BY KAREN E. BOWES
Staff Writer
MIDDLETOWN – At the last minute, town hall received an additional $201,175 in state grants, causing officials to amend the proposed municipal budget.
The grants will be spent on a study of the fishing industry in Belford, a Public Archives and Records Infrastructure Support (PARIS) plan, the police department’s Click it or Ticket program and on the Bayshore’s DWI Saturation Patrol program.
The $75,000 fishing port study will focus on redeveloping 6 acres of land owned by the Belford Seafood Coop along with an adjacent 9 acres owned by a private developer.
“The goal of the study is to find ways to help the Coop survive and thrive in Belford,” Mayor Thomas Hall said in a recent press release.
The amended budget was introduced at the Township Committee’s April 17 public budget hearing. On May 1, a second budget hearing will take place to address the last-minute changes.
Taxes will not go down as a result of the additional funding. Taxes will remain at the same rate as under the originally proposed budget, an increase of 3.6 cents, to 68.6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, according to Middletown’s Chief Financial Officer Robert Roth.
Roth gave a summary of the 2006 budget during the April 17 hearing.
“It is not the size of the budget that makes people upset,” Roth said, “it is the size of the property tax bill. In the calendar year 2005, the township collected about $171 million in taxes, of which it could only keep about $31 million for itself. We sent $32 million to the county, $1 million to open spaces, $3 million to the garbage district and everything else, more than $106 million, to the Board of Education.”
In other words, the municipal tax rate concerns about 20 percent of the total tax bill residents receive each year. About 19 percent of the bill goes to the county while the remaining 61 percent funds the school system, according to a township press release.
Roth punctuated his slide show presentation with phrases meant to illustrate the need for funding certain departments.
“Middletowners care about their children and elderly,” Roth said. “This year’s budget provides $2.1 for the maintenance of parks and recreational facilities.”
“We value a low crime rate,” Roth said. “We are budgeting over $13.3 million for the police department. We like to demonstrate a reassuring police presence.”
Finally, “We value good health and public safety,” Roth said, adding the township will spend $800,000 to support the volunteer fire department and first aid squads.
Roth also discussed revenue.
“If the budget is $58 million and municipal taxes this year are only $34 million, then where does the rest of the money come from? … Outside of property taxes, one of the biggest sources of income, almost 11 percent, is the energy receipts tax. It is collected by the state from utility companies that operate in Middletown. We used to collect it, but the state decided that by doing the job for us, it could keep over 30 percent for itself.”
State and federal aid will amount to $2.8 million, down from $3.2 million, Roth said. The collection of delinquent taxes is expected to reach about $2.2 million this year. Last year, the township collected $2.3 million. User fees, fines and the interest on investments are anticipated to yield $5.3 million.
Finally, Roth discussed the township’s debt. Debt incurred due to the construction of the main library will cost $500,000. Also, an unfunded state mandate requires the township to increase the library budget by 13 percent, to $3.4 million.