JACKSON — The saga of the 2011 Jackson municipal budget goes on.
After initially informing the Tri-Town News during the week of May 16 that the Township Council would adopt the budget at a meeting on May 31, officials contacted the newspaper late on the afternoon of May 24 and said the May 31 meeting would not be held.
By that time, the Tri-Town News had already gone to press with its issue of May 26 and the newspaper contained an article that stated that the budget was expected to be adopted on May 31.
Now officials say a special council meeting will be held tonight, June 2, at which time the council is expected to introduce and approve amendments to the municipal budget that was introduced in April.
A public hearing on those amendments to the budget is scheduled for June 14 during a regular council meeting. The 2011 municipal budget is expected to be adopted that night following the public hearing on the amendments.
Apublic hearing was held on May 24 on the budget that was introduced in April, even though that will not be the budget the council is expected to adopt on June 14, according to municipal clerk Ann Marie Eden.
Eden said the May 24 public hearing on the budget that had been introduced in April was required by law to be held.
A summary of the 2011 budget that the council is expected to adopt on June 14 is scheduled to be published in the legal notices section of the Asbury Park Press on June 9, according to Eden.
Eden said the state Department of Community Affairs has granted Jackson officials an extension until June 15 to adopt the 2011 budget.
During the 2011 budget process, Jack- son officials have said that as many as 49 municipal employees may be laid off from their jobs due to financial constraints in the budget.
Officials have said that other municipal employees, specifically in the Jackson Police Department, may be demoted to a lower rank.
OnApril 27, voters rejected a municipal referendum that sought permission for the township to collect $900,000 more in local property taxes than what is permitted by state law for 2011. Officials said the additional tax revenue would have prevented layoffs.