Politics & Government
Sandy Costs Partly Offset by Reduced Debt in Bernardsville Budget
First of five $500K payments for Sandy also expected to be reduced by eventual federal aid reimbursement.
Paying off $230,000 worth of debt during the past year may have put Bernardsville's budgeting in an enviable position, if it weren't for Superstorm Sandy.
The Borough Council on Monday give final approval to a $13,573,066 municipal budget for 2013 that contains the first of five $500,000 payments toward Sandy costs.
Adoption of the municipal budget raises the municipal portion of the borough property tax rate to 36.7 cents per $100 of assessed property value, up about a penny from 35.6 cents in 2012, according to borough figures. Last year's municipal budget was $12,740,700, he said on Monday.
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Borough Administrator Ralph Maresca said he would calculate and release the impact of that increase on the average borough home within the next day or so.
He previously said the amount of the state aid in the budget for this year is $662,172, the same as last year's figure.
Find out what's happening in Bernardsville-Bedminsterfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The big expenses in this year's budget is the first of five $500,000 payments toward the borough's costs nd caused a prolonged power outage that lasted weeks for some after the Oct. 29 storm.
Maresca said the borough's total cost for Sandy was about $2.5 million. However, he added that Bernardsville — which has filed an application for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency — can eventually expect to be reimbursed for about 75 percent of that amount.
A major expense for the borough was a townwide collection along public roads in which an outside contractor, accompanied by the public works department, collected all logs and vegetative debris that were supposed to be Sandy-related.
Maresca said in April that the borough also can expect to retire about another $100,000 on the horizon within the next year.
In April, he said the budget also had to absorb a $100,000 increase in pension costs since 2012, along with increases in employee health benefits.
Maresca said then that there are no reductions in services in this year's budget, and he praised municipal departments for keeping costs down.
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