Township Budget Meeting Slated for 7 p.m. Thursday

The township committee will be holding its fourth budget workshop meeting on Thursday, April 19 at 7 p.m.

After the previous budget workshop meeting, the Chief Financial Officer Adrian to find ways to either increase revenues or reduce expenditures in order to avoid a potential tax hike, which could amount to $94.80 per year.

“To meet the expenditure requests, you will have to defer ($1.1 million in) school taxes again,” Fanning said. “I don’t see anyway out of it.”

Without deferring school taxes and increasing revenue, taxes could rise between $5.27 and $7.90 per month for the average homeowner, assessed at $317,924, he said. The township is facing at least a $500,000 shortfall after the committee discussed spending more than $1.5 million in capital requests earlier this month.

After hearing departments make their case for , the committee agreed to purchase 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.

“We have to bond every single one of these,” said Committeewoman Helen DelaCruz, who believes the township should “make do with what (it) has.”

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

“I would really like to do them all…but unfortunately, we’re really in rough times,” Committeeman Sean Sharkey said. “We need to make the efforts to not spend anymore than we absolutely have to.”

Now, the committee will also have to factor in $150,000 after the Lanoka Harbor Fire Department was awarded a towards a new power rescue truck.

I absolutely hate the idea of increasing our debt,” Sharkey added. “I’m not in favor of a tax increase. We may have to look further for cuts.”

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.

But the committee will have to look further, he said.

“We have cut our (operating expenses) to the point where there’s not much left to cut,” Fanning said.