Township Budget, End-of-Summer Carnival Top Local Events

Cherry Hill's municipal budget is on the table Monday night, and township officials say it'll likely be the second straight year the budget will leave taxpayers' wallets alone.

While the final version hasn’t been released ahead of its scheduled introduction, township officials said it’s on track to keep taxes flat on the municipal side of the bill.

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.

Introduction is scheduled for Monday night at 7:30 p.m., as part of the regular township council meeting.

Monday will be a busy one for local government—the planning board will meet simultaneously with the township council, with one item on the agenda, regarding the former Pier One store on Haddonfield Road.

Bedford Equities, the owners of the building, are proposing to split the 9,000-square-foot location into two stores and a restaurant.

That meeting will also take place at 7:30 Monday night, but has been moved to the courtroom on the second floor of the municipal building.

The Cherry Hill Library, meanwhile, has several events planned to celebrate the end of the season.

First, the library will host a Zombie Carnival for kids in grades 6 through 12—plan on some gruesome midway games and zombie-style relay races. Events start at 6 p.m. Monday.

The library will also offer a second carnival night Thursday, sans zombies, for kids and adults of all ages, as a celebration of the end of summer.

There’ll be a little bit of everything, from an inflatable obstacle course to a Pie the Librarian booth. The free event starts at 4 p.m. in Friendship Grove behind the library, and runs until 7 p.m.

Finally, make the ride down Route 70 Wednesday evening to meet up with Miss New Jersey, Cara McCollum, at Fresh by Karlanne in Medford.

The night starts at 4 p.m. at 160 Old Marlton Pike, just off Route 70.