By JACQUELINE DURETT
Correspondent
SAYREVILLE — The borough’s municipal budget passed on May 9 without the support of two Republican councilmen — a situation that did not sit well with Councilwoman Mary Novak.
Though the public hearing on the budget was held April 25, the council could not adopt it then as a state backlog had delayed its approval.
The borough’s $56.7 million budget, up from $56.2 million last year, comes with a 3.1 percent tax increase. The impact of that on the borough’s average assessed home of $144,000 equals $56.16 annually to the municipal portion of the tax bill.
At the meeting, a vote was taken on the full consent agenda, including the budget, but Councilmen Pat Lembo and Arthur Rittenhouse each said they were specifically voting “no” on the budget.
When the votes were in, Novak asked them why they dissented. Lembo said there was not a sufficient amount of time to discuss the budget following the April 25 public hearing, adding that he only received the final budget just before that meeting. He said he took issue with spending more than a million dollars on new vehicles at a time when the borough was anticipating a large expenditure on a new radio system.
“I think if it’s not absolutely an emergency, we should reconsider those new vehicles,” he said.
Rittenhouse said, after the meeting, that he believes there are other ways to reduce taxes by bringing in more revenue.
“In February 2016 at our budget meeting I presented ideas that would help reduce the budget. The Administrative and Finance Committee and business administrator chose not to investigate or look at these items,” he said, specifically proposing investigating steel buildings for the proposed DPW garage and possibly building it on the site of the current DPW garage; placing advertising on DPW trucks; offering training programs for supervisors and managers; and looking into leasing vehicles vs. purchasing borough vehicles.
Novak suggested that the council not adopt the budget at the meeting, but Mayor Kennedy O’Brien said it was too late, that the budget had already passed.
Novak then pointed out that if the councilmen had concerns, there were ample opportunities to make them known.
“We had many, many meetings. This budget has not changed since the last meeting we had,” she said, adding that during the two-month budget preparation process, “At no time did you make any indication that you were not happy with this.”
“It’s just something political at this point,” Council President Daniel Buchanan said. “They just wanted to vote ‘no’ blanketly.”
Novak, however, continued to take issue with the timing.
“I just want to know why at this late date that both Republicans are not going along with a budget that they’ve had more than an opportunity [to review]. I mean, we kind of sat there and went over the capital budget line by line by line by line, and at that time nobody had any problems with it. We’ve had agenda meetings,” she said. “That’s where this discussion between mayor and council is supposed to happen. That’s where it’s supposed to happen. And there was nothing said. You both sat very quiet. So, I guess it wasn’t a problem then.”
She added that she felt the “no” votes reflected a lack of caring for borough residents. There was no further discussion on the budget at the meeting.