Amended budget lowers expected tax rate

By: Stephanie Prokop
   CHESTERFIELD — The Township Committee reported on April 12 that an additional $14,478 in state aid will be applied to this year’s budget, lowering the municipal tax rate from 4.6 cents to 4.1 cents per every $100 of assessed property value.
   The Township Committee unanimously passed the budget on April 12.
   When the municipal budget was first introduced in February, the $3.43 million spending plan for 2007 cut the tax rate almost in half due to the township’s revaluation last year which doubled the average assessed value of homes in the township from $212,000 to $462,568.
   Under the original budget, $293,350 needed to be raised through taxation, and the local tax rate had been set to drop from 9.9 cents in 2006 to about 4.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value to account for higher home values. The recent state municipal aid increase means only $278,000 needs to be raised through local taxation, allowing the Township Committee to reduce the municipal tax levy further to 4.1 cents per $100 in assessed value.
   For the owner of house assessed at the new township average of $462,568, that would spell a local purpose municipal tax bill of about $189 a year, or about $25 less than last year. Under the original 4.6-cent tax rate proposed in February, the municipal portion of the property tax bill would have been $212.
   During the March 22 public hearing on the budget, residents had asked whether the township’s surplus could be applied in any way to the school district’s budget, citing the school board’s two previous failed attempts at getting a referendum passed to build a second elementary school.
   Although the Township Committee made it clear that the township cannot arbitrarily shift money to the school’s budget, there may be ways of using some municipal funds to "cushion" the overall property tax bill — which includes school taxes — when the new school is eventually built.
   Mayor Brian Kelly said at the April 12 meeting, that even though the school board did not request it, "the school board would like us to keep in mind we will have capital improvements at the time of the school building.
   Mayor Kelly said that the school board and the Township Committee may hold a joint meeting to have a lot of school questions answered.
   Also at the April 12 meeting, the Township Committee introduced an ordinance that would allocate $11,127.50 from the municipal budget for a "needs assessment study," or a board that would discuss consolidation of the township’s two fire districts.
   Mayor Kelly said he hopes to have a group of people on an advisory board that would include police, some residents, fire chiefs and members of the emergency services.
   The board would be a "balanced structure," appointed by the mayor, he said.
   "We want to have a group, but (this is where) the facilitator has experience in this area," he said, "There’s still just a few details to be worked out."
   "We’re really looking to optimize services across the board," he added. The public hearing on the needs assessment study will take place on April 26 at 7:30 p.m. at the Township Municipal Building which is located on 300 Bordentown – Chesterfield Road.