Municipal taxes may rise by 4.9 cents
Township Council expected to adopt 2005 budget on June 28
BY JENNIFER DOME
Staff Writer

Brick Township taxpayers may see their taxes increase by 4.9 cents per $100 of assessed value if the proposed 2005 municipal budget is approved.

The budget was expected to be introduced to the Township Council at Tuesday’s public meeting. If the council approved the introduction of the budget that night, the final vote on the budget will be scheduled for June 28.

The 4.9-cent tax increase would mean that a taxpayer living in a home assessed at the township average of $138,000 would see a $67.62 increase in their tax bill for the year. This equates to an increase of approximately $5.63 per month for a home assessed at the same value.

With the 4.9-cent tax increase, the new municipal tax rate would be $.798 per $100 of assessed value. The 2005 municipal budget total as proposed is $64,009,950 — up $6,278,833 from last year’s $57,731,117 budget.

There are several factors that contribute to the 9.8-percent increase in this year’s budget, township officials said. Those factors include nondiscretionary costs such as snow removal, utilities, landfill tipping fees, social security, insurances and pension bills.

Landfill fees are up for three reasons, Township Business Administrator Scott MacFadden said — more garbage is being dumped; the cost per ton has increased; and recycling has gone down.

“That’s something we’re working to address,” MacFadden said about recycling. The township is planning to launch an educational campaign to encourage residents to recycle more, he said. Brick is usually near the state’s goal of recycling 50 percent of its refuse. But lately, the township has dropped to around 30 percent, MacFadden said.

The proposed budget uses $9,128,410 of surplus funds, or 93 percent of what’s available in the surplus. This will leave $696,184 in the surplus fund, according to township documents. Last year, approximately $10 million of surplus funds were used in the budget, leaving a balance of approximately $1.25 million.

MacFadden said this budget was designed with the anticipation of selling the township-owned property behind the Chambers Bridge Road post office. The property was once earmarked for a township community center, but officials are now determining whether to sell the land through sealed bids, or enter the redevelopment process.

MacFadden said he expects the township to make, at most, $15 million on the sale. This money will be used to create a “tax stabilization fund,” the business administrator said.

Council President Ruthanne Scaturro, a member of the council’s Business and Finance Committee, said that a 4.9-cent tax increase is not where she’d like to be — but knows a zero-cent tax increase isn’t possible every year.

Last year’s zero-cent increase was part of a promise that she and her Republican council members made to the public during the previous election season, Scaturro said.

“You know you can’t keep it at zero; that’s unrealistic,” she said. “Unless you’re willing to cut essential services, which we’re not, you can’t always have a zero increase.”

Last year, the Republican council members made several cuts to the budget that was prepared by Mayor Joseph Scarpelli and his administration. This year, Scaturro said the council wasn’t as intimately involved in the budget process. But she said she feels that was because last year was many of the Republicans’ first year on the council, so they had to be educated about the budget process.

“It’s a pretty lean budget in order of where I saw decreases [made],” Scaturro said.

MacFadden said he, Chief Financial Officer Scott Pezarras and Purchasing Agent Richard MacDonald knew what the council’s directions were from crafting the 2004 budget. So, the 2005 municipal budget also reflects those directions.

“The things that did increase, there’s nothing that you can do about it,” MacFadden said.

One item that was cut from the 2004 budget and reinstated into this year’s budget was the $20,000 contribution to each of the township’s four first aid squads. Last year, the first aid squads were directed to request township funds on an as needed basis.

The past policy of giving the squads $20,000 each for the year will be included in this year’s budget, but Scaturro said “there will be strings attached.”

Councilman Michael Thulen, who serves as chairperson of the Business and Finance Committee, said he agrees that a lot of the increases included in the 2005 municipal budget couldn’t be helped.

“It’s a moderate increase,” Thulen said.

“You never like to see a tax increase and we’re going to be sitting down with the administration and reviewing this further,” Councilwoman Kathy Russell said.

Councilman Stephen Acropolis, who also sits on the Business and Finance Committee, said he would much rather have a zero-cent tax increase but some of the township’s costs cannot be cut.

“This year we might have to bite the bullet a little on this but hopefully over the next several years we’ll be in better financial shape,” Acropolis said.