The proposed $14.31 million budget is up $1.61 million, or 12.6 percent, from last year and is scheduled for a public hearing and adoption vote at the committee’s May 3 meeting
By: John Tredrea
The proposed Hopewell Township budget for 2001 calls for a 3-cent hike in the municipal tax rate.
The spending plan was introduced by a unanimous Township Committee vote April 5.
The proposed $14.31 million budget is up $1.61 million, or 12.6 percent, from last year and is scheduled for a public hearing and adoption vote at the committee’s May 3 meeting.
If adopted, the budget would bring the township’s first tax increase in four years, from 21 to 24 cents per $100 of assessed property value. This means the owner of a township home assessed at $200,000 would see a $60 increase in municipal taxes over last year, from $420 in 2000 to $480 in 2001.
"This is a tight, tight budget," declared Committeewoman Kathy Bird during the April meeting, adding that the budget preparation process this year has been the most intense and exhaustive since she joined township government, nearly four and a half years ago.
Deputy Mayor Jon Edwards and Committeeman Robert Higgins made similar comments. Mr. Higgins said the growth in the budget reflects the fact that the township itself is growing.
In the budget presentation April 5, Township Administrator Christine Smeltzer and Financial Officer Elaine Cruikshank Borges addressed areas of the budget that have been increased this year. Highlights include:
The streets and roads, or Public Works, budget is up $325,000, to $1,449,000, due to salary increases of 4 percent for those Public Works employees covered by a contract that expires at the end of this year, increased fuel costs, and other expenses.
The public safety budget is up $113,000, to $2,215,000, due to the purchase of three new police vehicles and salary increases.
The health and welfare budget has gone up $48,000, to $251,000, primarily as a result of additional secretarial and nursing staff and salary increases.
Debt service is up $350,000, to $2,535,000. The bulk of the increase comes from a one-time refund, to the township’s sewer utility fund, of interest paid on bonds for the defunct Trenton sewer project. The Township Committee recently voted unanimously that the debt on the Trenton project will be paid by the townshipwide tax base, rather than out of the sewer utility fund.
Other one-time expenses in the proposed budget include $342,000 in refunds to developers who fronted money to help pay for the since-scrapped Trenton sewer project; $72,000 for snow emergency expenses early this year; and $130,000 to cover motor fuel and legal emergency appropriations, made last year.
A primary reason for the emergency legal appropriations was anticipated costs of defending township downzoning ordinances, which sparked a series of lawsuits. Almost none of that money has been spent yet, Ms. Smetlzer said Monday. "The bills are just starting to come in now," she said.
The proposed budget leaves the township a surplus of $2.7 million. Ms. Smeltzer said that, if the budget is passed and barring unforeseeable contingencies, the $2.7 million surplus would increase by about $2 million during the next year, due in large part to the tax increase in the proposed budget.
The township’s surplus at the end of 2000 was $5.7 million, $3.8 million of which will be spent in this year’s budget if it is adopted in its current form by the committee.