Council says no way to 12-cent tax rate hike

BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer

Brick Democratic Mayor Daniel J. Kelly has no argument with Republican Township Council members who say his proposed hike in the municipal tax rate is too high.

"I don't disagree the 12 cents is a problem," Kelly said at the March 13 council meeting, where he presented his 2007 budget. "But if we don't solve the problem, we deal with it another year. I'm not thrilled doing it. I would be happy to come in with a zero budget and be a hero."

The proposed budget totals $71,636,107, up $3,890,00 from last year. The amount to be raised by taxation would rise to $45,575,871, up $5,798,904 from 2006.

The municipal purposes tax rate would rise from 85.3 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation to 97.3 cents, as it stands now.

But the numbers didn't sit well with most of the GOP-dominated council. Council President Stephen C. Acropolis, Councilmen Anthony Matthews and Michael Thulen and Councilwoman Ruthanne Scaturro are all up for re-election this year.

Matthews called the 12-cent hike "absurd."

"I'm sorry, but to place that burden on the back of the taxpayers, I think it's incredible," he said.

Acropolis pledged to help Kelly pare down the budget. But the pledge came with a caveat.

"There is no way a 12-cent increase is going to get passed by this particular council," he told Kelly.

"This administration is not playing games," Kelly said. "We intend to work with you and will come up with something that we can live with. It's as simple as that."

A homeowner with a house assessed at the township average of $133,500 will pay an extra $16 per month to support the proposed budget, or $192 per year.

But Scaturro questioned the average price of a home in Brick Township.

"Sixteen dollars a month doesn't sound like a lot," she said. "But I think we would be hard-pressed to find a house in Brick Township that goes for $133,500."

But although they weren't happy with Kelly's proposed 2007 budget, some council members said something not usually heard at council meetings.

"I'm going to take a different tack," Thulen said. "I want to thank you. The last mayor (former Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli) took well into May to get a budget to us. That's all I have."

"Mike and I are going out for a drink later," Kelly joked.

Kelly was selected by the Township Council on Jan. 4 to replace Scarpelli. Scarpelli resigned on Dec. 8 and pleaded guilty on Jan. 8 to accepting bribes from an unnamed developer. He is slated to be sentenced on May 29.

Kelly told the council that with only nine weeks in office, he was no expert on municipal budgets. The budget was compiled with Township Administrator Scott M. Pezarras and other members in the finance department, he said.

Pezarras has said the township relied too often on one-time revenues like liquor license and municipal asset sales and deferred school taxes in the past. Gov. Jon Corzine is expected to sign legislation that would put a 4 percent cap on the amount to be raised by taxation, which will add to the problem, he said.

Councilman Daniel Toth suggested using volunteers for some tasks, like taking minutes for the township Shade Tree Commission meetings.

"There are areas in the budget, if we try to take a look in a non-partisan way, see what items we can do without," Toth said. "Let's filter them out. I know nine weeks is a difficult situation to put you in."

Kelly's budget also calls for using less surplus than last year - 75.11 percent compared to 89.96 percent. Surplus to be used in this year's budget totals $10,977,806, which leaves a cushion of $3,634,387, or 5.07 percent. Last year the surplus used totaled $9,785,768, which left $1,092,595, or 1.62 percent in the account.

"The surplus is there to help the taxpayers, so we can try and calm down that tax increase," Acropolis said.

Brick at financial crossroads

Past budgeting practices have left a "structural imbalance" in township finances, because while expenses grew, the tax rate did not, according to the township administration's budget abstract compiled by Pezarras and Kelly.

"The past approach to the budget has placed Brick at a financial crossroads," Kelly said at the meeting. "The continued practices of the past did not address the reality of municipal spending."

There were no increases in the municipal purposes tax rate in six of the past 13 years, a period that spanned both political parties, he said.

"It was a bipartisan choice made by the mayor and council members of both parties," Kelly said. " When you are in a hole, you have to stop digging."

Ratable growth slowing down

The township's ratable base grew by $21,011,511 -less than one percent from 2006 to 2007 - to $4,683,144,315. A trend in less added assessment growth is likely to continue, as the township's developable land left - now less than three percent - slowly dwindles, the budget document states.

The township needs to focus on redevelopment of existing sites, including the old Foodtown site, the Route 88 corridor and Channel Plaza to sustain any future ratable growth, according to the proposed budget.

State aid will increase 1.88%, to $7,571,818, compared to $7,431,454 in 2006. It is the first state aid increase in five years.

Scaturro called the proposed budget "a shock to the system."

"I don't think we are looking at what the residents are going to do and how they are going to survive," she said. "We need to do more with less."

Some employees have already been reallocated to other departments, flex time has been instituted, retiring workers are not being replaced and the township is considering more interlocal service agreements and consolidation of services, Kelly said.

"We are looking," he said.