Township Budget Holds Tax Increase

Stuck between a rock and a hard place—raise taxes vs. deplete the township's surplus—council compromised Thursday night, opting to move forward with a budget that raises taxes 1.5 percent.

Financial officer Tom Merchel and manager Scott Carew presented council with a handful of budget scenarios last week, and council ultimately selected a budget that calls for a 1.5 percent increase to the tax levy, which translates to an extra $26.75 for a home assessed at the township average—$445,776.

The decision wasn't made without some hand-wringing from members of council, who didn't like the idea of any kind of tax increase, but understood they had few options left. 

"I feel good about it. I'll never feel great about raising taxes," said Councilwoman Victoria Napolitano. "But we have to play the hand we were dealt, and we weren't dealt a great hand this year."

Council had discussed the possibility of using more money from the surplus, but , particularly since there are still a number of outstanding tax appeals.

Mayor Stacey Jordan said filling in the deficit with the surplus to achieve a zero tax increase would be irresponsible.

"We did it last year and look where it's gotten us. We're in a hole," she said. 

The township is using $2.37 million from the surplus—currently $5.26 million—in the budget they directed Merchel to prepare Thursday. Merchel said he will shoot to have the budget ready for introduction at council's first meeting in April. 

Council didn't introduce a budget until the end of June last year, and only after the state had sent a letter of reprimand threatening fines. 

Though council could have stretched out the process of deciding on a budget a few more weeks, or more, Jordan said nothing would have been gained from that.

"There are more clear choices to where we are," Councilman Greg Newcomer said, explaining why council was able to decide on a budget so early this year. "We can do a lot of other things to benefit the town (with that time)."

Council members talked about making long-term "structural changes" to control expenses going forward, to avoid future tax increases and continuing to drain the surplus.

Councilman Phil Garwood said the township has pretty much cut back on services as much as it can without jeopardizing their quality, adding, "Now's the time to utilize those cuts smarter."

Jordan said they would examine more efficient ways to run the various departments and explore shared services.

Deputy Mayor Chris Chiacchio was unable to attend Thursday's meeting, but submitted a written statement to Patch in which he said, "Short of laying off police officers and making other across the board cuts to services, there are no other viable options that we can responsibly make during this fiscal year. I am personally glad we were able to get the increase down from over 9 percent, but there is clearly much more work to do. Raising taxes year after year cannot and will not be an option. Likewise, our town operating in the red year after year cannot be an option. We all need to do better, and start now seriously exploring savings for 2014."