By David Kilby, Staff Writer
MONROE — With officials saying they did all they could to cut expenditures, the township introduced a proposed budget that would raise the tax rate a little over a penny if passed, but could mean a slight decrease in taxes for the average homeowner.
The $47 million budget was introduced at the Township Council meeting Monday. Public workshops on the budget will be held Tuesday, March 15, and Thursday, March 17, said Wayne Hamilton, business administrator. A public hearing will be held April 4.
If passed, the total budget would be $47,413,853, up from $45,199,143 last year, and the tax rate would be 67.2 cents, a 1.3-cent increase from last year.
The amount to be raised by taxation is $24,766,665, the same as last year, and state aid amounts this year have also remained flat at $2.25 million.
The owner of a house assessed at this year’s average of $169,400 would pay $1,138.37 in municipal property taxes per year, a $15 decrease from last year when the average property was assessed at $175,000.
There is no surplus in the budget, officials said. In fact, the township ended last year at a deficit of $1,786,805, which will be paid for in this year’s proposed budget, Mr. Hamilton said.
Within the proposed budget, $17,870,158 would go to salaries and wages; $4,704,697 would go to debt service; $1,786,80 to deferred charges; $20,452,192 to other expenses; and $2.5 million to the reserve for uncollected taxes.
”This is another challenging budget,” Mayor Richard Pucci said. “State aid is flat, and appropriations revenue from surplus funds has been reduced substantially due to tax appeal refunds, declining investment income, a reduction of construction permit revenue, and pension bills have increased $517,704.”
Despite these challenges, the mayor said Monroe has managed to keep the tax rate relatively low.
”When you equalize the tax rate of the surrounding towns in the area, Monroe Township has the lowest equalized tax rate,” Mayor Pucci said at the council meeting.
He also said most of the township’s obligations are not under municipal control.
”Municipalities are putting 100 percent of obligation in to the budget,” he said.
He added while the state has 800,000 employees, it is putting nothing in to pensions.
”We’re meeting our obligations,” he said.
Mr. Hamilton encouraged the public to attend the public workshops March 15 and 17 so it can see what goes in to preparing a budget and see the constraints that each department is up against.
”We’re doing all we can to control and minimize expenses to keep taxes down,” Mr. Hamilton said.
He said the expenditures of the township, the part of the budget the township can control, has decreased $396,000, including a decrease in utilities from about $14.1 million to $13.9 million.
He added there were about 18 departures from staff positions, and they all were either not replaced or replaced with part-time positions.
Mayor Pucci added the township merged the utilities authority into municipal operations in 2009 to cut expenditures as well.
He reminded taxpayers the municipal purpose tax is only 18 percent of total property taxes. The school district’s taxes make up 60 percent, Middlesex County taxes make up 16 percent, and fire districts make up 6 percent, he said.
The township’s capital projects this year include road paving for $600,000, municipal facility improvements for $325,000, drainage improvements for $150,000, intersection improvements for $350,000; books, DVDs and resources for the library for $200,000; and improvements to the historical property at Dey Farm for $1 million. The Dey Farm project will be funded by a grant from the county.
