By KENNY WALTER
Staff Writer
OCEAN TOWNSHIP — The goal going into budget season for township officials has been to maintain a stable tax rate, something that was achieved in 2016.
Deputy Mayor William Garofalo said during the March 24 Borough Council meeting that the tax rate will remain at 49.3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation if the budget is adopted.
“[Mayor Christopher Siciliano] really said that it was his vision to stabilize the municipal tax rate and picked through all of our brains and really looked for ways to do that,” Garofalo said. “Our first obligation is to the taxpayers to make sure that services do not diminish and that the needs of the taxpayer are met.”
Ocean Township’s overall expenditures will increase from $34.8 million in 2015 to $35.2 million if the budget is adopted. The tax levy will increase from $20.7 million in 2015 to $20.8 million in 2016, with the tax rate remaining the same.
“We didn’t adjust the tax rate. We did have appreciation in our assessed valuation, mostly through growth,” Township Manager Andrew Brannen said. “We certainly have a number of projects that are in progress that will add to that and only act as tax relief for the taxpayers.”
Some of the ways Brannen explained the township has saved money in recent years include implementing more shared services, adding steps for new hires to get to the top of the salary guide, eliminating longevity pay for new hires, reducing vacation and sick day allotments and eliminating spousal coverage for new hires.
Brannen also said the township has implemented technology changes to save money.
“It’s really been a huge cost saver for us; we’ve been able to adopt that in almost every department,” he said. “We all live in the modern age. The quicker we can adopt it, the more money we can save in certain areas.”
Another cost saver for the township in recent years has been the elimination of 28 full-time positions, which came about entirely through attrition.
“They were pretty well spread through every department,” Brannen said.
Brannen explained the overall goal of the budget.
“Ocean Township is a great place to live,” he said. “We want to maintain that, we want to enhance it.”
CFO Stephen Gallagher said because of a change in the tax appeal calendar through the Monmouth County Tax Assessment Demonstration program the township saved almost $1.2 million in payments previously made to the county and school district. This has also resulted in a decrease in tax appeals.
“It saved the taxpayers money in 2013, and it continues to save,” he said.
A public hearing and vote on the budget’s adoption will take place at the April 14 council meeting.