By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR — With Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh’s proposed $38.9 million budget in front of them, Township Council members began their review of the proposed spending plan Monday night — the first of several meetings to examine the document.
Township Council will discuss the budget requests of municipal departments that include Public Safety, Human Services, Public Works and Community Development. The goal is to introduce the 2016 budget at the council’s March 21 meeting.
For the first time since 2013, an increase in the municipal property tax is contemplated in Mayor Hsueh’s budget. The amount of the increase has not been finalized, but it is estimated to be about 1.5 cents per $100 of assessed value. The current municipal property tax rate is 38 cents.
The mayor’s proposed budget of $38.9 million is $898,700 more than the 2015 budget. An increase of $219,153 in the salaries and wages portion of the proposed budget accounts for part of the increase.
The “other expenses” portion of the budget increased by $679,547. It includes increases of $307,775 for group insurance, $187,000 for affordable housing litigation costs, $173,061 for pension costs, $18,955 for workers compensation and liability insurance, and $10,700 for the Stony Brook Regional Sewerage Authority.
Most of the revenue to support the budget comes from property taxes. The 2016 budget calls for $23.6 million to be raised from property taxes, which is $906,751 more than in 2015.
In addition to property taxes, revenue is derived from $2.1 million in state aid, plus $5.2 million in miscellaneous revenue and $3.2 in sewerage service charges. The budget also includes $4.6 million from the fund balance, or surplus account, as a source of revenue.
Meanwhile, Township Council listened Monday night as West Windsor Parking Authority Chairman Andy Lupo updated the council members on its operations. The parking authority, in a lease agreement with New Jersey Transit, operates and maintains some of the parking lots at the Princeton Junction Train Station.
The parking authority, which is a separate entity, is expected to contribute $42,000 of its own surplus funds as a source of revenue to the township, plus $50,000 for lease payments for parking spaces on the former West Windsor Township compost site. It also pays nearly $100,000 to the township to cover the cost of police officers to patrol the parking lots.
“The parking authority provides safe, reliable parking,” Mr. Lupo told Township Council.
The Police Department patrols the parking lots, but the authority has its own parking enforcement staff, Mr. Lupo said. The parking enforcement staff issued 3,900 tickets for parking violations in 2015, with the township receiving the revenue, he said.
Mr. Lupo told the council that New Jersey Transit controls 2,655 of the available 4,163 parking spaces and the parking authority controls 1,508 spaces. The cost of a permit is $120 per quarter for township residents and $195 for non-residents.
If someone parks for the day, it costs $5. The parking authority has begun to allow commuters to use their smart phones to pay for daily parking, he said. It is available in the Vaughn parking lot, and eventually it will be available to those who use the daily parking lots under New Jersey Transit’s control.
Mr. Lupo said the parking authority is contemplating several projects — from the construction of a formal trail through the woods from the Vaughn parking lot into the Alexander parking lot, to repaving the Alexander parking lots and the circle in front of the train station.
