Source: Bill Gallo, Jr, NJ.com, June 15, 2016
Salem County’s 911 dispatch center and its jail medical staff will not be privatized as a way to balance the 2016 budget. Freeholders voted 5 to 2 Wednesday afternoon to adopt a $81.3 million spending plan. To prevent outsourcing, the county is raising taxes by a penny more than originally planned, taking more from the surplus fund and adjusting other accounts. The budget also reinstates the 2-cent open space tax that was originally eliminated this year as a way to ease the overall burden on taxpayers. That money is earmarked mostly for farmland preservation, something the county leads the state in. … The adopted budget will raise county taxes 8.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value. Originally, freeholders had proposed a tax hike of 5.6 cents. In total, the amount to be raised by taxation will be $52,933,660.48. Each penny on the county tax rate raises about $500,000. …
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Privatization of 911, jail nurses would save Salem County $1.1M, officials say
Source: Bill Gallo, Jr, NJ.com, May 18, 2016
Salem County could save over $1.1 million by privatizing its 911 dispatch center and medical staff at its jail, officials say a cost analysis shows. It will now be up to the unions representing those county workers whether they can provide concessions that would come close to the savings that using outside firms would bring. … If privatization of the 911 center is OK’d, annual savings would be $950,646.36, Chief Financial Officer Katie Coleman said Wednesday. The privatization of the Salem County Correctional Facility’s medical staff would save an estimated $216,204.48. The combined overall projected annual savings is $1,166,850.84, according to Coleman. Coleman said the cost analysis for 911 and the nursing staff will be presented to officials from the Communication Workers of America to see if their workers can make concessions needed to match or come close to savings privatization could provide. … The projected savings to the county are based on the lowest bids received: One for 911 dispatching from IXP Corporation of Princeton for $2,398,487.50 and three received for medical services: $2,550,880 from CFG Health Systems LLC of Marlton, $2,262,051 from Correctional Medical Care of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and $1,920,132 from Correct Care Solutions of Nashville, Tennessee. Michael A. Blaszczyk, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1085, said his union, which represents the 911 and jail medical workers, wants to see their jobs saved. …
Bids are in for possible Salem County privatization. What’s next?
Source: Bill Gallo, Jr, NJ.com, May 15, 2016
On Friday, officials opened the lone bid for providing 911 dispatching services by a private firm. From IXP Corporation of Princeton, that bid was for $2,398,487.50. On May 6, three bids to provide medical services at the Salem County Correctional Facility were opened. They included: $2,550,880 from CFG Health Systems LLC of Marlton, $2,262,051 from Correctional Medical Care of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and $1,920,132 from Correct Care Solutions of Nashville, Tennessee, according to the county. … The 911 center has approximately 37 full- and part-time employees. The jail nursing staff includes about 20 employees full- and part-time. Asked for how much the 911 center costs the county operate and how much the medical unit at the jail costs, a county spokesperson said those numbers were not available Friday. …
Don’t privatize our jobs, union workers tell Salem County freeholders
Source: Bill Gallo, Jr, NJ.com, April 7, 2016
Union workers have a clear message for Salem County freeholders: Don’t privatize our jobs. One option the county administration is considering to reduce costs is trying to determine whether money can be saved by privatizing the county’s 911 dispatching services and the medical staff at the Salem County Correctional Facility. … Estimates on how much privatization would save Salem County weren’t discussed. Solicitor Michael Mulligan confirmed that the county has completed a draft of a request to seek bids for privatization of the jail nursing staff. And a draft to seek bids for countywide dispatching services is in the works. Before these requests for proposals, or RFPs, can be put out seeking bids, the freeholder board must OK that action. The 911 center in Mannington Township, which is overseen by the Salem County Sheriff’s Office, has 31 full-time and seven part-time employees. At the neighboring jail, also under direction of the Sheriff’s Office, the medical staff is comprised of 16 full-time employees and two part-time workers, officials said.