Tracy Tobin's wise decision.

It is a tradition of the Washington Township Committee that its newest member be assigned the role of Finance Liaison. I assumed this important position in 2006, as did James Harmon in 2009. However in 2007, then mayor Tracy Tobin broke tradition and bypassed Howard Popper for the Finance Liaison role during the Annual Reorganization Meeting. Based on the following comment by Mr. Popper, contained within an endorsement letter for Ken Short and Bill Roehrich in today's Observer Tribune, Mr. Tobin's wisdom is validated wholeheartedly.

"Fixed costs (salaries, health benefits, utilities, and pensions) all rise substantially each year."

To anyone who has taken an accounting course, it's no secret salaries and utilities are not "fixed costs". Nor are they categorized that way in the municipal budget. They are in fact variable costs. Had Howard Popper bothered to look at the "FIX, OE, SW" tab of the 2009 Municipal Budget spreadsheet, provided by the Township CFO after each budget meeting, he would see "fixed costs" defined as:

DEBT SERVICE
GROUP INS.
LIBRARY
SOC. SEC.
PENSION
LOSAP
LIABILITY INS
WORKERS COMP
GRANTS
REVALUATION

Beginning in 2006, the growth of these "fixed costs" has actually declined "substantially". It appears Howard's comment is not surprisingly, wrong.