Letter to The Editor: Hogan Cuts Election Printing by $200,000

To the Editor:

Too often, we, the hardworking taxpayers of Bergen County, have witnessed
the abuses of government—double-dipping of public pensions, inflated salaries
prior to retirements to boost pensions, cost over runs on projects, costly
lawsuits on differences that should simply be settled by negotiations, unlimited
overtime…

The list goes on and on…

We have all read the headlines and news stories of these abuses of the public
trust. Day after day we watch with disgust as our tax dollars are wasted as we
look to our elected officials to properly act on our behalf.

Last year as a candidate for Bergen County Clerk, I raised one such issue of
wasted tax dollars—the inflated cost of election printing by the Bergen County
Clerk’s office. I made a commitment that I would put a more competitive
process in place and reduce the cost of election printing by $200,000.

Upon assuming office in late November, I worked with my new leadership team
to identify printers who specialize in, and have the ability to perform, election
printing. We then conducted site visits and individual interviews of these
companies and their operations.

I am pleased to announce for the 2012 budget, I recently notified the Bergen
County Freeholders that I am able to keep my commitment by cutting $200,000
from the printing line item of the elections budget.

It should be noted that this is being accomplished despite the new challenge of being mandated to print the election materials in three languages. In addition to this being the busiest of election years with the choosing of a President and Vice President, a US Senator and Congressman, fifty four school districts chose to have their school elections switched to November.

Further, upon assuming office, I learned that my predecessor had submitted
a preliminary 2012 budget with a 6.56% increase and the County Executive’s
subsequently approved an increase of 4.33%.

Times are tough and this was just not acceptable to me. Working with my
leadership team, we were able to save taxpayers an additional $60,700 by:
eliminating an outside vendor and joining with the county in disaster recovery ,
at a savings of $16,500; updating the website in house at a savings of $4200;
and $40,000 by partnering with the county in using one server. In addition,
we reduced administrative payroll by 16% and instituted cross training of
employees to improve efficiencies and successfully operate with the lowest
staffing levels ever in the Bergen County Clerk’s Office.

These efforts resulted in a ZERO % INCREASE in the Bergen County Clerk’s 2012 budget.

This is part of my commitment to restore people’s trust in government by
keeping our word and ultimately ending up with a leaner, smarter, and more
open government that puts people first.

One person—one public pay check; control of public salaries and overtime; real
project oversight; negotiate instead of litigate. Not just catchy phrases but REAL
REFORMS that will restore the trust in our elected officials. I ask my colleagues
in government to join me in rising to the challenge.

John S. Hogan, Bergen County Clerk