January 5, 2003: 1982 DMUA Rescue and Reorganization

Ocean County Politics .com

They Rescued The Dover MUA From Near Insolvency: 1982 - 1985

Commissioners Who Reorganized The Dover Municipal Utilities Authority In The 1980's May Have Been The Best Public Officials In The Township’s History

Haelig, DeCesare, Billemeyer, Glehan, Brummer Cut A Bloated DMUA Payroll By 19%, Fired The Political Hacks, Refunded Agency’s Debt At A Big Profit To Ratepayers - And Made The Sewer Rate Stable For 19 Years: Nobody Ever Did That Before

Haelig • DeCesare • Billemeyer • Glehan • Brummer

The Republican commissioners who saved the Dover Municipal Utilities Authority from near insolvency in 1982 through 1985 were a unique group of public officials.

They were not connected with the patronage and development interests who then, as now, dominate Ocean County politics.

New Commissioners Showed Real Courage After Inheriting A Desperate Financial Situation From '81 Democrats

They inherited a desperate financial situation from the Democrats who controlled the Authority through 1981, but instead of pandering to the cheap seats with temporary fixes, they summoned up a dose of real courage and took long range action in the ratepayers' interest:

• They gave difficult decisions enormous credibility when they fired 19% of the DMUA payroll which was loaded with political hacks hired by prior Democrat and Republican administrations that padded the DMUA payroll and wasted money wholesale.

• The new commissioners raised the sewer rate so it covered the entire $2.4 million annual deficit left by the Democrats, and they stopped borrowing money and put the authority on a pay-as-you-go status.

• They refunded the authority’s debt with unique financing methods that saved ratepayers $$Millions, and built reserves for the authority’s ratepayers instead of the investment bankers and lawyers who benefited from previous bond transactions.

• During the original reorganization period in 1982 and 1983, the new commissioners held as many as two meetings a week (as opposed to one meeting a month) as they changed the management and set new policies that helped authority ratepayers build an investment instead of the greedy political establishment.

Their Good Judgment Made The DMUA
Unique Among NJ Public Agencies

The result is that the DMUA, at least until two years ago, when some minor aspects of the management began to deteriorate, is unique among all public agencies in New Jersey

• The basic rate of $225, once one of the highest in Ocean County because of the previous blundering management, has held stable at $225 (one of the lowest rates in NJ) for 19 years, a record of achievement that is unmatched anywhere.

• The authority has, for the same 19 years, funded every penny of capital rehabilitation from current expenses - and not borrowed a single nickel.

• As nearly all other agencies raised rates numerous times because of constant deficits, the DMUA built up net reserves that produced income to keep the rate stable, making Dover Township ratepayers, until very recently, beneficiaries of the best run local agency financial apparatus in New Jersey.

Best Financed Public Agency In New Jersey?

The new commissioners who made the policies and the courageous decisions were criticized at the time by political flunkies and patronage hogs in both parties, but they stuck to their guns and gave Dover Township ratepayers the best managed and the strongest public agency in New Jersey, maybe the best anywhere.

The public officials who elevated and ennobled the political process instead of corrupting it were:

	Former Middlesex County Assemblyman Robert K. Haelig Jr., who moved to Ocean County in 1974, became a Commissioner in 1980 and served as Authority Chairman through the entire DMUA reorganization period. Haelig, who holds a degree in Economics from Rutgers University was, and is, an authority on local financial issues. He is still a Commissioner on the Authority, and has spent the past 5 years trying to keep the political flunkies appointed by the current GOP political establishment from infecting the DMUA with their bad financial policies.
	Former Sayreville Mayor Henry Billemeyer, who moved to Toms River when he retired, and then gave hundreds of hours of his time as a DMUA Commissioner to make the reforms come out right for the ratepayers. Billemeyer, who died in 1992, was a savvy businessman who also gave free advice to the Toms River Regional School Board. Failure on the part of school officials to accept the advice of Billemeyer and others led to a huge school tax increase in 1988.
	Anthony DeCesare, a retired tool and die manager and technician who understood numbers, liked to emphasize “there is no such thing as a free lunch”. Tony DeCesare, who died in 1989, was a Republican Club officer when the local GOP was generally representative of the public interest - before the developers and the patronage seekers took over.
	Doctor George Glehan, a retired college professor who served a term as Dover Township Tax Collector and Treasurer. His unique perspective and financial skills were invaluable as the reformed DMUA charted new territory in Authority management and finance: (nobody had ever actually “cut” a budget before). Doctor Glehan died in 1985 at the age of 75.
	Shirley Brummer was, and is, a smart homemaker and army wife who brought intelligence and good judgment to the whole process at the DMUA. She is a college graduate and a former teacher. She also had (and still has) the rare ability to spot phonies at distances of well over a mile. Mrs. Brummer served with distinction as a DMUA commissioner until her service to DMUA ratepayers was cut short in 1988 when she was dumped as a commission member by Republican leaders preoccupied with paying off political hacks instead of rewarding competence and devoted service to an important cause.
More on the history of the Dover Municipal Utilities Authority and the difference between then and now, soon on OceanCountyPolitics•Com.