Township Council adopts $34.8 million budget.
By:Lea Kahn
Lawrence Township’s proposed $34.8 million municipal budget squeaked past Township Council by a 3-2 vote that was not split along party lines on Tuesday.
Mayor Pam Mount and Councilmen Michael Powers and Greg Puliti all Democrats voted to approve the 2005 spending plan, which carries a 6-cent hike in the municipal property tax rate. Councilmen Mark Holmes and Rick Miller, who belong to the Democratic and Republican parties respectively, voted against it.
The original budget called for a 9-cent municipal tax rate increase, but Township Council at previous meetings reduced it by 2 cents by eliminating several vacant positions, cutting back on the budget for special events, and using more money from the surplus fund.
A third penny was cut from the budget through a last-minute infusion of money a $140,000 federal Homeland Security grant and a payment of $160,595 in unpaid taxes on the Chronar Corp. property on Lawrence Station Road.
The municipal property tax rate of 62 cents per $100 of assessed value means the owner of a house assessed at the township average of $163,000 would pay $1,011 in property taxes for 2005. This is an increase of $98 over the 2004 municipal tax bill of $913 for the same property.
Mr. Holmes acknowledged that a property tax rate increase was a "must" this year, adding that he respected his Township Council colleagues for their affirmative votes on the budget but he could not support the spending plan.
"We could have used more surplus to lower the tax rate," he said. "We could have used another million dollars for tax relief. We can’t saddle the residents (with tax increases) when we have money available. I firmly believe we are operating with a budget surplus that is at a higher level than we need to have."
The budget surplus at the end of 2004 was $7.9 million, according to the 2005 municipal budget document. Township Council pumped $4.6 million into the 2005 spending plan as a source of revenue, leaving $3.2 million in surplus funds.
Mr. Holmes said he was not concerned about the township’s ability to regenerate the surplus account. If the township regenerated less than the $4.6 million used in 2005, there is still money in the surplus account, he said.
In contrast, Mr. Miller who also cast a "no" vote on the budget said he was concerned about how much surplus funds were being used and how much would be regenerated.
"There is a point in time when you start spending down your savings and if you expect it to be there to offset expenses, you have a problem," Mr. Miller said. "If we are spending down the surplus to level out taxes in the first year and we don’t regenerate the amount of surplus we anticipated, we will have to make up the difference in the second year with a tax rate spike."
It is important to undertake methodical planning if the intent is to spend down the surplus account, he said.
It may be necessary to make budget cuts if the goal is to use surplus funds to maintain a steady tax rate, but the amount of money regenerated does not match the amount of surplus funds that has been spent, he said.
Mr. Miller said he also voted against the budget because the council could have saved more money by incorporating several cost-saving measures that he offered last month.
Those suggestions ranged from salary freezes for administrators earning more than $100,000 to requiring department heads to cut their budgets.