By Amber Cox
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — The township’s 2011-12 budget is facing a referendum vote to go over the 2 percent state-mandated cap by $540,822 to maintain current services and positions.
Voting for the municipal referendum will take place Wednesday, April 27, during the school elections at the Senior Center from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and the public hearing for the budget will be 7:30 p.m. May 9 at the Township Municipal Building.
The proposed $10.7 million budget has a tax levy of $6.2 million.
Residents would face a 5.5-cent tax rate hike if the referendum is passed for a total of 41.5 cents per $100. Homeowners at the average $302,500 would pay $1,255.38 in municipal taxes, which includes the passing of the referendum. Without the referendum the tax rate would be 38 cents per $100, homeowners at the average $302,500 would pay $1,149.50 in municipal taxes.
Mayor Michael Dauber on Monday said mandatory expenditures and tax appeals are the biggest costs for the township.
”For the last couple of years our budget has been taking a hit and they’ve (the township) been cutting services,” he said. “Two years ago they cut garbage collection from twice a week to once a week.”
The township saved $300,000 by doing that.
The referendum money would go toward tax appeals and a $126,000 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) lien against the township.
Mayor Dauber said the lien is a result of employee tax withholdings that were not turned over to the IRS by the company the township used to employ. The company, Ameripay, out of Rochelle Park, went bankrupt in 2008.
”They (Ameripay) took the money from our bank accounts and the normal payroll transactions, but they never paid the money over to the IRS,” Mayor Dauber said. “The IRS doesn’t care who took the money, they just know Bordentown didn’t pay their taxes, even though the money was taken from our bank accounts.”
Mayor Dauber also said the base budget includes all of the services needed to run the government and won’t cut any services if the referendum is passed. If the referendum fails, he added, things will have to come out of the budget to cover the $540,822.
”We have an escalating type scale of things that we’re going to have to do,” he said. “The first thing we’re going to have to do is cut out all discretionary spending, anything that doesn’t have to do with the health and safety of residents.”
That spending could include funding for the senior center, Community Day and Veterans Day activities.
”If that’s not enough, we’re going to have to go to reductions in capital and other operating expenses,” Mayor Dauber said. “We have some capital projects we want to do and if we don’t have the money, we’re going to have to cut them out. We’re going to have to go back to the budget and we’ll cut out other operating expenses, maintenance of equipment and those types of things.”
Mayor Dauber said if further cuts were needed, the township will look at bonding for tax appeals, so instead of paying one lump sum the payment would be spread out over a period of time.
”We have $250,000 in reserve now for tax appeals, we have another potential $500,000 out there in tax appeals,” he said. “Those are the cases we know are out there. If they get won, that’s going to be another burden that’s put on us.”
All of the tax burden falls on the township, including the school district, fire districts and county. All of those districts are guaranteed 100 percent of their levy, so if the township doesn’t collect the full amount, they still have to pay it out.
”If that’s not enough we’re going to have to look at furloughs,” Mayor Dauber said. “We have a plan filed with the Civil Service union in case we have to go down that road because you need to give a 45-day notice, so if we have to go there, we already have a plan in place.”
Mayor Dauber said if that still isn’t enough the township would look at pay deferrals. Employees would give back one bi-weekly check and their pay would be reduced over the remaining time of the year.
”We would save that for them so when they leave the service of the township they would be paid back that money at a future date,” he said, adding that this would be for all departments.
Last, the township would have to go to layoffs. Mayor Dauber said the part-time workers would go first, adding that he doesn’t want to have to go down that road.
”If we start cutting services and people, a lot of other things get cut,” he said.

