By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
State Aid figures came in last week, leaving some local officials troubled over the budget season to come.
In Cranbury, the township took a $25,571 hit with last year’s state aid totaling $635,798 and this year’s proposed allocation set at $610,227.
But township officials said they’ve been bracing themselves for the changes through fiscal planning over the past year.
”We prepared last year for this,” said Christine Smeltzer, township administrator. “We figured the economy was changing, and we looked at everything to see what we could reduce.”
The township made a number of cuts in preparation, one of the biggest of which was changing the municipal tax collector’s position from full-time to part-time.
Despite a 4 percent cut in state aid, Chief Financial Officer Denise Marabello said residents should expect a stable tax rate.
She said the state based its percentage of cuts on two factors, a municipality’s wealth and its equalized tax rate.
Cranbury took such a big loss because it is categorized as a high-income municipality and has a high equalized tax rate.
”It is a hit to us, but it’s not as significant as other towns,” she said. “But when revenue is cut, it’s unfortunate.”
In Monroe, the township saw a 2.5 percent cut in aid taking a net loss of $73,131 for 2009.
”We’re disappointed, obviously,” said Wayne Hamilton, township business administrator. “It seems to have been a consistent theme for the last 10 to 15 years. We’re trying to evaluate budget cuts and not impact the level of our services.”
Municipal officials are looking at staff reductions within their inspection personnel, he said, to cope with the state aid cuts.
”These are people whose normal responsibilities would be out in the field as a result of growth,” he said.
Along with the state aid, Mr. Hamilton said the township has seen a dramatic decline in building permits and certificates of occupancies, signaling the difficult road ahead.
”Obviously, the economy has not been doing well since last year, and we can see that,” he said. “We’re certainly in the middle of a deep recession, and the government has a responsibility to act on it. It’s another year of declining revenue, and the process continues.”
In Jamesburg, the borough lost $13,342 during this year’s cuts with last year’s aid of $533,649 reduced to $520,307.
”Once again, here’s the state, in its infamous way, putting the burden on the taxpayers,” Mayor LaMantia said. “This is the second year we’ve been cut, and it still affects our local tax rate.”
All together, the borough’s aid saw a 2.5 percent reduction.
Mayor LaMantia was unable to determine whether there would be cuts in municipal services, staffing or hours due to the new state aid figures, but said borough officials have their work cut out for them during this year’s budget process.
”We’re looking into everything,” he said “There isn’t anything we haven’t looked into. Every line item has been cut, and we’re still looking at (the budget).”

