MANVILLE: Budget calls for 5.2% rise in local rate[

By Mary Ellen Day, Special Writer
   The $12.9 million municipal budget introduced Monday night brought questions and discussion from the mayor and Borough Council members.
   The budget calls for more than $8.9 million in local property taxes, more than 3.2 percent more than 2103.
   Council president and finance chair Mark Gregor said the tax impact would raise the portion of the property tax by 4 cents per $100 of assessed value, or $96 for a home valued at $240,000.
   The average taxes in 2013 for Manville were $6,815, he said, and compared as “one of the lowest tax towns in the area for a town our size.”
   Mayor Angelo Corradino said the increase comes to less than $10 a month. He praised the finance committee for “doing a fantastic job on this budget” and thanked it for its hard work.
   The largest line item is for police salaries at $3.273 million, up from $3.15 million in 2013 with addition of new officers. Police expenses drop to $140,000, from $153,000. Various insurances call for more than $1.3 million. The budget uses $906,000 in surplus, $400,000 less than 2013.
   Public hearing on the budget will be held Monday, April 28, at 6:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building.
   The budget The budget introduction vote was 3-2.
   Mr. Gregor, Councilman Ed Komoroski and Councilwoman Susan Asher voted to introduce the budget, and councilmen Rich Onderko and Steve Szabo voted no.
   Mr. Onderko said he thought the town should have applied for extraordinary aid from the governor’s office.
   ”We have a serious issue in town and I don’t understand why you don’t see things the way most people do,” he said.
   Mr. Onderko said the town is discussing razing 150 homes that produce more than a million dollars in tax revenue, and redevelopment of the former Rustic Mall site downtown is stalled.
   ”’’”He said his taxes were $7,000 a year for a 1,200-square-foot ranch house. “When I go to 10 (thousand), you can have my house,” he told the mayor.
   Mayor Corradino asked Mr. Onderko what he suggested.
   ”You need to think differently,” Mr. Onderko said. “I am not on the finance committee you should have put me on the finance committee.”
   Mayor Corradino said Manville didn’t qualify for state discretionary aid. Mr. Onderko said the worse that would have happened would have been for the application to be rejected.
   ”We are losing tax revenue,” said Mr. Onderko, and he said the number of property tax appeals in this town “was a shame.”
   Mayor Corradino replied with this is the lowest tax rate increase Manville has had in three years.
   ”The doom and gloom message you sent out to the public wins elections, but it is not true,” the mayor said. “I know it, you know it.”
   “”“’”“’’”The mayor pressed Mr. Onderko on how he would cut the budget.
   Mr. Onderko said, “Stop providing health care for life at 100 percent, which is unheard of in the real world and yet it exists here in Manville.”
   Mayor Corradino asked Councilman Szabo what he would cut. Mr. Szabo said, “You can lower your salaries.”
   The mayor said to Mr. Szabo, “You have no solid grounds for what we know. You have no recommendations on cutting the budget, yet you are complaining.”
   Mr. Onderko said he would write a letter to the newspaper about proper leadership and how to reduce property taxes. The mayor replied, “I look forward to it.”