A laudable solution after budget standoff
Kudos to Sayreville Councilman Rory Zach for finding a way to get the majority of his colleagues to agree on the 2008 municipal budget.

It took five tries in August and September, at five separate meetings in which officials made no progress toward approving the budget. And had Zach not made a proposal that brought about a compromise, the town might still be without a budget, which ironically would only cost the town more money in the long run.

At a Saturday morning meeting on Sept. 20, it appeared as if the 2008 municipal budget would fail for the sixth time. The council's Republican minority was holding its ground that the town pays too much for legal services. Democrats were mixed on the budget, with Zach being the only supporter of the package throughout.

Zach made a motion to consider changing the borough's legal services, saying that if the council approved the budget, it would agree to have borough Business Administrator Jeffry Bertrand look into moving the borough's professional services in-house, and to send out Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for professional services for 2009 much earlier than usual.

To Zach's credit, he called on his colleagues to take some kind of action. "Knock it off," he said. "Stop it. Let's really start making a difference. [This] does things for the future." He drew the support of his three fellow Democrats and Republican Paula Siarkiewicz, who called it a bipartisan idea. Only David Kaiserman, a Republican, remained against the budget, saying the town needed to do something about its legal costs sooner than next year.

First things first. For Sayreville, this was a step in the right direction. No taxpayer will blame Kaiserman or anyone else for trying to save them a few bucks, but Zach's proposal sets in place a process for change. If nothing else, it is an avenue to consider whether an in-house attorney will be more beneficial, or if switching law firms will save a significant amount of money while still providing adequate legal services.

Z

ach's solution brought a

close to six weeks of budget gridlock in which some officials made good points about the budget, and others offered little in the way of concrete ideas. But the town got a glimpse of what their elected officials were really about, considering that none of them are running for re-election this year, so there was no immediate reward or punishment to come from their actions.

Republicans stood for change, in the hope of saving hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Democrats saw their demands as unfeasible and political in nature. But together, they demonstrated the checks and balances of the system, and created the possibility that the town might move in a new direction that could save some money. That's always worth looking into.