No Major Objections to M'town Municipal Budget

What has been touted as the tightest in ten years, with no township jobs on the chopping block, saw no major objections at last night's hearing.

There were a few questions that were addressed, such one about the possibility of using surplus to bring the increase to zero. "But no one came out and said, 'This budget should not be adopted,'" Mayor Tony Fiore said.

Though the adoption date of the proposed $63.5 million 2012 spending plan, with a tax levy of $47.6 million, has not yet been set, Administrator Anthony Mercantante said.

The reason: like other municipalities, the township has to wait to have the exact state aid figures to plug in and the state Department of Community Affairs' Division of Local Government Services must approve it. There is now a backlog, Fiore said. 

The $47. 6 million tax levy translates into an average annual tax hike of $43 in the municipal portion of the bill for a property owner with the township’s average assessment of $380,000.

In the past two years, township Chief Financial Officer Nicola Trasente said, roughly 27 township employees lost their jobs. This is the first year in a while that there are no jobs in jeopardy.

While the budget’s proposed tax levy increase came in under the state’s mandated 2 percent cap, from $46.7 million last year to $47.6 this year (or $919,079 more), officials said that there were still unavoidable contractually-mandated costs that rise annually and need to be covered.

Officials boasted that successful collective bargaining with unions shaved off rather than raised health care costs, which are estimated at $7.8 million this year, $400,000 less than last year.

Of the 21 percent in municipal costs, most goes to salaries and wages. Police salaries represent 53 percent of the tab, with Public Works and Engineering salaries accounting for 19 percent, library staff representing 8 percent and all other employees accounting for another 4 to 5 percent.

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