Princeton's development services department would trade a budgeted urban planner position for a new assistant director under a budget transfer the City Council considers at its regular meeting Monday, Nov. 9.
The item asks council to move up to $76,000 from the department's engineering services account, which covers engineering review of development applications, into personnel funds.
The reclassification itself is the city manager's call; a memo from Alternate City Manager David Hall notes that the City Charter puts supervision of employees and departments with the city manager's office, so the council is being asked to approve only the money.
The cost
The memo puts the urban planner position at $72,000 in base salary and $29,411 in taxes and benefits, or $101,411 a year. The assistant director is estimated at $130,810 in salary and $45,810 in taxes and benefits, for $176,620. The difference comes to $75,209 a year.
The engineering services account was adopted at $650,000 for development application review, Development Review Committee meetings and staff consultations. The transfer amounts to 11.57% of that, which would leave about $574,791. Actual spending, the memo says, depends on when the position is filled.
What the job would do
The department would stay at 15 full-time positions. The assistant director would report to the director of development services and coordinate daily work across planning, permitting, building inspections and code compliance, while the director keeps overall leadership. The planning manager, building official and other technical staff would keep their current duties.
