Police Department


The Santiago Team has renegotiated the police chief’s contract which was just signed in 2017. It was good until 2020. There are several other employee contracts that are expired and need to be renegotiated but instead Santiago’s team chose to redo a contract that had 3 years to go. Why? The police chief had already signed off on a generous contract and yet Santiago’s team chose to give the Chief more – more holidays in addition to more back pay. Only Commissioner Udalavos voted no to the renegotiated contract. She deserves thanks for looking out for the taxpayers.

The Santiago team did not stop there. In a separate ordinance, they extended the police chief’s salary range, which will result in larger annual increases, in addition to the  added holidays and more back pay. 

Santiago’s Team also passed an ordinance eliminating one Captain’s position from the police department. Just one year ago, in February 2017 the Chief and Santiago convinced the Commission to add the second captain position.  At the swearing in of the new captain both Santiago and the Chief stated the need for the position and praised the new captain. What has changed in a year? Now the Chief is worried saving money. The Police Chief stated he did not want to put a financial burden on the citizens paying taxes. Why didn’t the Chief think of this when he was renegotiating his unexpired contract to get more.

Chief Farabella also stated that his whole command staff can leave in a year. So why would you demote a 26 year veteran police officer who has done an excellent job during his entire career according to Chief Farabella, Mayor Santiago, and individuals in the community. What the Chief and the Santiago’s Team have done is not logical. There has to be some other explanation which, with this present Commission’s antics you will never get.

Anyone missing the open to the public discussions and explanations of the last administration yet?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Rumor has it that demotion was made as a captain position allowed for the ability to try and correct practices that were not particularly beneficial to taxpayers, but lucrative to members of the force. Maybe the commissioners could shed some light on the real reasons for these changes they are making by being a bit more transparent than a black hole.

Nearly every resolution and every ordinance passed by the commissioners since the beginning of January is leading to an exorbitant tax rate increase. You will hear each commissioner apologize and state that its out of their hands and their is nothing they can do. An examination of tax rates for municipalities and townships throughout the county shows that Millville's municipal rate is second only to Bridgeton. The Municipal rate for Millville is $1.266. The lowest rate in the county is $.091, a difference of $1.175. Vineland is $.878. Millville is 144% of Vineland's rate.Are the services provided by Millville 44% better than Vineland??

The overall tax rate for Millville is the 5th highest in the county. There are reasons we do not have the highest overall tax rate. Being an Abbott district means the state of NJ pays the bulk of our school cost and since the re-evaluation of ratables in 2005 property values have been dropping (this effectively adjusts the county rate down). Without these two cumulative effects the tax you currently pay could easily double or triple. Try to imagine that. There are SIX HUNDRED SIX (606) properties in the tax certificate sale this month. This amount does not include homes in foreclosure when the lender pays the taxes.

If anyone thinks that a tax increase is either needed or beneficial they are sadly mistaken. Fiscal mismanagement over many years has left everyone paying for others mistakes. Our tax rate should be decreasing.
March 17, 2018 at 8:40 PM
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