EDISON — Officials nearly went back to the drawing board on the municipal budget amid debate among Township Council members.
The council approved the $126 million spending plan by one vote, however, at its July 22 meeting.
The budget introduced May 27 included a 3.5 percent tax increase, which translated to a $61 increase on homes assessed at the township’s average of $177,300.
Auditor Robert S. Morrison presented the council with a budget amendment at the July 20 council work session, however, which whittled the increase down to 2.9 percent. The result was a reduction of $589,900 in the amount to be raised through taxes, making the average increase for township taxpayers amount to $47.45.
The budget includes $87.2 million to be raised through taxation, which is $2.5 million more than 2014; it will also use $10 million in surplus funds, taking the surplus down to just over $2 million.
Aside from changing the township’s tax levy, the amendment captured a few key changes, such as reductions in revenue from both railroad station rental and recreation fees, the addition of 13 grant programs finalized since the budget’s introduction and a reduction in salaries due to retirements in both the police and firefighters’ ranks.
Champions of the budget spoke of being able to keep services and personnel. Opponents said they were concerned about a 2.9 percent hike without having any of the nine open union contracts resolved.
“I’m going to vote ‘no’ on this municipal budget,” Councilman Wayne Mascola said at the July 22 meeting, adding that he felt the increase could be justified if some of the union contracts had been finalized.
He said he was also concerned about how the tax increase would affect seniors.
Council President Robert Diehl said he didn’t feel the budget committee did enough to reduce costs.
“I think that it’s time for some belt tightening, and that’s with all due respect to the Finance Committee and the good work that they’ve done. But I think we can do better. I think there’s areas of staffing, personnel, and salaries and wages that are still a question.”
Councilman Robert Karabinchak, who worked on the budget, said that while there were challenges, such as the impact of tax appeals, the committee did a good job.
“I don’t want to see less firemen. I don’t want to see less policemen. I don’t want to see less [Department of Public Works] workers. I don’t want to see less and less and less of the services government is supposed to provide our residents,” he said. “And that’s what this is about.”
Karabinchak added that the committee worked hard to keep moving Edison forward while avoiding a tax increase akin to last year’s.
“We’ll deal with the unions next year,” he said.
Councilman Alvaro Gomez agreed.
“This is a very tight budget,” he said, adding that the final product put the township in a “strong financial position.”
Diehl disagreed, saying he still thought all the things the committee wanted to do could be done without spending more money.
“What I know and what I have learned over the years is that budgets can be lowered,” he said. “Enough, enough — the taxpayers have said it and they have said it loud and clear. At some point … you have to say we have to do with what we have.”
Gomez responded that he was dismayed that his council colleagues were taking issue with the budget when he said none of them had brought his or her concerns to the finance committee while the budget was still in development.
In the end, Diehl, Mascola and Councilman Sudhanshu Prasad voted “no.”
“It was a ‘yes,’ but it was a weak ‘yes,’” Councilwoman Sapana Shah said of the budget’s passage.