BY JOYCE BLAY
Staff Writer
JACKSON — The Township Committee has introduced a $32,455,615 budget for 2005. If the budget is adopted on April 11, Jackson property owners will pay their first increase in municipal taxes since 2000, Mayor Michael Broderick said.
According to Robert Ryley, aide to the mayor and Township Committee, the 2004 tax rate of 57 cents per $100 of assessed property value would increase to 59.9 cents in 2005 — a difference of 2.9 cents.
Last year’s municipal budget of $31,196,573 would increase in 2005 by $1,259,042, while the 2004 tax levy of $14,487,796 would increase to $15,948,538.
With a municipal tax rate of 59.9 cents per $100 in place, the owner of a home assessed at $150,000 would pay $898 in municipal taxes in 2005, up from $855 in 2004. The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 would pay $1,198 in municipal taxes in 2005, up from $1,140 in 2004. The owner of a home assessed at $300,000 would pay $1,797 in municipal taxes in 2005, up from $1,710 in 2004.
In the Mayor’s Report, the increase was attributed to a rise in the cost of providing municipal services. A budget packet distributed to the public at the March 14 committee meeting, which accompanied a presentation of the budget by Business Administrator Andrew Salerno, indicated that the township’s revenues had gone down while its costs had gone up.
Surplus dropped by $165,000 in the 2005 budget, while local revenue rose by $29,529. Total taxes increased by 4 percent to $15.9 million. State aid was down by $512 to $4,756,601.
Ryley said that although the committee had budgeted for a retroactive increase in police department salaries for 2003 and 2004, the 2005 budget reflected the impact of the increase on current year salaries.
A new contract with the Police Benevolent Association gave members a 3.9 percent increase for each year of a four-year contract retroactive to Jan. 1, 2003. The Superior Officers Association was given parity with the PBA since its members negotiated a new contract at a lower increase before the settlement. As a result, both unions will receive increases in 2005.
The proposed 2005 municipal budget includes an increase in police department salaries of $1,572,181, up 23.4 percent over last year’s salaries. An increase in operations and expenses of $80,344 or 17.6 percent, produced an overall increase in the police department’s budget of $1,658,525 or 23.2 percent.
At the March 14 meeting, the committee members voted along party lines to approve the budget upon introduction.
Republican Committeeman Josh Reilly, the deputy finance liaison, said he had no input into the budget that was presented that night.
“I can’t in good conscience [approve] this,” he said.
Reilly told the Tri-Town News on March 21 that he had received the 780-page budget on March 11. He said he felt he could not approve the information without having first read through it, which was impossible to do in one weekend.
Republican Committeeman Mark Seda also voted not to introduce the budget.
Despite similar concerns, Deputy Mayor Michael Kafton, a Democrat, said he would vote to approve the budget’s introduction along with Democrats Mayor Michael Broderick and Sean Giblin, who was the committee’s lead financial liaison for the budget.
A copy of the budget is available in the township clerk’s office as well as on the township’s Internet Web site. The committee has scheduled budget workshops on March 28 and April 11 at 6:30 p.m. in the municipal building.
Reilly and Seda said they would hold separate budget workshops. The first will be held on March 29 at the senior center on Don Connor Boulevard from 7-9 p.m. and the second on March 31 at the municipal building from 7-9 p.m.
“I think the Democrats’ budget workshops would not be as interactive as in the past,” said Reilly in explaining the reason for the separate workshops. “I think the public should have more time to pore over the budget and that that should be the only topic of the meeting.”
The committee will hold a public hearing on the budget on April 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the municipal building. The meeting will be held after the committee’s budget workshop that evening.