Hopewell Borough budget, facilities sessions set

Budget meeting tonight; facilities meeting May 23

By Aleen Crispino
   Hopewell Borough Council has scheduled two special meetings this month, one to vote on the municipal budget, and the other to discuss plans for municipal facilities.
   • The first meeting at 7:30 p.m. tonight (Thursday) in Borough Hall will include discussion and a vote by council on whether to adopt the proposed $2.15 million budget for 2006, down 5.6 percent from last year.
   The proposed budget contains no layoffs or program cuts and would increase the municipal portion of the property tax bill by about $113 for the year for the average home.
   In 2005, before the recent revaluation, the municipal property tax rate was 56 cents per $100 of assessed value. This year’s municipal tax rate is estimated at 27 cents per $100 of assessed value. At the new rate, a property owner in the borough whose home is valued at $451,873 (the borough average) would pay $1,220 for municipal services. Before the revaluation, the average borough property was valued at $197,719. At last year’s tax rate of 56 cents per $100, the average property owner paid $1,107 for municipal services.
   • The second meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 23, in the Hopewell Elementary School cafeteria. It will include a discussion and possible vote by council on one or more options for improving municipal facilities, which include Borough Hall, the library and fire and rescue services accommodations.
   A May 9 letter sent by Borough Administrator/Clerk Michele Hovan to property owners summarizes the borough’s efforts, since the last public meeting on the topic was held in June 2004, to study the options available. The letter raises the issue of "barrier-free accessibility" and calls the existing municipal facilities "structurally inadequate to properly accommodate many community needs."
   One new option described in the letter is to purchase the former Masonic Temple at 88 E. Broad St. to replace Borough Hall as the municipal office building. The letter states that when the opportunity arose, "the borough exercised an option agreement with the building owner (of the Masonic Temple) to retain a right of first refusal in February 2006 for a period of six months."
   "There is no real estate deal on the table right now," said Ms. Hovan in a phone interview on Monday. "We believe the Masonic Temple is a very attractive option, from other options that we’ve looked at," she added.
   Purchasing the Masonic Temple and building a new library at the Hopewell Railroad Station "seem to me to be the most cost-effective options," said Mayor David Nettles in a phone interview on Tuesday. He described the plan as one of four possible options for housing municipal facilities that will be presented at the May 23 meeting.
   The least expensive option would be to renovate the bathrooms and install elevators in both Borough Hall and the library (13 E. Broad St.) to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations, said Mayor Nettles. However, this option would not add space and would actually decrease available space in the two facilities, he added.
   The purchase of the Masonic Temple and construction of a new library at Hopewell Railroad Station is the second least expensive option, said Mayor Nettles.
   The third option, more expensive than the first and second, would be to build a new municipal complex at the railroad station to house government offices and the library, said the mayor. This would enable the Hopewell Fire Department and its Emergency Medical Unit to occupy all of Borough Hall, located at South Greenwood and Columbia avenues. The fire department received Planning Board approval in October 2005 to build a one-story garage on the northeast corner of Borough Hall.
   The fourth and most expensive option, said Mayor Nettles, is to make both Borough Hall and the library compliant with ADA regulations, and build an addition to Borough Hall for municipal government use. The potential cost of this option "in a building of that age" cannot be fully assessed until walls are torn down and construction begins, said the mayor.
   The former Masonic Temple building would need "some modifications, but not many," said Ms. Hovan on Monday. The total cost would depend on the direction the borough takes following the meeting in terms of the options that will be presented, such as the type of furnishings and an elevator, she said.
   Should council vote to approve purchase of the Masonic Temple, it would propose that the project be funded through a municipal bond to be paid over 20 years, said Ms. Hovan.
   Cost estimates for the various options will be discussed at the May 23 meeting.