By Amber Cox, Special Writer
CHESTERFIELD — The Township Committee unanimously adopted its $4 million 2012-13 municipal budget that will raise the local purpose tax by $960.
Residents will have a local tax rate of 29.5 cents per $100 of assessed value, which is a 24.2-cent increase from last year’s 5.3 cents per $100 rate.
Homeowners living in the average assessed home of $396,900 will pay $1,170.85 in taxes.
Chesterfield Mayor Michael Hlubik said the budget was a pretty bare bones one.
"There’s no fluff there, nothing extra,” he said.
The committee said a reduction in surplus is one of the main causes for the increase as well as a decrease in Construction Code revenue.
One chart handed out at the meeting shows that surplus dropped from nearly $4 million last year to $2.2 million this year. Only, $750,000 of that money was used to supplement the budget.
Deputy Mayor Richard LoCascio said the surplus was being used for the benefit of the residents, but now it is running out.
"We don’t have that surplus coming in through all of the fees,” he said. “In order to get a budget that roughly the same amount (as last year) the local tax rate has to go up. The municipal portion of your whole tax rate was less than 10 cents, now we will be bound to that 2 percent cap in future years.”
Mr. LoCascio said the township now knows, once the building starts up again and the surplus increases, to not apply as much of it.
Former Mayor Lawrence Durr said the surplus was used because the town needed it.
"It was said that it was a rainy day fund, and it was raining,” he said. “Things were bad. This township operation has run an extremely tight ship for many years. I’m amazed at how many people it takes to run the other towns.”
