[ back ]
WEST MILFORD - Property taxes up $95 for avg. homeowner
(by David M. Zimmer - Staff Writer - September 17, 2008)
WEST MILFORD - The Township Council voted Wednesday to adopt a version of the municipal and solid waste budget that will raise taxes by $95 for the average taxpayer this year.
The first proposed municipal and solid waste budget, which fell to defeat on Aug. 20, would have hiked taxes by $121 for the owner of the average home valued at $135,000. This version limits the average increase to $95.
Although the adopted budget and the failed budget both total slightly more than $29.3 million, due to lowering the surplus approximately $560,000 and the removal of $291,000 in fund balance, the taxpayers will pay a smaller increase this year than was first projected.
However, the money sliced off of this year’s tax increase will likely be added to next year’s increase, which Councilman Robert Nolan estimated at a minimum of $175.
At the meeting on Aug. 20, Township Auditor Bill Schroeder said that taxpayers would inevitably have to pay the $26 taken off of this year’s increase, next year, most likely with interest.
Resident James Warden said the Township Council set a goal at the start of the budget hearings to limit the average increase to $100. And while the council may have met that goal, it has done the community a disservice, he said.
“The council did not do its job on the budget,” said Warden, a former councilman seeking re-election.
Nolan, who was the only council member to vote against the budget, said that the council simply “nibbled around the edges” of the budget and ignored the key issue of staffing. Approximately 75 percent of the township’s operating expenses, or $18 million, comes from salaries and related expenses, Mayor Bettina Bieri said.
Mayor Bieri added that the council majority was narrow-minded in its decision to ignore staffing levels, which will act as a detriment in future years.
Council President Joseph Smolinski said that staffing issues were never discussed during the budget hearings and no member of the council or administration asked for any information concerning the staffing budget. He added that the issue of staffing might have been brought up now, during campaign season, to make certain candidates look more informed.
Councilman Carmelo Scangarello said the staffing levels have gone down 10 percent since 2001 and the council will continue to work to save money on salaries and associated expenses. He said the primarily Republican council was not protecting township employees and rejected a claim by Nolan that it was protecting the staff to safeguard its voting base.
Nolan said that “one-time gimmicks,” like tapping into $350,000 in surplus, $209,000 in unanticipated revenue, and $221,000 from the snow removal reserve to make up for this year’s hike in operating expenses, were foolish decisions that would inevitably result in even larger tax hikes next year. Without these changes, the average increase for this year would have been approximately $175, Nolan said.
Smolinski said the council worked diligently at a dozen budget sessions to save money and actually used less funding from the surplus than it has in the past few years.
Like Councilman Nolan, Mayor Bieri said she was not in favor of either version of the budget. However, she said the township would have been better off taking the auditor’s advice and going with the $121 increase to save the taxpayers in the long run.
Resident Doris Aaronson said the decision to make the increase smaller this year was politically driven and the taxpayers will have to pay several times more than the $26 difference in the long-term. She also recommended that the council look at two-year projections at least when considering budgets to make the yearly tax increases more consistent.
If the Township Council did not pass the budget Wednesday, the township would have had to add an additional $30,000 due to loss of revenue that would have come with deferring tax collection, Township Financial Officer Arthur Magnotti said.
[ back ]
