Council defers school taxes, shaves tax hike
Move will cut 4 cents from projected increase in tax rate
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer

Eight cents and counting.That was the Brick Township Council's latest proposal for an expected increase in the municipal purposes tax rate at the March 23 Township Council caucus meeting.

Council members unanimously agreed to defer tax payments to the Board of Education, a move that will pare 4 cents off the tax rate. They introduced the proposed $71,636,107 budget - up $4,447,515 from last year - at the caucus meeting rather than at a regular meeting.

"By introducing the budget, this doesn't mean everyone is voting yes on the budget," council President Stephen C. Acropolis said. "Voting to introduce it is not the same as adoption. I just wanted to make that clear to everyone."

The budget had to be introduced at the caucus meeting so the township could meet the March 23 deadline to apply for discretionary aid from the state, said Township Administrator Scott M. Pezarras.

"We can't do that unless we formally introduce the budget to coincide with the time frame on the application," he said.

Mayor Daniel J. Kelly said in his budget message earlier this month that the township had relied for too long on one-shot revenues and deferred school taxes. Kelly's original proposal called for a 12-cent hike in the municipal purposes tax rate.

"Last week I came in, I guess I shocked a few people with my presentation," Kelly said. "I said our administration would work and do everything to bring this into line. That hasn't changed at all, even though I'm not sure I agree with the deferral. What I said last week stands again, and the ultimate goal is to do the best thing for the township."

Kelly was selected by the council on Jan. 4 to replace former Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli, who 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 compiled the budget with Pezarras and other members in the finance department. Both he and Pezarras said that past budgeting practices had led to a "structural imbalance" in township finances.

Acropolis said earlier this month there was "no way" the proposed 12-cent hike would be approved.

He noted that the budget was introduced in April last year, when former Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli was at the helm.

"I just want to point out that many made comments last year about how it was impossible to introduce the budget prior to when we introduced it last year," he said. "Everything is the same. The difference is we are introducing it March 23."

The township would not have qualified for discretionary aid last year, Pezarras said.

"I don't think we are going to qualify this year, but we just want the opportunity to try," he said.

Councilwoman Kathy Russell, the lone Democrat on the council, also voted yes.

"I don't want to see a double-digit increase," she said.

But she noted that Kelly had previously recommended against deferring school taxes.

"I know we have in the past for many, many years," she said. "It's a practice we probably should try and get away from doing."

The council has deferred school taxes roughly half of the 12 years he has served on the council, Acropolis said.

"You either defer school taxes or you raise taxes," he said. "That's really what it comes down to. And if you can do it, I would really not raise taxes. But that's me. Other people have other opinions on it."

The only time deferring school taxes hurts a municipality is when state aid to schools is increased, Pezarras said.

"If you already deferred that money, you would have to raise it and give it to the schools," he said. "You have already deferred it on your books for the 2007-2008 year. The Legislature says you don't have that money to defer, because they are giving them more money so they can lessen the amount of their tax levy."

That happened once, back in 1991, Acropolis said.

"Could it happen again? Sure," he said. "But from my point of view, instead of raising taxes, it's one of the tools that is at our disposal as a governing body. If it changes at some point and time down the road, we will have to address that."

The proposed budget calls for $45,575,871 to be raised through taxation, up $5,798,904 from 2006. Kelly's budget also calls for using less surplus than last year - 75.11 percent compared to 89.96 percent in 2006. Surplus to be used in 2007 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.