TINTON FALLS — The Borough Council unanimously passed the $21.6 million budget, which is down from last year’s $22 million spending plan, at the June 21 council meeting.
The budget includes an $11.9 million tax levy, which is up from last year’s $11.7 million tax levy. The tax rate for the 2011 budget is 39.30 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, compared to last year’s 39.26 cents.
The borough’s tax levy represents a 1.4 percent increase, which is below the statemandated 2 percent cap.
Finance Director Stephen Pfeffer, who at past meetings has cautioned the council about decreasing revenues, said in an interview that the borough’s revenues are mostly stable on balance.
“Some are down, some are up,” he said. “[Revenues] are materially improving on the municipal court.”
Pfeffer said that a last-minute change to the budget two years ago might have stabilized the borough’s financial state.
“There was a big concern about this, and two years ago what [the council] did about this at the last minute was they brought down the anticipated amount of things like construction revenue, interest on investments, the municipal court, and increased the taxes to offset those reductions,” he said. “We’ve been sticking pretty much with those numbers ever since.
“While it might be down as to what we are actually receiving, it still is more than what we actually anticipated.”
Pfeffer said that while some revenues remain down, total revenues come in higher than anticipated.
“We have been very conservative over the last three years on what was anticipated as revenue from all these different line items that are affected by the economy,” he said. “So while they are down maybe from last year, it is not going to throw the budget out of balance.”
Pfeffer said that while court revenues are up, the hotel tax is down somewhat to under $10,000 but is starting to come around.
“This month was up about $600 from the same month last year,” he said.
Some of the borough’s anticipated revenues for 2011 include $100,000 for interest on investments and deposits, $622,000 from the municipal court, and $293,000 for the hotel tax.
The council first introduced the budget on May 3 but delayed the final passage as they added a $44,000 amendment, partly to bolster the legal and tax assessor’s budget in anticipation of a tax appeal from the borough’s largest taxpayer, Seabrook Village. Contact Kenny Walter at [email protected].