PENNINGTON: Tax rate may stay at 42 cents

By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
   A proposed Pennington Borough budget for 2011 that would bring no tax-rate increase over last year was introduced by Borough Council Monday night.
   A public hearing and adoption vote on the $3,364,461 spending plan are expected at council’s next regular meeting on May 2.
   Councilman Glen Griffiths, who chairs the council’s Finance Committee, said this year’s budget actually reduces the property tax burden, since the borough-wide property valuation has declined 5½ percent. That means the borough is holding the line on taxes while it gets less revenue, due to the devaluation.
   ”We’re not cutting services, payroll or employees,” Mr. Griffiths said. “It’s a very efficient budget” that provides a “very efficient range of services,” he said.
   Adoption of this year’s budget would bring a tax rate of 42 cents per $100 of assessed property value, same as last year. For the owner of a home assessed at $500,000, which is close to the borough average, the 42-cent rate would bring a 2011 municipal tax bill of $2,100.
   Property tax bills also include taxes due to the regional school district, county and fire district, all of which generate their own budgets and have their own lines on property tax bills.
   Mr. Griffiths and Councilman Weed Tucker, who chairs the council’s Public Safety Committee, praised Public Safety Director William Meytrott and the borough Police Department for good fiscal work this year. The police force is short two officers. Joseph Maccaquano left several months ago to take a job with the Hopewell Township force and Mark Offermann has been off-duty for months due to an injury sustained in an off-duty motor vehicle accident.
   There has been “no increase in overtime,” Mr. Griffiths noted, despite the fact that the force has been two officers short. Mr. Meytrott replied that the four officers still on duty have been “very cooperative” in arranging their schedules so as not to increase overtime. Those officers are Sgt. Steve Friedman and Officers Novin Thomas, Douglas Pinelli and Darryl Burroughs.