Roselle continues cost-cutting

After eliminating Roselle's assistant finance director position last week to cut costs, village officials on Monday preliminarily agreed to spread the work among remaining staff and contracted accountants.

The move was influenced by an independent study conducted in May by Sikich LLP, which examined issues like redundancies in how Roselle does business and better ways to use technology. Village leaders voted to adopt the study in August, saying Roselle could face bankruptcy in less than a decade without a plan to cut costs and generate more revenue.

According to the study, having an assistant finance director “resulted in nonbeneficial duplication of knowledge” on Roselle's staff.

“The study recommended ... to merge the finance and assistant finance director positions,” said Village Administrator Jeff O'Dell. “At the same time, it pointed out that it would be important that we not restaff for those peak times of the year that are busy, such as an audit. I think that's important to know.”

The village explored hourly rates at two accounting firms, and learned contracted accountants can cost $75 to $150 an hour, depending on the complexity of the work needed. For example, work on bank reconciliation would cost a lower rate than audit preparation, finance manager Pam Figolah said.

Roselle officials also agreed Monday to rehire former assistant finance director Cathy Haley as-needed under contract, while she seeks full-time work. Figolah said Roselle is beginning preliminary work for an audit on Wednesday.

Village President Gayle Smolinski said she thought the decision “was a good way to go” considering Roselle's financial strain.

“We are doing what we can to make sure we're staffing in a way to still provide service, but still be responsible with the tax dollars we have,” she said.

Last year, Roselle's revenues were about $13.5 million, while expenses ran at about $14 million. O'Dell said about $10 million of those expenses include payroll, health insurance and pension contributions for employees. Another $1.5 million is spent on paramedic contract services, emergency dispatching and equipment replacement.

Although Roselle had a carry-over balance that covered a nearly $600,000 deficit in 2010, projections show that could change by 2014 and Roselle could face a shortfall. Projections show that deficit would also continue in future years unless they adopt cuts recommended by Sikich, officials said.

Before adopting the Sikich study, Roselle previously cut costs through eliminating services like brush pickup, programs like DARE and enacting furlough days for employees, among other measures.