By Matt Chiappardi, Staff Writer
EAST WINDSOR — Twin Rivers residents will be paying higher association fees across the board next year, under a 2008 budget of about $5 million adopted by the Homeowners’ Association board of trustees this week.
The increases are largely due to a $183,400 increase in the cost of trash removal and a $150,200 rise in salaries, benefits and payroll taxes for physical properties employees, which comprise 15 year-round workers and 20 to 30 seasonal employees.
The latter expense comprises the largest overall line-item expenditure at $1,331,500.
In terms of monthly association fees for residents, the highest hike will be for detached houses, whose owners will see a $10.20 increase from $196.50 to $206.70. Owners of studio condominiums will see the smallest increase from $58 to $58.50.
By a 6-1 vote, the board approved the budget Tuesday. It marks an increase of $232,400 from last year’s budget to a total of $4,998,300.
Joseph Molinari and Lori Vono did not attend the meeting.
Herb Felzer cast the lone dissenting vote. He explained his vote Wednesday by saying, “The condominiums are not getting their money’s worth. We’re not getting our fair share of services that the rest of Twin Rivers gets.”
Mr. Felzer is a condominium owner in the 10,000-person community where more than 40 percent of the township’s 25,000 residents live.
About 4.5 percent of the 5.25 percent increase in the budget is because of a new five-year waste removal contract that will begin next January. The township does not pick up trash from homes in the community, and residents receive a tax credit to compensate for the loss of service, association Administrator Jennifer Ward explained. That leaves the association to negotiate its own garbage pickup deal.
The prior five-year contract with Waste Management will expire at the end of 2007, and in the beginning of 2008, Central Jersey Waste and Recycling will take over, said association President Scott Pohl. The new contract caused the largest line-item rise in the budget, with refuse removal jumping $183,400 from $588,400 to $771,800.
Ms. Ward said the association expected a substantial increase when it negotiated the new contract because of the rising price of gasoline over the past five years and a rise in tipping fees. Central Jersey Waste and Recycling offered the association the lower bid of two, she said.
