LAMBERTVILLE: City budget tax needs $1 more a month

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
   A proposed Lambertville budget for 2014 that city officials say would bring a minimal tax increase — $12 for the year for the average homeowner — was introduced Monday night by the City Council at the Justice Center.
   The proposed $4.9 million spending plan is scheduled for a public hearing and adoption vote by council on Thursday, May 8, at City Hall.
   ”For the average Lambertville homeowner, whose home is assessed at $350,875, municipal property taxes would go up one dollar a month, or $12 a year, under this budget,” Mayor David DelVecchio said. “That’s a tax increase of two-thirds of 1 percent.”
   The amount to be raised by property taxes for the municipal budget is virtually unchanged, up less than $15,000 to $2.26 million.
   The city is downsizing its personnel rolls, the mayor said. “Under this budget, we’re down one police officer, down one public works employee and down one-half a position in the city clerk’s office,” he said.
   ”We’ve made the city tax collector a part-time position, saving $10,000, and transition is working well,” he said.
   The budget includes a 2 percent raise for all municipal employees except police, who are negotiating a contract. The budget document shows 48 full- and part-time city employees in 2013 and 2014.
   ”A first-class (rank) patrolman (Kenneth Housman) is retiring in May. He’ll be replaced by someone at a lower rate of pay, so we’ll save there,” the mayor said. “We saved $2,000 by switching our phone service to Magellan Hill from Verizon.”
   He said the city has saved another $2,000 annually by switching City Hall from oil heat to gas heat and another $10,000 by switching the library from electric heat to gas heat.
   The severe winter cost the city $20,000 in overtime pay, for employees plowing and salting city streets.
   The budget will be printed in the April 24 edition of The Beacon.