Dan claims the following in his blog: "Completely missing from his discussion is that the program has always been grant-driven and there have been reimbursements for provision of client services by the 'sending' county -- including Union County for Plainfield clients."
The Fact: The Dudley House is had costs beyond what was grant funded. Employee fringe benefits, program administrative costs, building space, heating light etc. all cost money. These costs were being borne by taxpayers. Below please see the actual budget request for $56,000. Add that to emploee fringe benefits (on average of 35% of salary) and you get a total of $127,630.
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Bottom line: I got it done. We need to focus on getting things done Plainfield. We need to work together and we need solutions - I want to talk about solutions, and what we do from here forward. That is what Plainfield needs. Not excuses.
Join me as we walk away frm the politics of the past. These are dead anchors - not bridges to the future. We don't need to be anchored to the past. We deserve better then that.
Join me as we build a better Plainfield.
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The Original Post
Rarely do we find ourselves in a position of wining on both sides. Such was the case for the Dudly House. When I came on the Council I realized that the Dudley House, a drug rehab center was costing taxpayers alomst $100,000 per year.
Upon further inquiry, I learned that 80% of the patients are non-Plainfield residents.
So Plainfield taxpayers are paying for the drug rehab costs of non-Plainfield residents? Yes, and it had been that way for the past 10 years I was told.
I decided to do something about it.
Why nothing was done about this, I just do not know, but I made it my business to do something about it. The end result of three years of working on this is that we have sucessfully outsourced the facility to a non-profit organization who will actually perform the duty better then we could. The icing on this cake is that we actually collect revenue from this in the way of rent.
So we turned something that cost the city almost $100,000 to a positive cash flow of $14,400.
See the article below from late last year.
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Rashid Burney for Council
A proud record of accomplishments
Endorsed by:
US Congressman Frank Pallone
Councilwoman Linda Carter, Councilman Bill Reid
Former Councilman Elliott Simmons
Community Activist Jim Spear
Community Activist Jeanette Criscone
