The library and recreation department budgets are expected to draw the most attention at tonight’s meeting.
By: Jennifer Potash
The Princeton Borough Council and the Princeton Township Committee will meet tonight to finalize the 2001 budgets for joint departments and agencies.
Many of the 16 department budgets have been completed through joint meetings with the finance committees of the two governing bodies.
The budgets which are expected to dominate the discussions are those of the Public Library and Recreation Department.
The library’s $2.1 million budget represents a $122,461 increase over the 2000 budget. The increase is mostly a result of salary and wage increases as well as the inclusion of an electronic database that would be available 24 hours a day for use in the library or from remote sites.
Also, the initial funding for the library to begin construction of its planned expansion later this year is expected to be discussed.
The proposed 2001 Recreation Department budget totals $821,407 a $181,825 increase over the 2000 budget.
The major operating expense in the budget is for the mowing, seeding and general maintenance of parks and recreation fields.
Also, the governing bodies will discuss establishing a permanent fund to provide for future improvements at the Community Park Pool.
Other budgets, while mostly agreed upon, have some components the governing bodies are expected to discuss.
The budget for the Crosstown 62 program, which provides transportation for senior citizens in the Princetons and is run by the Human Services Department, includes a $10,000 increase to expand services in 2001.
The governing bodies also want a report on the Human Services Department’s Summer Youth Program, a municipally funded program for economically disadvantaged teen-agers which was launched last year and had low participation. The program enrolled 13 participants, considerably less than the goal of 30, and had $28,822 left over from its $57,717 budget.
The department has rescaled the program and lowered the budget for the coming year by $7,163.
Most of the joint budgets, with the exception of those for the Suzanne Patterson Senior Center and the Human Services Department, follow a cost-sharing formula in which the township pays two thirds and the borough pays one third.