Manalapan budget still in the works

By Mark Rosman

Manalapan budget
still in the works

By Mark Rosman

MANALAPAN — A municipal budget for 2009 is not expected to be introduced until May.
At the Township Committee’s April 7 meeting, Committeewoman Michelle Roth said she hopes to introduce the 2009 capital budget at the committee’s April 22 meeting and adopt it two weeks later. The capital budget would contain various projects that officials want to undertake this year, she said.
She said the municipal operating budget is still in development and said she hopes it can be introduced in May. Roth presented binders containing the proposed budget to the other members of the committee for their review and asked that details of the spending plan remain confidential until it is introduced.
“It has been an interesting exercise” to develop the budget, said Roth, who has been working with Committeeman Don Holland on the 2009 spending plan. “We took a zero-based approach to this budget when we met with the department heads. We said, ‘If you got $100 last year, it doesn’t mean you will get $105 this year. You will get zero; now prove that you need $100.’ ”
Roth said residents will have a month to review the budget after it is introduced and before a public hearing is held and the committee adopts the spending plan.