Borough Payroll Rises Despite Shrinking Workforce

The Paramus labor force has dwindled in the past two years under the weight of budget cuts.

After employing a high of 813 workers in 2009, the Borough cut checks for 620 employees in 2011.

Despite the cuts, labor costs have increased by $2.4 million over the same period, driven mostly by benefit costs, said Joseph D'Arco, Borough administrator.

"Even though we may be reducing by attrition, working smarter and harder with the staffs that we have, the ceiling keeps going up because of mandated costs," he said.

The squeeze of higher costs and fewer workers has forced the Borough to make the most of the remaining workers while waiting for the budget situation to improve.

D'Arco, who came on in August 2010, said he doesn't focus on the shrinking workforce. 

"I'm really focused more on the abilities of the staff members that are here," he said.

The administrator said he has tried to get departments to work together rather than as disparate entities. The Council has restructured the municipal government over the past two years, cutting down the number of departments and divisions.

The Borough has also eased the need for manpower through equipment purchases. A long-awaited automated leaf vacuum truck should turn a three-person leaf collection effort into a solo job, D'Arco said.

D'Arco praised employees for meeting the challenge posed by the reduced headcount.

"On the whole I think it's a very talented workforce," he said. "They're very receptive to cross-training, to more training and I haven't seen any of them say 'no' to challenging what we're doing and how do we do it better."

Not every move toward efficiency has gone down smoothly. Borough employees protested when the Council voted in 2011 to with a private cleaning service for a purported annual savings of $300,000.

Borough employees, with the exception of the police force, whose contracts are settled through binding arbitration, have not received raises in years.

D'Arco said the decision to cut employees was painful for the Council.

"They care about the work force that is here, but they know we're in some enormously difficult times," he said.

The Council also scrutinized the decision at the end of 2011.

"That was analyzed to death," he said.

The main force behind the shrinking workforce is attrition. The Borough hasn't replaced many departed workers.

The time will come when staffing levels will become critical, D'Arco said.

"You always reach a point of diminishing return," he said.

Councilman Joseph Lagana, who is chairman of the budget committee, said he hopes the Borough will be able to hire and increase salaries this year.

"I'm not of the opinion that we should reduce, reduce, reduce and everyone suck it up," Lagana said.  "That's not my position."

But Lagana acknowledged that the budget would again be a challenge. While recently enacted state reforms have allowed municipal governments to , the Borough is due to pay a $1.3 pension deferral this year, a debt that could cut down any pay raises.

For the near future, hiring decisions will continue to be heavily scrutinized, D'Arco said.

"Every department is a case-by-case basis," he said. "The bottom line is everybody would like to have what he had in the past. Can we afford it? No."