Committee accepts resignation, effective July 4, of Hopewell Valley Parks and Recreation Director Michael Hritz
By John Tredrea
The Hopewell Township Committee will meet at 9 a.m. Monday to vote on an amendment to the proposed 2007 township budget.
A $19,149,693 budget was introduced by a unanimous committee vote May 14.
Township officials say the amendment is needed because the state, which reviews all proposed municipal budgets, has disallowed the proposed spending plan’s putting an interlocal agreement on senior services and recreation "outside cap."
State budget cap laws restrict the percentage by which a municipal budget may be increased over that of the preceding year. Funds that are "outside cap" are not involved in those calculations.
Township Chief Financial Officer Elaine Cruikshank Borges said $146,074 is involved in the interlocal agreement on senior services and recreation. The amendment expected to be adopted Monday would bring those funds back "inside cap."
The budget amendment would have no effect on the tax rate, previously reported as 25 cents per $100 of assessed property value. When the budget was introduced May 14, Committeeman Mark Iorio said the township’s open space tax rate will go down 2 cents this year, to 2 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That reduction was approved by the voters in a referendum in November 2006.
This 2-cent slash coupled with a 1-cent increase in the proposed municipal spending plan translates to a net 1-cent reduction. For a home assessed at $549,400, the township average, an overall municipal tax rate reduction from 24 cents to 23 cents translates to an annual savings of $55, from $1,318 to $1,263.
If the budget is amended Monday, the spending plan would come up for a public hearing and adoption vote at the committee’s regularly scheduled June 25 meeting.
In other business Monday, the committee accepted the resignation, effective July 4, of Hopewell Valley Parks and Recreation Director Michael Hritz. Mr. Hritz has held that post since November 2000.
Mr. Hritz said Wednesday he is going to work in North Brunswick "where I worked professionally for more than 10 years before coming to Hopewell. The mayor (there) made an offer I literally couldn’t refuse and it seemed well-timed here. A large list of multiyear projects I’ve been working on here have all naturally come to conclusion around the same time, and after nearly seven years, I was feeling I had done everything I could here and it was a good time to pass it to someone else and take on this new challenge."

