Voorhees is looking to save almost $140,000 on municipal trash disposal.
The township has joined with seven other municipalities in a joint-purchasing effort that brings the cost of dealing with trash down from $65 per ton to $52.50 per ton.
The new agreement starts Nov. 1 of this year and ends Dec. 31, 2012.
Voorhees Township Manager Larry Spellman said the agreement helps with next year’s budget.
And it is the budget voters in Voorhees and all over are concerned with.
“The tough part about being in local government right now is trying to keep services to what people expect and demand while having no increase in the budget,” Spellman said. “I believe the bar is high as far as giving service to our residents.”
He said the budget was flat this year and is looking for a flat budget next year.
Spellman said the township is lean and mean, with 25 employees down through attrition since 2005.
“We are always looking at ways of doing more with less,” he said, noting there have been no layoffs yet. A large part of the budget is salary.
Other cost-cutting measures include merging emergency dispatch with the county this year, going self-insured with dental insurance (saving $30,000 a year), and bidding out the township’s entire insurance package to find a better rate. Also, in coming years, employees will be paying up to 30 percent of their health costs.
“We’re turning over every stone looking for ways to save money or to bring in revenue,” Spellman said.
The Voorhees Town Center has been “a big success,” he said, noting condos are selling and restaurants are opening.
“The hope is that the restaurants, the town hall will keep bringing the customers in to revitalize what was the old Echelon Mall,” Spellman said.
He said Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust was on shaky ground at first and has put $200 million into the project in the last three years.
Spellman said other positive signs of development in Voorhees include Virtua Hospital, a new hotel on Route 73, a nursing home, and more restaurants.
“There’s expansion here in Voorhees which is not the norm for the state,” he said.
Spellman, who has been the Voorhees township manager for six years, said the township is successful in part because of the vision of the council and other officials. They look beyond the next year and have in place things like a five year road program and five year capital plan.
A member of the New Jersey Association of Township Managers, Spellman said it’s sad to go to meetings and see managers in north Jersey who are forced to stop services or curtail trash pickup and lay off police officers. He hopes not to have to do that in Voorhees.
“There will be a point in time where we’re not cutting fat but cutting muscle,” Spellman said.
