BY SHERRY CONOHAN
Staff Writer
WEST LONG BRANCH — Several residents think the pending increase in the municipal tax rate is cause enough to terminate plans for a second public building on the new Broadway Borough Hall site.
The municipal tax rate will increase by approximately 8 cents this year, Councilman Richard F. Cooper Jr., head of the council’s finance committee, disclosed at the Borough Council’s Feb. 18 meeting.
An increase of 8 cents would raise the municipal tax rate from 53 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in 2003, to 61 cents. The proposed budget, which totals $6,911,785.43, has not yet been introduced and is still subject to change.
The budget has increased by $463,818.82 over last year’s budget.
In light of such an increase in the municipal tax rate and in anticipation of the increase in the school tax rate for an addition and renovations to the borough’s two-school complex, three members of the public questioned the council’s plans to erect a new building on Broadway.
The new building would house the police department, building and zoning departments, and court offices. Those offices, still in the old borough hall on Poplar Avenue, were found to be infested with mold.
Mike Alteneau, of West Campbell Avenue, grilled the council on its plans and urged it to consider renovating the old borough hall instead of constructing a new building.
"We’ve seen our property taxes go up significantly," he complained.
Councilman Joseph DeLisa, who oversees public buildings, explained that the old borough hall is an 85-year-old building that suffers from leaks, which have caused the concrete floor to buckle and black mold to form. Four rooms in the police department had to be closed off because of the mold, he said.
If the borough put money into removing the mold and fixing the leaks, there is no guarantee that the day after the work is completed the leaks wouldn’t begin again, DeLisa said.
It would cost $1.8 million-$2 million to make those repairs, plus the expense of moving the police department and other offices out to trailers during the construction, according to DeLisa.
While the new building is estimated to cost $3.9 million, DeLisa said he was sure the project could be brought in for less. He also said that borough-owned property may be sold off to reduce the cost.
"Our town has grown," he said. "They’re stepping over each other in the police department. I don’t want to spend good tax dollars into bad. I hope to get some grants.
"If we come here," he added, referring to the Broadway site, "you’re done for 25 years."
Alteneau complained there was no input from the public in the process but Borough Attorney Gregory Baxter told him the public would have a voice at a public hearing on a bonding ordinance to finance the new building.
Earlier the council voted 4-2 to proceed with a new building. The dissenters were Cooper and Councilwoman Janet Tucci.
Dina O’Hare said she has read about mold in public buildings in other towns and they didn’t abandon those buildings. She asked why West Long Branch planned to do so.
DeLisa said the police department is below ground and vulnerable to groundwater that can cause the mold to recur, even after it has been eradicated.
O’Hare also said she thought the proposed 17,000-square-foot size proposed for the new public building was excessive. DeLisa said he expected the size to be "tightened up" before plans are finalized.
Mike Romano said, "It just seems like we’re going to get killed in the next few years" with the municipal and school tax increases.
Cooper said one reason is because the borough’s ratables aren’t increasing.
"When we want to spend money, we have to raise taxes," Cooper said. "We don’t have [new] ratables to offset the increase."