By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
For the second year in a row Princeton Borough Council has proposed a municipal budget that does not increase local property taxes.
The 2010 borough budget also has no increase in spending levels, Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi said at Tuesday evening’s council meeting.
Council members congratulated themselves on their fiscal responsibility as they voted unanimously to introduce the no-tax-increase 2010 budget.
”You’ve achieved that for two years in a row,” said Councilman Roger Martindell. “In my years of government I don’t know any county government, state government, municipal government, where that’s been done, so we should congratulate ourselves.”
The significance of no budget increase on top of the second year of no tax increase, was the borough would not be funding a higher budget by taking from its current fund balance, Mr. Martindell said.
”We would essentially be borrowing from the future, we would eventually have to pay the piper,” he said.
”I think it is really a major accomplishment,” said Councilman David Goldfarb. “It may be difficult to turn a battleship around but I think we have really started to do that.”
The 2010 budget has expenditures of $24,716,958 as proposed. The $50,000 higher expenditure number, over the $24,666,770 figure for 2009, is due to a payment for employee health benefit costs that will ultimately be offset by employee contributions under a new state mandate, Mr. Bruschi said.
Cuts and reductions in utilities, insurance lines, budgets for joint services agencies with Princeton Township, plus a $241,000 reduction in municipal salaries and wages, helped the borough meet last year’s expenditure figures, Mr. Bruschi said. In March, Mr. Bruschi had told council members the borough needed to find an additional $750,000 in cuts, which it ultimately did, he said.
”We got a little lucky because we did not have to actively engage in any layoffs,” Mr. Bruschi said. A couple positions opened up, which the borough did not fill, he said.
”We had no new revenues in 2010,” Mr. Bruschi said. “We actually went the other way, unfortunately, and we had a loss of $300,00 in state aid.” This trend of reduced state aid, would likely continue, he said.
Property taxes continued to fund 42 percent of the borough budget, Mr. Bruschi said. “That’s pretty typical” of a semi-urban community like the borough, he said, with urban communities often funding 50 to 60 percent of their budgets through taxes.
”If we can hold that number and not increase it significantly in coming years, we are doing a good job,” he said.
Mr. Bruschi recommended a reduction in surplus by $601,192 for the 2010 fiscal year, a move offset by increasing the borough’s capital fund balance by $501,192 and its Open Space Fund by $100,000.
”There is no net impact, it is just shifting those revenues around,” he said.
Even with $600,000 less in surplus the borough would be commencing the year with over $2 million of surplus, its strongest surplus position in years, said Mr. Goldfarb.
”What David says is spot on and it puts us in a really nice spot in a really rough economy,” Mr. Bruschi said.
Mr. Bruschi did caution council members that because the borough budget is very tight, it must be closely monitored on a monthly basis, and staff will need to be given some flexibility by council to make adjustments should unforeseen expenditures arise.
Mr. Bruschi cited the severe March 13 storm — an event he said cost the borough $21,000 in overtime and another $15,000 to $20,000 in outside contractor expenses for cleanup of downed trees — as the type of sudden, and expensive, event which could wreak havoc on a tight budget.
With no tax increase and no budget increase, and factoring in new property values arrived at as part of a recently completed revaluation, the average borough residential property having a valuation of $750,600 will pay a 2010 tax of $14,711.76, a rate of $1.96 per $100 of assessed value, according to revaluation firm Appraisal Systems Inc.
For 2009, the average assessed value of residential properties in the borough was $351,800, taxed at a rate of $4.29 per $100 of assessed value, for an average 2009 tax of $15,092.22, according to Appraisal Systems.
Borough Council will hold a public hearing on its proposed 2010 budget on June 22.
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