One of the items on the agenda at the March 25th meeting was for the hiring of a part-time tax collector, as Manville's tax collector has retired. The Tax Collector hired is Cameron Keng. He is currently listed on the Borough of Manville website as "Payroll Manager". The part-time position pays $30,000 per year.

During the public portion, a resident asked if the person being hired as our part-time tax collector works for any other municipalities. Which was a great question to ask.

Mayor Onderko responded, "That I don't know. I don't know if he's working for anybody else," and Councilwoman Camacho (Chairwoman of the PPP committee) added: "I'm not sure."

A quick search of the tax collector's name shows he works in many towns, in various financial positions. He's Tax Collector for two other towns, plus Chief Financial Officer for three others. That's five other jobs in addition to being Manville's Payroll Manager, plus the newly hired position for Tax Collector.

How can he adequately serve Manville residents? What will his hours be when holding so many other jobs besides Manville's? The Mayor stated the workload will be significantly less once the sewer utility is sold to American Water.

But a tax collector does more tasks. It's not just sitting at a window all day collecting payments from residents. A few other things a tax collector does is generate the bills, work on tax liens, tax sales, and depositing of funds.

Are we only using him for his license? There was what seemed to be an implication that this position would be temporary until they find someone else for the job. Is that why they didn't seem to properly interview him? The Mayor and PPP Chairwoman should have at least known the basic fact that the tax collector they hired works for at least 5 other towns.

Sources of Current Positions Held (3/26/2024)

Manville - Payroll Manager (Website)
Alpha Borough - CFO (Website)
Franklin Township (Hunterdon County) - CFO (Website)
Lebanon - CFO (Website)
Franklin Township (Warren County) - Tax Collector (Website)
Ramsey - Tax Collector (Website)