BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP: Committee introduces budget

Final vote awaits 2 percent cap referendum

By Amber Cox
   BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — The Township Committee unanimously introduced its $10.7 million 2011-12 municipal budget March 31. Residents would see a 5-cent tax rate hike if the proposed budget is approved.
   The proposed budget has a tax levy of $6.1 million, which includes the approval of a referendum question to exceed the 2 percent state-mandated cap to deal with the township’s $540,822 deficit.
   Residents assessed at the average $302,000 would pay a proposed 41 cents per $100 assessed for a total of $1,238.20 in municipal taxes, an increase of $151. The current tax rate is 36 cents.
   The budget will not receive final approval until after the April 27 referendum on exceeding the 2 percent state-mandated cap, according to Mayor Michael Dauber.
   Mr. Dauber said the proposed budget maintains the current levels of service the residents have been used to over the years.
   Mandatory expenditures in the budget equaling $6,006,448 take up 60 percent of the budget.
   Mayor Dauber said he wanted residents to understand that those expenses are out of the township’s control and include increases in health benefits costs.
   Committeewoman Anita DiMattia said the township is in an “alarming and frightful situation” where it has no other choice but to go out to the residents, have a referendum and raise taxes.
   ”There is no other way we can do this,” she said. “Bottom line is, this is a bare bones budget, there is no fat in here. We’re at a place, right now, where we have no other choice but to go out and have this referendum and I hope that the residents do the right thing.”
   Ms. DiMattia said if, over the past 10 years, taxes had been raised just a little each year, the township would not be in this situation.
   ”Nobody wants to ever say we need a tax increase,” she said. “Over the past 10 years no one sitting up here could actually do that, it was easier for them to say, ‘let’s have 0 percent increase.’”
   Committeeman Bruce Hill said as elected officials the committee cannot sit in front of the room and tell people how to vote but they can express their concerns.
   ”I went on the record and said, as long as I’m sitting in this township seat I will not put the residents in harms way,” he said. “I think the safety, well-being and welfare of our residents in the number one priority. That’s why I’m sitting here, because the residents that voted for me, when I was out campaigning, expressed that concern.”
   Mr. Hill said his opinion is that the referendum should be passed.
   ”If this referendum is turned down, the thing that worries me the most is, once you lose from the budget, it’ll never come back,” he said. “That’s very alarming. We scrutinized this budget. Everyone knows what kind of situation we’re in.”
   Voting for the referendum will take place during the school elections, April 27, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Senior Citizen Center.