By KENNY WALTER
Staff Writer
SEA BRIGHT — The borough is opting to wait for a potential grant notification before adopting the 2016 budget.
Michael Bascom, chief financial officer, said during the April 19 meeting when the council was set to adopt the spending plan, that the borough has still not received official word on the Essential Services Grant and suggested holding off on the budget adoption until the grant is officially awarded.
“We will not have a decision on the amount of central services grant funding we will have for another few weeks — as such, we will not be adopting a budget tonight,” Bascom said. “The process that will occur now is once we get the central services notification, there will be a budget amendment.”
The program, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is designed to fund a variety of services, including police and public works salaries, and solid waste disposal for disaster-impacted communities.
The borough has received the Essential Services Grant each year since superstorm Sandy and received $732,000 from last year’s grant.
The Borough Council introduced the $6.1 million budget for 2016 during a March 21 special meeting. The budget includes a $4 million tax levy, but due to a continued rebuild from superstorm Sandy and a recent property revaluation, the tax rate will drop from 89 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to 59 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
According to Bascom, the amended budget will likely be “very close” to the original introduced budget with only the grant being added.
He also said if the borough is not successful in the pursuit of the grant, then there may be cuts to the budget.
“If we are not awarded the central services revenue, then maybe appropriation cuts,” he said.