Wefer for Morris County Freeholder

Contact: Dana Wefer’s Campaign For Immediate Release
Phone: (973)610-0491
Email: DanaWefer@gmail.com

WEFER TO FREEHOLDERS: “TIME TO TUNE-UP OVERNIGHT TRIPS POLICY�

Morristown, October 16, 2006- Dana Wefer, Democratic candidate for Morris County Freeholder, called on the Freeholders to "tune up" the county's policy on overnight trips paid for by the county. Wefer's examination of the county's records revealed that since January of 2005, the county has spent at least $153,000 sending county employees on overnight trips.

Wefer argues that taking just a few simple steps could save Morris County taxpayers a significant amount of money over time. Among her proposals are limiting the number of people that attend any one trip to two people (except in extreme circumstances), creating incentives for people to share rooms, and investigating what causes any discrepancy more than $60 in the cost of sending two people on the same trip.

Wefer argues that saving some money here is just a drop in the bucket of overall savings. "This is intended to be an example of how implementing tighter controls and fiscal responsibility can really add up over a whole series of programs," Wefer explained. "There are tons of ways to save money," Wefer said. "We just need to be creative about it and implement common sense policies. This is one area of opportunity."

Wefer's data shows that in the last two years there have been twenty trips where three or more county employees have attended the same trip. Both in 2005 and 2006, over 10 people have attended the Garden State Employment and Training Association conference. "Clearly, we want our county employees to be equipped in this matter, but is it really necessary to send a dozen people?" Wefer queried. "I think we should take a hard look as to whether it would be possible to send one or two people down who can then come back and relay the information to other employees in a formalized setting," Wefer said.

Wefer has compiled all of the information regarding the name of the trip, number of attendees, total cost, the range of the cost for multiple employees attending the same conference into an excel spreadsheet available to reporters upon request. They should contact the campaign for the spreadsheet.

"I'’m a strong believer in that saying 'count your pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves'," Wefer divulged on Monday. "We need to look at the big expenses, but we need to look at the small ones too. They really add up, as this data shows."

Wefer is making her second run for Freeholder after an impressive showing last year. She is the sole female candidate in a field of six candidates. Her two running mates are Mine Hill Mayor Rich Leary and Chatham Township Councilman Jack Hartford. Democrats are widely regarded as having an unprecedented opportunity to win seats on the currently all Republican Freeholder Board.

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