CRANBURY: School and township to hold budget hearings

David Kilby, Managing Editor
   CRANBURY — As budget season moves forward, Cranbury’s Board of Education and Township Committee will both be holding public hearings on their respective budgets this week.
   The school district looks to raise the tax rate 5 cents this year, and the township looks to raise taxes 1.5 cents, but both plan to stay under the 2-percent tax levy cap.
   The average household in Cranbury would pay about $8,712 total in school and municipal taxes, about $391 more than last year, if the budgets pass.
   A public hearing on the Cranbury Township municipal budget will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, March 26, in Township Hall.
   A public hearing on the school district budget and a joint meeting between the school board and Township Committee will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, in the Large Group Room at the Cranbury School.
   The township’s 1.5-cent proposed tax rate hike this year follows a 2-cent increase in the tax rate last year. The committee introduced the proposed budget 4-1 at its meeting Feb. 27.
   Committeeman James Taylor, who is running for his second three-year term this year, voted no on the proposed budget while saying that raising taxes is not the way to deal with decreasing ratables.
   Mr. Taylor, who recently switched from Republican to Democrat, said the township’s total assessed value dropped $57.4 million this year.
   Even though taxes would increase, the township’s total general budget would decrease from $11,696,172.34 last year to a proposed $10,822,802.38 this year. That includes $3,167,610.22 in operating expenses, $2,246,530.59 in debt service and $5,190,646.57 in miscellaneous department expenses.
   In an effort to further explain the budget to residents, Mayor David Cook wrote a letter that is posted on the township website, www.cranburytownship.org.
   ”Even with rising costs in health premiums, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation/liability insurance and debt service payments the township is introducing a budget that is only $3,810 above last year’s budget,” he wrote.
   He explained that the actual tax levy stayed relatively the same, going from $6,327,339 in 2011 to $6,331,534 in this year’s proposed budget.
   He said the committee used $1,371,000 of the township’s surplus to balance out the tax levy.
   ”The Township Committee believes that during these difficult economic times they have succeeded in presenting a fiscally sound budget that will enable Cranbury to safeguard its financial standing and maintain the services that make Cranbury what it is,” he added.
   The tax rate would be 41 cents per $100 of assessed value. The owner of a house assessed at the township average of $605,000 would pay $2,480.50 in municipal taxes this year, an increase of about $7.50 a month from last year.
   The school district’s total proposed budget, introduced Feb. 28, is $17,368,879, with a tax levy of 15,091,151. The $1.03 proposed tax rate would be a 1-percent, or 5-cent, increase from the 2011-12 school year’s tax rate of 98.1 cents, which was a 3.87-cent increase from the year before.
   The owner of a house assessed at the township average of $605,000 would pay $6,231.50 in school taxes for the 2012-13 school year, about $301 more than this year if the budget is passed.
   Three seats are open on the board and the three incumbents have two challengers. Karen Callahan, the 2011 Republican candidate for Township Committee, and Ashutosh Hadap will challenge incumbents Wendi Patella, Nicole Pormilli and Board President Lynne Schwarz.
   The school board election will be Tuesday, April 17 from 2 to 9 p.m. in the Senior Room on the lower level of Township Hall, 23-A N. Main St. The deadline to register to vote is March 27. Township Hall will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for residents to register.