Residents call for open discourse

Spending, budgeting and ways to save top the discussion, By Stacy Maldonado Franklin — Last week’s Town Council meeting was packed with residents who came to voice their complaints about Franklin and question the borough’s spending policies. Some said they want council to be more open. Lifelong resident Michael Krupa wanted to know why a $5.5 million budget isn’t enough for the 5,280 people of Franklin. He thinks too many employees are making six-figure salaries, “when you include healthcare and pension benefits, and all some do is ride around all day...why not retire?” According to Administrator Richard Wolak, Franklin spends about $500,000 in healthcare for its employees, this includes medical, dental and prescription plans. But, these employees may now be asked to contribute 1.5 percent toward these costs for the remainder of the year beginning July 1. This would result in a savings of $8,257. Wolak also said that healthcare contributions will continue to be considered when employee contracts come up for renewal and negotiation in future years. Resident Joanne Tatka, a member of the Franklin Taxpayers Association, said she and her husband always had to contribute to their own healthcare benefits. “Co-pays, prescriptions, whatever. And if the premium goes up, we paid it. These people should pay for some of it. Everyone else does.” She also said she’d asked the mayor and council to implement salary caps for all employees, “but that was over a year ago and it hasn’t happened.” Wolak said that contract negotiations are currently going on “with the bargaining units for clerical, DPW, water and police. As contracts expire they come back to the table and negotiate a new contract, including any salary increases,” he said. “We are always in the midst of negotiations,” he said. He added that freezes, layoffs and furloughs are being discussed, but nothing has been agreed to yet. Comments and ideas for trimming costs continued, including sharing services of police with other towns. As the discussions went on, Wolak reminded audience members that the borough does not yet have a formal budget. Franklin’s Police Chief Kistle said he felt the meeting was rather a calm one, not “what I anticipated.” He also feels that Franklin doesn’t necessarily have a spending problem, but rather “it’s a revenue problem.”