatsoever. It’s just totally, totally unacceptable.”

Tom Stokes, on the other hand, was a bit more sympathetic, and offered up his own suggestions to save money, which members said they’d take into consideration.

“I think all five of you up there have been in an economic stranglehold,” Stokes said. “Part of the problem is us. We demand services but we don’t want to pay for it.”

In defending the budget, Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger said there were tremendous hurdles to overcome to keep the budget balanced. State aid was reduced by $1.5 million; abnormally terrible weather ate up almost $900,000; and following Governor Chris Christie’s pitch for insurance and pension reform, at least 20 Middletown veterans filed for retirement, unexpectedly costing the town $760,000.

Scharfenberger also said that whatever suggestions are made by committee members are taken “very seriously.”

“Not everything we come up with is viable, legal or saves money,” he said.

Among some cost-saving measures, the police department’s D.A.R.E. program and its community relations program are now closed. In parks and recreation, Middletown Day is at risk to be canceled if sufficient sponsorship doesn’t come through. Town officials have also closed the skateboard park and mini-golf course, as well as trim lifeguard days on municipal beaches to weekends only.

Officials are also considering holding off on hiring some or all of six new police officers until 2011 and eliminating or reducing the town’s annual $25,000 contribution to the Poricy Park Conservancy.

The public hearing on the budget will be held on July 19.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Amid a tough times for retail and changes to how it does business, Red Bank RiverCenter has enlisted one of its founding fathers to help fulfill its mission.

Political magnate and former mayor Ed McKenna was named to the independent agency’s board earlier this month.

It was a sensible move, as the agency is focusing more heavily this year on attracting shoppers and businesses to move into town, all while trying to help established merchants succeed in this sludgy economy, said Nancy Adams, Rivercenter’s executive director.

When he was mayor, McKenna helped found RiverCenter as the non-governmental organization charged with promoting and developing downtown, and later, West Side businesses.

“He has such a long-standing relationship with RiverCenter,” Adams said. “He’s still very involved and cares very much about Red Bank, but he’s not able to serve in a public office position.”

After talking with McKenna about the possibility of bringing an oyster fest to town, Adams floated the idea of having him fill an open seat on the board, she said.

“It’s just to help out any way that I can,” said the new-look McKenna, who shaved his cloud-white moustache and recently lost 40 pounds. “If I can help the business community, I’ll do it.”

McKenna, an attorney who also serves as chairman of the State Planning Commission, is largely credited with helping drag Red Bank from its economic nadir in the 1980s to a trendy, bustling destination. It’s that experience, plus his long list of connections locally and statewide, that makes him a key addition to the board, Adams said.

“I’m looking forward to working with him for his expertise,” she said. “His expertise and being able to get things done.”

McKenna, too, thinks his résumé will be a boon for the agency.

“I would hope that people know the job that I did as mayor and that shows my care for Red Bank, and that would carry over with RiverCenter,” he said. “I want to sit down with the board and find out how I can help.”