New Hope budget has tax hike

About $20,000 will go toward an increase in police salaries and related expenses in a move to help keep officers in the borough.

By: Linda Seida
   NEW HOPE — Property owners will pay more taxes in 2006 under the borough’s recently approved $3.6 million budget, with the bill for a home assessed at the borough average rising $16.59 a year.
   Approved Dec. 13 by the Borough Council, the budget includes about $26,000 more than the budget first proposed in November. Almost $20,000 of the increase will go toward an increase in police salaries and related expenses, a move that will aid in officer retention, according to council President Richard Hirschfield. About $6,500 will pay for improvements to the Visitor’s Center.
   The council also amended the police agreement last week. Starting in 2006, a $5,000 per year salary increase for three years will be given to officers hired after June 1, 2003. The agreement will affect three borough police officers, Dawn Harrison, Keith Golder and Richard Joyner. The raise will bring each officer’s salary in 2006 to $40,000.
   The agreement brings New Hope’s pay scale closer to other municipalities,’ which will help the Police Department retain its officers, Mr. Hirschfield said. The borough’s pay rate for the same officer rank had been about $11,000 lower than in neighboring Solebury Township.
   The raise does not bring parity with Solebury’s Police Department. Solebury’s officers still pull in about $6,000 more, according to New Hope Police Chief Rick Pasqualini.
   "We’re still under Solebury," he said, but now "we’re competitive."
   Officers will be more inclined to remain in New Hope despite the still-lower pay because New Hope provides "better interpersonal communication," Mayor Laurence Keller said.
   Chief Pasqualini said there’s another plus.
   "New Hope’s a fun place to work, and you can quote me on that," he said.
   Mayor Keller said when officers leave for better-paying jobs elsewhere, it’s expensive for New Hope to test and hire replacements.
   "It costs $10,000 to $15,000 to hire a new officer," he said.
   The process includes testing between 10 and 30 applicants. The cost includes bringing in police chiefs from other municipalities to oversee the process and housing and feeding them as out-of-town guests, Mayor Keller said.
   The council also agreed to cut the number of months it will take for officers to rise to the uppermost step on the pay scale, going from 72 to 60 months, which is consistent with Solebury’s scale, according to Mayor Keller. The pay scale in 2006 will range from $34,000 to $60,000.
   The $3.6 million budget is almost $731,000 more than the borough’s 2005 budget. Most of the increase is due to more grant projects and the development of a park on Ferry Street.
   Property taxes for the owner of a house assessed at the borough average of $47,409 will rise slightly more than 3.5 percent, for a total municipal property tax bill of $461.
   The proposed tax rate is 9.725, an increase of .35 mills over 2005. One mill is equal to $57,288.
   Also higher in 2006 is the borough’s contribution to the Lambertville-New Hope Ambulance and Rescue Squad. The contribution will rise from .125 mills to .25 mills or approximately $14,000. Squad President Robert Brown said an increased number of calls necessitated the hiring of two more members, which the borough’s contribution will help pay for.