Cherry Hill Municipal Budget Coming in August, Officials Say

Cherry Hill's municipal budget is just a few weeks away from being introduced, and township officials say it'll likely be the second straight year the budget will leave taxpayers' wallets alone.

The township's financial department has yet to release the final version, but township spokeswoman Bridget Palmer said it's on track for an August introduction.

“It's still being fine-tuned,” she said. “We're still at no tax increase.”

The introduction will come as part of an abbreviated schedule for local government; the council is consolidating the two August meetings, officials said, moving to one meeting for the month on Aug. 19, where the budget will be introduced.

The council has already done its preliminary work as far as the budget's concerned, approving a preliminary, $43.9 million tax levy, which is used to calculate the third and fourth quarter tax bills for 2013. Council also approved a temporary, $20 million budget to carry the township through final adoption of this year's budget, which officials said should take place in September.

Last year's budget came in at $65.25 million, and didn't bump up the municipal tax rate, with savings on everything from trash pickup to debt service.

Mayor Chuck Cahn said at the time the focus was both on meeting the community's needs while being as efficient as possible.