HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP: Committee unveils $20.97M budget

A proposed $20,963,660 budget for 2014, introduced by a unanimous vote of the Hopewell Township Committee Monday night, will bring a municipal tax rate increase of 2 4/10 cents per $100 of assessed prope

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
   A proposed $20,963,660 budget for 2014, introduced by a unanimous vote of the Hopewell Township Committee Monday night, will bring a municipal tax rate increase of 2 4/10 cents per $100 of assessed property value if adopted, township financial officer Elaine Cruikshank-Borges said.
   The increase would bring the municipal rate to 34 2/10 cents.
   A public hearing and adoption vote on the proposed spending plan is scheduled for the committee’s April 28 meeting.
   There are no significant changes in staffing or programs from last year under the proposed budget, Ms. Borges said.
   A week ago, the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education introduced a tentative budget that, if adopted, would bring a 3-cent increase in Hopewell Township’s school tax rate.
   Echoing comments officials have been making for several years, superintendent of schools, Thomas Smith, said a key factor in driving the need to raise taxes is the significant drop in the total assessments in municipalities. That drop got underway after the nationwide real estate meltdown of a half-dozen years ago.
   IN OTHER BUSINESS Monday night, the committee voted unanimously to adopt bond ordinances that will pay for sewer improvements, work on township roads and equipment for various township departments if adopted.
   Public hearings and adoption votes for the measures will be on the agenda of the committee’s March 24 meeting, township clerk Laurie Gompf said.
   One of those ordinances appropriates $327,800 for sewer improvements. Of that amount, $300,300 will go to the township sewer utility served by the Ewing-Lawrence Sewerage Authority (ELSA). The remaining $27,500 will go to the township sewer utility served by the Stony Brook Regional Sewerage Authority (SBRSA).
   ELSA serves the large Brandon Farms development and other areas of the southern township. The bond ordinance will provide new pumps, improvements to the roof of a pumping station and a sewer camera.
   The SBRSA serves the 122-home Princeton Farms development in the east-central township. The bond will provide $27,500 for a sewer camera there.
   Another bond ordinance adopted Monday night appropriates $1,567,916 for road work. Of that amount, $766,260 is for chip seal work on various township roads. The remaining $801,656 is for improvements to Cedar Drive, Crestview Drive, Viewpoint Drive, Birch Street and Blackwell Road East.
   A third bond ordinance appropriates $3,106,335 for work on roads, drainage work and equipment for departments of township government. Among the many items covered by this measure are $57,000 for the police department, for a four-wheel drive patrol vehicle and computers; $462,406 for work on Hopewell-Wertsville Road, Blackwell Road East and other areas; $1,584,429 for drainage work on New Road and other areas; and $272,500 for the acquisition of various equipment items, including circulating pumps for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems in the public works garage and other items.