council decision By Terry McGahan West Milford - A show of strength by township employees has almost certainly saved their jobs from being axed. Town Hall was packed Monday night as the council faced municipal workers, some of whom had been slated for unemployment. Following the meeting council members, although no final decisions were made, appeared to favor a plan to retain most of their staff and make savings elsewhere. While the majority of town employees can breathe a sigh of relief, four of their colleagues could still lose their jobs. Planning Director Bill Drew, along with the town’s Principal Planner Linda Lutz, must wait for the council to decide whether to retain those positions. The council is also deciding the fate of a part-time nurse and registrar. After hearing numerous employees explain their position, the council decided to seek further information. Specifically, the council will inquire whether by cutting a position, they are not in fact increasing costs by having the same work done by non-township employees. Councilman Joseph Smolinksi, who is seeking re-election to the council in November, spoke in support of saving jobs at the regular council meeting on Wednesday night. “We need to get to the facts and review them,” he said. Smolinski also took aim at those who are urging the council to cut expenses by eliminating jobs. “It’s okay for people to come here and very coldly say to get rid of them to save us some money; they were not here on Monday night.” “These people who work for us are not shovels in sheds,” said Smolinski, “They are people. They are also volunteers in our town.” Council members had considered releasing an unspecified number of employees to balance the budget and thus holding down the average property tax increase to no more than $100 per homeowner. The $100-target increase remains a priority. The council is considering transferring as much as $300,000 into the general fund from money earmarked for development, instead of cutting personnel. This development fund is held in reserve to be used for the purchase of open-space land. Not all council members agree. Councilman Bob Nolan is worried the council is spending beyond their means. Nolan said, “We are spending more than our revenues. We had the problem last year; last year’s council didn’t do anything about it, so the problem got pushed into this year. If we don’t address it this year, it’s going to be a bigger problem next year.” Nolan continued, “The last thing we should be doing next year is using one-time monies from the redevelopment zone on current operations . That’s one of the reasons why the state is in the budget mess it’s in.” Councilman James Warden is also worried about over-spending. “If this council doesn’t make some hard decision and start to get a handle on our out-of-control spending we are going to go out of business,” he said. The council will meet again before making a final decision on the status of employees and funding the budget.