Average homeowner could pay additional $25
By:David Koch
MANSFIELD The average homeowner will pay an additional $25 in municipal taxes if the Township Committee approves the tentative 2002 budget introduced last week.
The proposed budget would increase the tax rate by 1.6 cents to 10 cents per $100 of assessed property value, officials said.
The owner of a home at the township average of $157,000 would pay $157 in local purpose taxes, an increase of $25 from last year.
The $4.3 million budget passed by a vote of 3-2 with committee members Molly Kaklamanis and Art Puglia voting against it.
Although Mansfield has not received any numbers for state aid this year, officials said they will use last year’s state aid figure of $660,000 in the 2002 budget.
Figures for state aid are not expected to be released until the end of next month, officials said.
A public hearing and a second reading of the budget is expected at the Township Committee’s meeting March 13.
The 2002 budget represents an increase of approximately $300,000 in municipal operations. Last year’s budget was $4.4 million, of which $400,000 of that amount was used to pay for township positions related to the Uniform Construction Code, said Financial Officer Kathy Shaddow. The amount appropriated in last year’s budget for the code included the creation of the township’s Construction Division. The division has three full-time and seven part-time positions including construction officer, electrical officer and plumbing inspector.
Ms. Shaddow said money needed to pay for the township’s construction code this year will come from a separate trust fund.
Mr. Puglia said he voted against the budget because it included uneven employee salary raises this year, which range between 3 and 5 percent.
Township officials said the exact percentage raise for employees could change before the adoption of the budget.
"I believe the raises should be uniform," said Mr. Puglia. "Everybody should get the same raise."
Mr. Puglia also said he objected to the budget because there was no extra money added for twice-a-week garbage collection in the summer months.
Some residents in the township have requested that garbage be collected twice-a-week from May 15 to Sept. 15 because of health concerns.
This year’s amount for solid waste collection will remain at last year’s figure of $167,000, said Ms. Shaddow.
The cost for additional trash pickup could be added to the budget later or taken from surplus money, officials said.
This year’s budget increase includes an additional $80,000 for employee health insurance from last year’s figure of $150,000 to $230,000.
Ms. Shaddow also said the budget increase was partially caused by the addition of two officers in the Police Department.