By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Township Council and the Board of Education will meet tonight, Thursday, at 7 p.m. to share notes and review their respective budgets for 2013 and 2013-14 at the Lawrence High School Commons on Princeton Pike.
Continuing a tradition that was started many years ago, Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun and school Business Administrator Thomas Eldridge will walk the governing bodies through their respective spending plans.
The meeting coincides with the Board of Education’s public hearing on its proposed $67.5 million budget. The 2013-14 budget calls for a 7-cent increase in the school district property tax rate, from $2.35 per $100 of assessed value to $2.42.
The tax rate increase was proposed to be 6 cents, but school district officials had to factor in an additional $550,000 for the Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as ObamaCare).
The owner of a house assessed at the township average of $160,242 would pay $3,878 in property taxes for the $61.8 million tax levy to support the budget, which is a $112 increase. The increase in the tax levy is about 2.6 percent, which exceeds the 2-percent cap mandated by state law.
But Mr. Eldridge said the school district can exceed the cap because it has tapped into its “cap bank.” The district did not use all of its allowable tax levy increases over the past few years. State law allowed it to “bank” the amount that was not raised, which is $3.7 million.
Township Council introduced the 2013 municipal budget Tuesday night. The $43 million spending plan calls for a 5-cent increase in the municipal property tax rate — from 89 cents per $100 of assessed value to 94 cents.
This means the owner of a house assessed at the township average of $160,242 would pay $80.13 more in municipal property taxes for 2013. There is an additional $25 annual bulk trash fee, which will raise about $140,000.
The amount of money to be raised by taxation — which represents 55 percent of revenue to support the proposed budget — is $23.5 million, which is an increase of $1 million. That number is $105,404 below the statutory 2-percent levy cap on municipal property tax rate increases, Mr. Krawczun said.
The proposed budget also calls for using $3.1 million in surplus funds as a revenue source. It is $1.2 million less than the amount of surplus funds used in the 2012 budget.

