The Township Council will get its first look at the 2006 municipal budget and review proposed ordinances on parking and recreation fees.
By:Lea Kahn Staff Writer
The Township Council is slated to take its first look at the 2006 municipal budget and discuss separate ordinances setting new fees for some recreation programs and creating permit parking on Coolidge Avenue.
Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun plans to deliver the township’s proposed 2006 municipal budget to Township Council when the council meets tonight, Thursday, at 7 p.m. in the council meeting room on the upper level at the Municipal Building.
Mr. Krawczun declined to comment on the proposed spending plan, noting that it is the administration’s policy to present the municipal budget to Township Council and the public simultaneously.
The 2005 municipal budget of $34.8 million contained a 6-cent municipal property tax rate increase. The 2005 municipal property tax rate was 62 cents per $100 of assessed value, compared to 56 cents in 2004.
The owner of a house assessed at the township average of $163,000 paid $1,011 in municipal property taxes in 2005. This was an increase of $98 over the 2004 municipal property tax bill of $913.
In other business, Township Council expects to introduce several ordinances, including one that raises fees for an assortment of Recreation Department programs for adults and children.
The proposed fee increases will help the township recoup the costs of the programs, officials said.
The fees for adult tennis and volleyball programs will be increased by $10 each, according to the proposed ordinance. The fee for youth tennis lessons which is charged on an hourly basis will go up by 50 cents per hour. Fees for the other programs are charged on a one-time basis.
The ordinance also proposes to raise the fee for swim lessons by $20, and the lacrosse program and the summer playgrounds program by $10. A fee increase of $5 is proposed for the Safety Town, sports clinics, summer art and winter art programs. The summer travel camp program fee will go up by $15.
Township Superintendent of Recreation Steven Groeger said the fee increases are needed to keep up with costs. The Recreation Department recovers 90 percent of the costs of operating children’s programs and all of the costs of running adult programs, he said.
The Recreation Department does not increase the fees for every program on an annual basis, Mr. Groeger said. The fees that are proposed to be raised have not been changed for several years, he said.
Mr. Krawczun said charging a user fee for the Recreation Department programs is more equitable than having township taxpayers pick up the tab through municipal property taxes.
Township Council also is expected to take action on an amendment to an existing ordinance that would expand permit parking to residents of Coolidge Avenue, across Princeton Pike from Lawrence Middle School and Lawrence High School. Several streets around the two schools already have been included in the permit-parking program.
Under the proposed amendment to the existing ordinance, Coolidge Avenue residents would be issued permits that allow them to park on the street weekdays between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. when school is in session. Violators are subject to a maximum fine of $100.
Coolidge Avenue residents have complained that cars belonging to students and staff at the middle school or high school block access to their mailboxes and driveways, Mr. Krawczun said. Residents have said it is difficult to get out of their driveways because of the parked cars, he added.
Also slated for introduction is an ordinance that would raise the Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority sewer fee from $3.13 per 100 cubic feet of water used to $3.37. This is the first time the rate has changed since 2003.
The 7.5 percent increase in the sewer fee means the average residential customer who uses 14,200 cubic feet of water will pay an annual fee of $478 an increase of $34 over last year’s fee of $444.
The increase is needed to cover increased costs incurred by ELSA. The rate increase is expected to generate an additional $277,000, which is needed to pay for increases in the cost of electricity to operate the ELSA pumping stations and the plant, and the increase in the cost of chemicals, said Robert Filler, ELSA’s executive director.
The projected 2006 ELSA bill is $9.8 million, Mr. Filler said. The bill is divided between Ewing and Lawrence townships. Ewing pays 60 percent of the bill and Lawrence pays 40 percent, based on the flow of sewage.