Old Bridge waits for budget
Township is
operating on
temporary budget
It has been four months since the mayor gave the Old Bridge Township Council the fiscal year 2001 budget.
To date, the budget has not been introduced by the council, causing the township to operate on a temporary budget based on last year’s tax rate, according to Mayor Barbara Cannon.
"They [the council] have not introduced the budget yet and that’s a concern," said Cannon.
Cannon said that the township is scheduled to mail tax bills to residents in January. "If we haven’t struck a budget before we mail the tax bills, we will have to send out estimated bills, which are confusing to residents and costly to the public."
After the budget is introduced, a 30-day period of public comment follows, bringing the date for an approved budget close to the end of the year.
In July, Council President Dennis Maher said he formed budget "swat teams" consisting of three council members and a chairperson for each of the township’s 12 departments. "The teams met from July to the middle of September to discuss additions or deletions to the budget."
At each of the next three council meetings, approximately four department heads will be allotted 15 minutes to discuss their goals and objectives for the entire year, added Maher.
At Monday’s council meeting, two township departments presented their concerns about the budget.
The mayor’s budget allotment for the police department [public safety] for the 2001 fiscal year is $9 million, or 22.7 percent of the total budget.
The police department’s wish list called for hiring 12 new officers and one secretary. The township currently has 97 police officers; seven are in the police academy and four are working in the schools. "We’re still operating with 86 cops, the same number as last year," said police Capt. William Cerra. "We’re looking to get (that number) to 108 police officers."
Last year the police department responded to 43,000 calls, this year the number is expected to reach 45,000. Cerra added that the increase of families moving into the township has increased the need for more cops.
Police Chief Jerry Palumbo added that as of May 1, 2001, the renovations to the Laurence Harbor beachfront will be completed and the beachfront will be open to the public. "We’ll have to staff that satellite office," said Palumbo. Palumbo added that with the current force of police officers, the department "can’t respond to nonemergency calls."
In addition, Cerra said he would like to see the department’s traffic and safety division hire five new cops, bringing the number to eight.
Cerra said $200,000 would be used to purchase new patrol cars and a boat for the beachfront. That is $50,000 less than the original allotment for vehicles. Cerra requested that the leftover $50,000 be used to purchase two Harley Davidson motorcycles to be used on Route 9, particularly during rush hour. "The two bikes cost $50,000, which includes training costs," said Cerra. "And in two years, we turn in those bikes for brand new ones at a cost of only $600 each."
The mayor said the township is in the process of hiring a grant administrator for all township departments. The administrator’s responsibility would be to locate grants that the township could apply for to help purchase extras that are not provided for in the budget.
The department of public works also presented their goals and objectives at Monday night’s meeting. Rocky Donatelli, director of the department, said that "everything is pretty much the same as last year." According to Donatelli, the road budget is slightly lower than last year’s and the recycling budget is slightly higher due to the increase of new homes.
Donatelli did ask for a new street sweeper and said he would like to mark streets before they are swept so residents can be alerted beforehand. "With a new street sweeper we can clean the roads every three weeks instead of every four or five."
The proposed $40 million budget is $650,313 less than last year’s budget. The 2001 budget includes $3,410,064 in reserve for uncollected taxes, which is unchanged from last year. Operating expenses have also been reduced by $51,000.
The proposed tax rate of 65 cents per $100 of assessed valuation returns the township to the fiscal year 1999 level, noted Cannon in a previous interview.
On an average township home valued at $141,800, the proposed 10-cents would increase a homeowners’ tax rate by $142. A homeowner that paid $780 last year would now be billed $922 under the new budget.
Four more departments are scheduled to appear at the Nov. 20 council meeting to discuss the budget.