FREEHOLD — The Borough Council adopted a $15.35 million municipal budget for 2014 during the governing body’s June 30 meeting.
In commenting on the budget, Mayor Nolan Higgins said, “The finance committee and our professionals have diligently worked to provide a budget which allows necessary services to be provided to our residents. Each year, weather impacts the budget.”
The mayor said Freehold Borough’s shared-services agreements and grant applications have had a positive effect on the 2014 budget.
The finance committee members are councilmen Kevin Kane, George Schnurr and Ron Griffiths. Kane chairs the panel and thanked his fellow committee members for their hard work.
Kane commended Borough Administrator Joseph Bellina and Chief Financial Officer Richard Gartz for preparing what he called a “very good budget” and one that “provides the same services, if not better, to borough residents.”
He said the professionals and the finance committee members were able to prepare the budget without cutting services or laying off employees in “very tough economic times.”
Kane said officials will continue to seek shared-services agreements and grants to improve the town’s situation without adding to property taxes.
The 2014 budget of $15.35 million is up $241,983 from the 2013 budget of $15.1 million, according to borough officials.
The 2014 spending plan calls for a tax levy of $9.51 million, up from a tax levy of $9.37 million in 2013. The tax levy is the total amount of money collected from residential and commercial property owners to support the operation of the municipality.
Officials said other revenues (i.e., state aid and surplus funds from the water and sewer utility) will be applied to help support the budget.
In 2014, Freehold Borough’s municipal tax rate will increase from 88.3 cents to 90.6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That means the owner of a home that was assessed at the borough average of $260,000 in 2013 and is still assessed at $260,000 will see the municipal tax increase by $61 — from $2,295 to $2,356 — over the next year, according to Bellina.
Individuals pay more or less in municipal property taxes depending on the assessed value of their property, multiplied by the municipal tax rate.
Municipal taxes are one part of a property owner’s total tax bill, which also includes Freehold Borough K-8 School District taxes, Freehold Regional High School District taxes, Monmouth County taxes and other assessments.
Bellina said the 2014 budget does not include any layoffs of municipal employees or the elimination of any services. The budget will see an increase of about $100,000 in negotiated labor contracts.
“This is the final year of all of the borough’s basic labor agreements with employees. Later in the year we will start negotiating successor agreements,” he said.
Other costs in 2014 include a $60,000 payment toward an emergency $300,000 appropriation to conduct a revaluation of borough properties. There will be four more $60,000 payments in the years to come.
Bellina said numerous storms took a toll on the borough in 2013 and led to unanticipated costs to pay for damage caused by the destructive weather. This year’s payment for the combined weather issues is about $100,000.
“It seems as though Freehold Borough is constantly challenged with weather-related events,” he said. “Despite that fact, we continue to manage the cost of all that. I am very pleased that it has not resulted in a steep tax increase for our residents.”