BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
FREEHOLD – The Borough Council has introduced a $12.5 million budget to fund the operation of the municipality in 2006. A public hearing and adoption of the spending plan has been scheduled for May 25.
The 2006 budget calls for an increase of about $880,000 over 2005 and proposes an increase in the municipal tax rate of 3.17 cents from 59.8 to 62.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, according to borough administrator Joseph Bellina.
If the budget is adopted by the council as proposed, the owner of a home assessed at the borough average of $257,000 will pay $1,616 in municipal taxes this year, up from $1,536 a year ago. The owner of a home assessed at $400,000 will pay $2,516 in municipal taxes this year, up from $2,392 a year ago.
Officials expect to raise $6.8 million through the local tax levy under the proposed budget, according to Bellina.
Unlike school budgets, residents do not vote on municipal spending plans.
Significant increases can be seen in the 2006 budget, according to Bellina. For example, salaries and wages for this year total $5.4 million – up $295,000 from $5.1 million in 2005.
Bellina cited a rise in the borough’s pension payments as significant, specifically the borough’s payment to the police pension system which will rise from $118,000 in 2005 to $230,000 in 2006 (an increase of $112,000). The borough’s payment to the civilian pension system will rise from $8,900 in 2005 to $25,000 in 2006 (an increase of $16,100).
Legal fees are projected to rise from $96,000 in 2005 to $176,000 in 2006; the bulk of the increase will cover the expense of litigation and appraisal services to handle tax appeals resulting from the borough’s property revaluation process, according to the administrator.
Bellina said this is the fourth year of the borough’s trash reimbursement program to apartment complexes. Apartment complex owners will be reimbursed a total of $50,000 this year, up $10,000 from the total of $40,000 in 2005.
The cost of gas for the borough’s vehicles is projected to total $85,000, up $11,000 from the $74,000 that was spent in 2005. Health and insurance will amount to $1.2 million in 2006.
Garbage collection will cost $425,000 in 2006 compared with $380,500 that service cost the borough in 2005, an increase of $44,500. However, the disposal fee for the garbage will drop $5,000 from $473,000 in 2005 to $468,000 in 2006.
Projects planned for the borough in the 2006 budget include the West Main Street sidewalk improvement project which will cost $177,844. Other improvements and expenditures include an $11,000 police communications repeater which will enhance communications throughout town for police officers, and a new alcohol breath testing system at a cost of $20,000. Also planned is a new vehicle for the fire bureau at a cost of $27,000 to replace a 13 year-old vehicle, as well as a new pick-up truck and snow plow at a cost of $30,000 to replace one currently in use.
When asked what residents should know about the municipal budget, Bellina said, “A municipal budget is a policy plan which allows our local government to provide essential services that private enterprise cannot do for profit.”
He cited examples of police protection, fire protection, streets and roads maintenance, lighting, park maintenance and trash disposal.
Bellina said the borough has applied for an increase in the normal 2.5 percent budget cap. He said officials will take that to 3.5 percent. When a town applies to exceed the cap, Bellina said, officials must explain why they need it.
His summation of why the borough needs the increase in the cap?
“Our police salaries are up 4 percent, our health coverage is up 10 to 13 percent. It’s like trying to get 10 pounds of potatoes in a 5-pound bag,” the administrator said.