SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Township Council tables final municipal budget vote

By Mary Brienza, Staff Writer
   A Township Council vote on the proposed $46.5 million budget was unanimously tabled indefinitely at Tuesday’s council meeting.
   Mayor Frank Gambatese said the budget vote would be tabled until the council receives more information.
   ”I would ask this be tabled without any time-sensitive date until such time as we’re able to get the information as necessary for us to make a correct decision regarding this budget,” Mr. Gambatese said.
   The township budget was originally supposed to be up for a public hearing and adoption at the April 12 meeting, but the vote was then moved to the April 26 meeting so the council could further modify the spending plan.
   According to officials, the proposed $46.5 million budget has an 8-cent per $100 of assessed value increase in the tax rate that would amount to about $160 more in property taxes for the owner of an average township home valued at $190,000.
   When presenting the budget for the first time on March 8, Township Manager Matt Watkins said the plan was $1 million, or 2 percent, less than last year, which falls within the state imposed 2 percent tax levy and 3.5 percent spending caps.
   As part of the proposed budget, seven township employees have been laid off, and there are five to seven more employees retiring whose positions will not be filled because of a hiring freeze that has been in place for about six years, township spokesman Ron Schmalz said earlier.
   He said the seven positions that were eliminated included three in the finance office, one in the clerk’s office, a legal aid assistant in the township attorney’s office, a clerk in the tax assessor’s office, and a secretary in the social services office.
   As part of the budget process, there were a series of special budget meetings where representatives from each department met with the township council to discuss the budget and how it would affect them.
   A new state law passed by Gov. Chris Christie earlier this year gives library funding its own, separate, line on the tax bill, according to South Brunswick Public Library Director Chris Carbone.
   This takes the library funding out of the municipal budget, Mr. Carbone said.
   ”The law requires the statutory minimum funding for municipal libraries be raised through a separate and dedicated tax line on the property tax bill,” Mr. Carbone said in a statement. “The intent of the law is to ease stress within ever tightening municipal budgets, to treat library funding obligations consistently across the state and to highlight the importance of library services and dedicate funding for the provision of such services.”