firefighters
Package sets aside funds to hire more cops,
firefighters
BY MAURA DOWGIN
Staff Writer
EDISON — Township residents can expect to pay a little more in municipal taxes next year.
The Township Council unanimously adopted the 2004 budget at its Dec. 10 regular meeting.
The $90 million budget will raise the municipal tax rate by 3 cents per $100 of assessed property value, said Jonathan Capp, township business administrator. The increase brings the municipal tax rate, not including school board taxes or state or county taxes, up to 73 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
The average assessed property value in the township is about $170,000, he said. On the average home, taxes will go up $51 per year, he said.
The budget includes $14 million in debt service the town is currently paying off, said Council President Peter J. Barnes III.
The budget includes money to hire eight new firefighters and six new police officers at the end of the year, Capp said.
In order to keep the tax increase at a minimum, the township will use $5,587,000 million in surplus funds, he said. If the surplus was not used the money would all have to come from taxes.
After those funds are subtracted, the township is left with $7.3 million in surplus for 2004, he said.
The budget also includes some new items that will bring in revenue, Capp said. The hotel tax, bus fares and new interlocal agreements will bring money to the township in years to come as well, because they are not one- shot revenues.
"We need to build in more of those [recurring revenue sources] because those will help to not raise taxes," Capp said.
The council started working on the budget in August immediately after Mayor George A. Spadoro and the administration introduced it, said Councilman Parag Patel. The council conducted "countless hours of hearings" on the budget to reduce it as much as possible, he said.
Council members all expressed their desire during the meeting to pass a budget next year that represents no increase in taxes.
"Living on a fixed budget is not easy and to see these taxes go up every year is not easy," said Councilwoman Joan Kapitan. "But our part [the municipal portion of the property taxes] is the smallest part. We really tried to toe the line."
"I recognize that every year we look for a zero increase in the budget and every year it escapes us," said Councilman Anthony Massaro.
Massaro announced that his resolution for the new year is to have no increase in municipal taxes next year.