Reader says it will be extremely difficult for the Ridgewood Garage to demonstrate that they are more cost efficient than other alternatives.
The Village has been very satisfied with the quality of work from Paramus Garage. In fact, I have heard numerous stories about how long it takes for the Ridgewood Garage to complete very simple jobs. Ridgewood vehicles have been taken to other facilities to have things like oil changes done in a matter of hours, after the Ridgewood Garage said the work would take days.
This is a simple matter of economics. If Ridgewood’s Garage employees are more responsive and perform the necessary work at the lowest total cost, the facility should be kept. However, if Paramus or another town’s garage facility is more responsive and can perform the necessary work at a lower cost (fully burdened labor and OH, including accurate pension and benefit obligations must be used in this comparison), the Ridgewood Garage should be shut down and outsourced to those facilities.
This does not take into consideration the additional revenue that could be generated if the Village enters into a long term lease arrangement for a higher use development on the site that could benefit the community.
I expect that it will be extremely difficult for the Ridgewood Garage to demonstrate that they are more cost efficient than other alternatives. This is not a complicated analysis to perform. So, the Village Council should get the data and make the information available to the public for discussion and a decision.
