March 28, 2013 Middletown Township Municipal Budget Introduction (VIDEO)

Middletown’s municipal tax rate will be increasing from $0.482 in 2012 to $0.496 this year per the proposed 2013 municipal budget, introduced on March 28th, which is a 2.9% jump in the rate.

The amount to be collected through property taxes is $48.6 million, a million more than last year, or a 2.2% increase.

This years’ budget is $66.4 million and has an increase of 4.4% $2.8 million over last years’ budget of $63.6 million.

The cost of Superstorm Sandy to the Township will be paid off over the next 5 years. This years’ payment will be $500K.

These costs represent 4.2% of the budget. The amount to pay off additional debt obligations comprises 11.7% of the budget.

The value of the town was reduced $68.5M due to damage from the storm.

When spread out across the whole town, the average home assessment was reduced by $4,500, or about 1%.

The CFO presented 2 different ways to look at the budget in relation to the amount FEMA will reimburse the Township for clean up costs. The introduced budget assumes that 75% of the $14 million spent on storm clean-up will be paid back. If a 90% reimbursement rate is possible it will reduce the amount to collect from property taxes. A timeframe on when FEMA funds would make it to the Township was not mentioned.

There were other items that drove the budget higher besides the storm. Healthcare costs were projected to increase $630,000 this year, resulting in a cost to the Township of $8.4 million, making total cost of healthcare expenses around $9.5M which includes employee contributions.

The meeting was held at 5pm, which is about an hour earlier than past years. The public finds it hard enough to make a 6pm meeting and a 5pm start time is even harder. Even though very few members of the public attend these early meetings, it is next to impossible to get to a meeting that begins at 5pm when most people work until 5pm. This does not contribute to a more open government.