By vincent todaro
Staff Writer
SPOTSWOOD — The municipal tax increase has dropped from 18 cents to 8 cents thanks to extraordinary aid awarded to the borough.
Mayor Barry Zagnit said borough officials were very happy to receive the $200,000, the same sum as last year, in light of the crisis regarding the state budget.
When the municipal budget was introduced earlier this year, officials feared municipal taxes would become a casualty of the state’s debt.
Zagnit said the money will cut the municipal tax increase by 10 cents. With the 8-cent increase, municipal taxes will rise by $57 this year for the owner of property assessed at the borough average of $70,000.
The mayor said he was especially relieved because residents have been hit hard by school taxes and water bill increases.
"If any part of the $200,000 was cut, which we feared, we’d have to make cuts in our budget," he said. "We definitely did not want our final budget to be anywhere near an 18-cent increase for residents. That was not acceptable."
He said the borough was spending "very conservatively" as it awaited word from the state on whether it would get all or even part of the aid it had received in the past.
At its July 14 meeting, the Borough Council amended the $6.5 million budget to include the additional revenue.
"We were very concerned about the award," Zagnit said. "Every year we apply, and every year we go to Trenton and sit with the Department of Community Affairs," which makes the decision on how much aid each municipality will receive.
To be eligible for the aid, Zagnit said, a town must demonstrate that its budget needs are out of the ordinary, hence the name extraordinary aid. Spotswood’s case was based on the argument that only fixed costs, such as health insurance and salary increases, were driving the tax increase. Budget spending remained stable in other areas.
Spotswood also argued that its residents have seen large water rate increases as a result of much needed utility work. Zagnit said water system repairs were needed and, if put off, would only become more expensive.
"It was far more expensive than we could have ever anticipated, and out of the control of elected officials," he said.
Officials are charged with balancing services with economic realities. Zagnit said the borough "gets complaints daily from people who want better roads and better water. We try to do it in bits and pieces."
All of the money received in extraordinary aid must be used for property tax relief.
"You have to make the whole case," Zagnit said. "It used to be called discretionary aid; then they changed the name to extraordinary aid, which narrowed the fields of application to towns who have extraordinary problems."
He credited state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) with helping the borough secure the aid this year.
"Sen. Buono did a great deal of work to try and help us and make our plight known to the right people in Trenton, because everyone goes there for money," he said.
"We expressed our problems to her, and she lent her voice and the weight of her office so that the right people knew we had a problem," he said.
Buono’s office released a statement indicating that she and Assemblymen Peter J. Barnes and Patrick Diegnan Jr. secured more than $1.3 million in extraordinary aid for Spotswood, Helmetta, Metuchen, South River and East Brunswick.
"These awards show that the Legislature is still committed to reducing the property tax burden, despite this year’s lean budget," Buono said. "I applaud the local officials for their strong sense of budgetary responsibility."
Zagnit said Spotswood officials are also working with Congressman Rush Holt (D-12) about getting federal funds for a new water tank, as well as for local intersection improvements.