Municipal budgets to be introduced this week
By: Courtney Gross
Princeton Township and Princeton Borough are poised to hike their municipal tax rates this year by 6 cents and 5 cents respectively, raising an average homeowner’s municipal tax bill nearly $175 in the borough and close to $300 in the township.
The Township Committee was scheduled to introduce a $32.66 million budget on Monday evening, while the Borough Council is expected to introduce a budget that appropriates approximately $24.12 million for municipal spending tonight.
In comparison, a 16-cent tax hike is proposed by the Princeton Regional Board of Education for the borough and 10 cents in the township. The school board is slated to introduce its $76 million budget this evening as well.
According to Township Administrator James Pascale, the largest portion of the township’s budget goes toward improving and updating infrastructure, such as roads.
"No one wants any increases in taxes," Mr. Pascale said. "However Princeton Township takes serious its responsibilities to do (three) things: provide an array of services for all socioeconomic (groups) in the town, and B, our obligation to keep up with our infrastructure and C, to eliminate any peaks and valleys in our tax rates in the future."
Last year, Mr. Pascale noted, the township raised the tax rate by 6 cents, and in 2005 by 4 cents.
According to an analysis of the budget prepared by township officials, 17 percent of funding for municipal services goes toward public safety and 20 percent goes towards capital investment.
If approved as is, township residents would pay 80 cents per $100 of assessed value. For an average residence assessed at $427,900, a homeowner would pay approximately $3,423 in municipal taxes.
The township’s preliminary budget represents an approximate 5.7 percent increase over last year. Major increases outlined by township officials include funding for the Princeton Public Library, utilities, capital investment and pensions.
In the borough, an average home assessed at $348,413 would pay 99 cents for every $100 of assessed value to cover the proposed municipal budget, a total of $3,449.
"We continue to labor on structural constraints that impose on us increases in expenditures that are higher than the rate of inflation without having access to income streams that are as great," head of the Borough Council’s finance committee, Councilman Roger Martindell, said.
Because one of the borough’s largest property owners Princeton University is tax exempt, Mr. Martindell said the borough loses out on much-needed additional revenue.
As part of an agreement approved last year, the university contributes at least $1 million annually to the borough’s tax rolls.
Much of this year’s nearly $1.2 million spending increase, the councilman said, is because of state mandates and small-town economics that cannot be avoided without a cut in municipal services.
Included in the borough’s proposed budget which represents a 5.1 percent increase in expenditures over 2006 is the addition of two patrol officers as well as a police dispatcher. Some members of council have pushed for the new officers to resume the department’s safe neighborhood unit, which is intended to keep officers in touch with the community.
Other major increases, according to a memo from Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi to the mayor and council, include funding for the library, engineering department, Stony Brook Regional Sewerage Authority, the Police Department and pensions.

