TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—At both February Township Council meetings, Mayor Peter Calamari has taken the three Independent councilmembers to task for approving millions in capital spending over their years on the dais while now aiming to reduce “discretionary spending,” and not the entire municipal budget, by 10% as promised on the campaign trail.
However, the three councilors—president Michael DeSena, vice president Steven Cascio, and Michael Ullman—said they hope to reduce overall spending by 10%, and are giving the administration the opportunity to do that before the 2024 budget gets handed to them.
Republicans Tom Sears and Daisy Velez are in the minority.
At the Feb. 20 meeting, Calamari told Cascio that he plans to present “a fiscally responsible budget for the town to run on” when he offers a preliminary budget in March.
Prior, Cascio told Calamari “You can budget for anything you want, but everything is up for grabs. There’s no exclusions, including salaries.” (See “WT Council preparing to discuss workers amid 10% budget cut,” Feb. 26, 2024.)
He said if Calamari could increase salaries and still find a way to reduce the budget—meeting a promise Cascio made to residents who told him they were concerned with recent tax hikes—that was up to him.
During his Feb. 5 update, Cascio took issue with Calamari’s recent letter to Pascack Press (“Calamari on campaign promises,” Letters, Feb. 5, 2024), noting he was here to counter the mayor’s claim “that our campaign was not entirely truthful when we promised a 10% tax reduction. However I wanted to clarify that we are willing to explore all potential areas for that 10% reduction.”
Cascio said that he and DeSena campaigned by visiting nearly every household in the months before the election. He said they found that residents “can no longer bear the burden of continuously rising taxes imposed on them by their local government.”
He said the situation had become unbearable, noting the government “cannot fulfill every need nor should the government have unlimited access to the people’s hard-earned money.”
He said, as the mayor observed, there was “no fine print or disclaimer” on the campaign’s 10% tax cut promise.
10% budget trim is ‘objective’
However, Cascio said that it was crucial to emphasize the 10% budget cut “is our objective” and that the mayor/administration has the power to increase or decrease budget and salaries.
He called “incorrect” Calamari’s claim that salaries were excluded from consideration. He said the council rehired the CFO John K. Corcoran at the annual reorganization meeting so that the governing body could continue to pay employees’ salaries while the 2024 municipal budget is developed.
During reorganization, the council at first did not rehire, and then following more discussion, voted to rehire Corcoran. Calamari was critical of the council not accepting his recommendation to retain Corcoran.
Cascio emphasized, “We are giving the mayor a chance to independently reduce the township budget on his own accord.”
He said if the mayor does not make cuts, “all line items including salaries and stipends are subject to that review.” He said despite his previous statement that it will take time to reduce the budget, “Our main objective remains: to reduce the municipal portion of the budget by 10% in the first year.”
Cascio, a Reublican who was not backed for the ballot by his fellow town Republicans last cycle, and ran as an Independent for his re-election, said his campaign team anticipates “maintaining and further reducing” the municipal budget in upcoming years.
‘Entitlement and immaturity’
Cascio said, “If the mayor is unwilling and unable to do so, a majority of this council will respond and make those choices.”
He asserted the mayor’s complaints about council “stem from a sense of entitlement and immaturity.”
He took it further, saying it was “clear” that Calamari “is unable to accept outcomes of elections and is unwilling to support any decisions that do not align with his own agenda.”
Calamari told our editor, and his constituents, in his letter that the majority on council
“made you promises and guarantees, and they had no plan to deliver them … Perhaps if enough people demand it, they will either share their plan or admit what I believe is the truth: that they lied and had no plan to begin with.”
During the meeting, Calamari showed slides on “Council Authorized Spending” that noted capital ordinances voted on by Cascio, DeSena and Ullman, and a slide showing the 2023 operating budget that indicated a 10% municipal budget cut would equal $1,561,268.
It stated non-discretionary budget items comprising 81.71% of the 2023 budget.
Going personal; police informed
Cascio criticized unnamed individuals who have sent “blackmail and extortion letters” to him and his wife “in an attempt to discourage me from running or pursuing elected office” in the last two elections.
“I want to make it abundantly clear: Your efforts to intimidate me have failed and did not prevail. I refuse to be swayed or deterred by such cowardly acts. I promptly reported these letters to the proper authorities and they are being addressed accordingly,” he said.
Cascio said “Your actions will not silence me on the dais or persuade me with my commitment to serve the public. I will not allow fear or intimidation to undermine the principles of good citizenship which our side is built upon, nor influence my decision on the dais.”
Calamari claims censorship
Earlier on Feb 5, Calamari called for DeSena’s resignation based on what he claimed was “censorship” of his remarks by the meeting’s executive. No action was taken by any member to follow up on the mayor’s call for DeSena’s resignation.
At prior meetings, DeSena and Calamari have butted heads when DeSena did not permit Calamari to hold forth on certain topics. However, Calamari went into the public gallery on at least one occasion and spoke as a member of the public when DeSena did not allow him to comment on a topic.