By Audrey Levine Staff Writer
Following a hearing lacking in public comment, the Borough Council unanimously approved an amended 2008 municipal budget Wednesday, cutting more than $1 million in the anticipated amount to be raised by taxes, from $9,256,241.72 in the preliminary budget introduced in March, to $8,230,724.72 with the recent approval.
Councilman Ed Komoroski and Councilwoman Kathy Quick were absent from the meeting.
”We took out everything we possibly could from the budget,” Mayor Lillian Zuza said in a separate interview Tuesday. “But we are still providing the same services.”
The budget itself has been lowered from $13,777,290, when it was initially introduced, to $13,474,290. This is a 0.7 percent increase, or $97,428, over the final 2007 budget of $13,376,862.
However, the municipal tax rate will rise by 11.5 cents, from 59.4 cents per $100 in assessed property value, to about 70.9 cents, a 17.8-percent increase. The average property tax bill for borough spending is rising about $330 for residents with homes assessed at the borough-wide average of $300,000, from $1,770 in 2007, to $2,100 in 2008.
The preliminary budget, as introduced in March, had included a 35-percent tax hike, increasing the municipal portion of the tax bill $600 per year.
Also included in the newly amended and approved budget is an additional $250,000 in extraordinary aid, and a loss of $191,911 in state aid to municipalities.
Mayor Zuza said that the borough looked to eliminate items, however small, from the budget if they were determined to be unnecessary. As an example of one item that could easily be removed, she said, the budget does not authorize fireworks for the upcoming Community Day.
”It is a bare-bones budget,” she said. “We are not overspending, but we have a lack of revenue.”
According to a statement from the borough concerning the budget, the Finance Committee has reduced spending on all departmental budgets to the 2007 levels. The borough has been able to remain below the state-mandated cap on expenditures, according to the statement.
To reduce impacts to taxpayers over the years, the borough has reduced the police department by three officers, entered into shared services agreements throughout the county, returned flood- and creosote-affected properties to former assessed values and restructured the borough’s Construction Code office by hiring part-time employees in an effort to save $60,000 annually.
Missing from the 2008 budget were funds left over from the sale of the Elizabethtown Water Co., which has been used to offset a rise in taxes for homeowners for the past six years. Borough Administrator Gary Garwacke has said that the $4.9 million from the sale is now gone, so the borough is required to make up for the loss of those funds.
About four residents turned out for the public hearing held at 6 p.m. Aug. 20, but chose not to address the council during the public hearing. Following the meeting, a few of the people in attendance expressed concern about the lack of public participation, as well as the fact that the council did not fully explain the budget before approving it.
Mayor Zuza said that the council did not go into detail about the changes in the budget because no questions were asked by the residents in attendance.
”We welcome any comments,” she said. “But no one asked any questions.”
In addition to the approval of the budget, the council also unanimously approved a resolution to include in the budget a listing of grants, totaling $207,725.65, given to the borough by the county and state. The list includes money from the Municipal Youth Services Grant, drunk driving enforcement, Pedestrian Safety grant, Child Passenger Safety grant and the Department of Transportation Washington Avenue Section III project.
”This resolution is for grants that have to be included in the budget,” Mr. Garwacke said.
Mr. Garwacke said that the borough is currently waiting for approval of its budget from Trenton before Somerset County can calculate the final tax rate. At that time, he said, the tax bills can be printed and mailed.
”I have been told by Somerset County that the new rate should come the week of Sept. 1,” he said. “With any bit of luck we can mail them out that week.”
After that, Mr. Garwacke said, payments will be due 25 calendar days from the mailing dates.
