January 2009

Good evening and welcome to the 2009 Reorganization meeting of the Kenilworth Borough Council. I would first like to wish everyone a healthy, happy and successful New Year. Although the economic forecast remains dour, I am confident that our great country will once again find its way back to prosperity. I am just as confident that the people of this great Borough will band together to help one another through the rough spots.

I want to congratulate Councilmen Leary, Klinder and Candarella on their election. We have a great deal of hard work ahead of us and I look forward to working with them and the rest of council.

2008 was an exciting year for me as your Mayor. It was certainly challenging, financially. The State, with its ever increasing need for more funds attempted to balance its budget on the backs of the municipalities and ultimately the tax payers.

Kenilworth was one of the municipalities targeted for one of the more severe penalties because of our small size. When it was all said and done, the State reduced our aid by $253,000.00 or almost three tax points.

Combined with the reduction in State Aid, increases in pension contributions, contractual salary obligations, RVSA fees, and health insurance premiums reached close to a million dollars - almost 11 tax points - before we even looked at our local departments and services. Despite this, the Council's finance committee working with our Finance Officer, Nancy Nichols and our department heads cut operating expenses in order to minimize the tax increase to the residents.

In the coming year we have even more difficult financial issues to face. The scheduled increase in sewer fees to the Rahway Valley Sewerage Authority alone is approximately one half million dollars and the Governor has announced that municipal aid will again be cut. I am sorry to report that this will translate into another difficult year for the Borough financially.

In 2008, several projects which were stalled for years were jump started and hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money which were almost lost were saved through my efforts. One of those projects is the Library Elevator, which should be up and running within the next couple of months.

An architect for the public safety building has been hired and has started the process of discussing the Borough needs for the building in order to begin the design phase. When a proposal for the building is completed, we will present it at a meeting so that the public is kept informed on what is being proposed as well as the cost of the proposal.

A grant for the public safety building in the amount of $190,000.00 was slated to expire on December 31, 2008. When I was advised that it would not be renewed due to the lack of action on the project by the prior administration, I contacted Senator Lesniak and Assemblyman Cryan and as a result the grant has been extended through the end of 2009.

In 2008 I promised to hire qualified local professionals to better help our residents. Our new building inspector and zoning enforcement officer are both local residents who go above and beyond in performing their duties. Our Borough Attorney's law office is within walking distance of Boro Hall and he is always available to provide his advise. Today I am appointing another local attorney to the position of Municipal Court Judge. I am making good on the promises I made to our residents.

Our new Borough Engineer has been a tremendous asset. He has sought and found solutions to problems that we have experienced for years and is a welcome addition to our Borough family. Through his recommendation, I reached out to the Townships of Cranford and Clark to obtain their assistance for our DPW at no cost to the Borough. We can look forward to more of these types of shared services in the future.

I would also like to commend and thank our department heads, Chief Dowd, Superintendent Ryan, Chief Giordino, Finance Officer Nancy Nichols and of course, our Clerk Hedy Lipke and all of the Borough employees for their hard work and help over this past year, as well as the many volunteers who devote their time and effort for the betterment of our community.

Finally, I would like everyone to remember our men and women in the armed forces and keep them in your thoughts and prayers. I know we all hope that they stay safe and thank them for keeping us secure at home.

May God bless you all and the Borough of Kenilworth and may God Bless America.

Kathi Fiamingo,
Mayor