On The Agenda: Lacey Township Committee Meeting

Residents will have a better idea of what the final numbers for the 2013 municipal budget will be when the Township Committee introduces it tonight.

The revised budget calls for a 2.5 cent hike in the municipal purposes tax rate for each $100 of assessed valuation. That  translates into an $84 increase annually or $7 a month for the average Lacey home assessed at $316,000, Mayor David Most said.

This year's budget also includes $1.9 million in capital improvement projects, Chief Financial Officer Adrian Fanning has said.

Although municipal department heads asked for $3.9 million in capital requests this year, township officials pared the list down to $1.9 million. In 2012, $1.8 million in capital requests was included in the budget.

When the school tax costs are factored in, Lacey residents with homes assessed at the township average will see a total increase of $335 this year. School taxes on the average home account for most of the tax hike, something municipal officials have no control over, Most said.

Also on the agenda are three ordinances scheduled to be introduced: one setting salaries for the Communication Workers of America; a second setting salaries for the police dispatchers union; and a third setting salaries for part-time police dispatchers.

The contract with Public Defender Christopher Reid is slated to be amended, according to the agenda. Reid was appointed Township Administrator in Berkeley Township earlier this month, at a salary of $120,000 per year.

Reid, a Republican, recently filed a petition to run for an open seat on the Lacey Township Committee.

The caucus meeting gets underway at 7 p.m., followed immediately by the regular meeting.