Live Chat: Public Hearing on Municipal Budget Slated for 7 p.m.

A public hearing on the municipal budget, which proposes an average $63 tax increase annually for the average homeowner, will be held at the township meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday. Join Lacey Patch for live coverage.

The governing body to introduce the spending plan that will raise $9,767,233.13 via taxation. The average homeowner, with property assessed at $317,924, will pay $5.27 more a month or $63.24 per year, Chief Financial Officer Adrian Fanning said previously in a letter to the committee.

Township Administrator/Clerk Veronica Laureigh outlined these basic figures for the 2012 fiscal year budget:

General Appropriations

$25,170,621.05

Reserve for Uncollected Taxes

$1,354,550.73

Total General Appropriations

$26,545,171.85

Less Anticipated Revenues

$16,757,938.72

Amount to be Raised by Taxes

$9,767,233.13

Prior to the vote to introduce the budget, the committee also unanimously voted to defer $1.1 million in school taxes toward the municipal budget itself.

Though he voted affirmatively for that measure, Committeeman Sean Sharkey said that while he understood the concept for deferment of school taxes, he did not like the prospect of the governing body “using it to fill a hole in our budget.”

In addition, the committee similarly voted to exceed municipal budget appropriation limits of 2.5 percent to establish a CAP Bank — money that is banked for the next two years, and could be accessed to account for emergency spending, according to township Attorney Lauren Staiger.

“We do it every three years, but we haven’t drawn on (those funds) since we last established the CAP Bank. It’s like buying an insurance policy, but not using it,” said Committeeman Gary Quinn.

After hearing departments make their case for , the committee everything from hoses for the fire departments and a power stretcher for Lanoka Harbor EMS to vehicles for the police department and trucks for public works.

The purchases total to approximately $1,548,941 but the committee also turned down hundreds of thousands in other requests.

The committee turned down department’s requests for new hires, which would generate a savings of $200,000, Fanning said. The township has another $100,000 in savings from healthcare deductions with current contributions at 1.5 percent.

Going , the committee agreed to $22,000 in cuts including a $20,000 decrease in legal services. The rest of the funds were taken from training for an employee in the Planning Board office, overtime for two employees in Solid Waste and Recycling, printing for Public Health Services and a contingency line item.

Approximately $110,000 was originally set aside for legal services, of which Township Administrator Veronica Laureigh had planned to use some of those funds for foreclosures, which will now be put off until 2013.

Even with the additional savings, the township could not go without the deferment of school taxes or a tax increase, Mayor Mark Dykoff said.

Sharkey pushed for further cuts in some areas but not all were feasible.

If line items are cut and the departments need more money, they’ll run into a deficiency, Laureigh explained. The governing body would then have the authorization to transfer money from other departments to make up for it. If money were unavailable to transfer, the township would have to do an emergency appropriation.

“Next year’s going to be just as bad as this year,” Dykoff said. “If we cut it too close to the bone, it just hurts us going forward.”

Although the $22,000 in savings is minute compared to the approximate $500,000 shortfall the township is facing, it’s still a “real plus,” Committeeman Gary Quinn said.

“This budget is really bare bones,” he said. “We’re trying to buy our way through the economic times.”

Following the hearing, the committee will vote to adopt the budget.