Borough opens hearing on municipal budget

Adoption to await meetings with township.

By: David Campbell
   The Princeton Borough Council formally opened its public hearing Tuesday night on a $21.93 million 2005 municipal budget.
   But the council put off adoption until after it holds its annual joint meeting with the Princeton Township Committee on shared services. Adoption could take place at a meeting in May, and a reduction in the proposed tax-rate increase of 5 cents per $100 of assessed property value is possible, officials said this week.
   The council introduced its 2005 municipal budget on March 1. It carries a tax rate of 89 cents per $100 of assessed property value, 6 percent more than last year’s 84-cent rate.
   Under the budget as introduced, the owner of a home assessed at the 2005 borough average of $349,000 would pay $3,106 in municipal taxes, compared to $2,916 in 2004, when the average assessed value was $347,137.
   This year’s budget is about $14,000 less than the 2004 budget. Taxes are slated to increase because the borough does not have the benefit of one-time revenues used in previous years to lessen the tax burden, Administrator Robert Bruschi has said.
   The budget does not call for major cuts in services, but six staff positions, including two in the police department, will remain vacant for the year, which will save the borough about $280,000, the administrator has said.
   The municipal parking utility, which includes the parking meters and the new downtown garage, will provide $1.1 million of revenue to the operating budget this year. The borough will not realize a significant increase in revenue until the Witherspoon House adjacent to the garage and a proposed five-story building on the current site of the Tulane Street parking lot are complete, he has said.
   Council members David Goldfarb and Peggy Karcher said this week that they expect discussions to take place on possible ways to reduce the tax-rate increase being contemplated this year.