Politics & Government

Township Hits 'Glitch;' Tables Budget Adoption

After a review by the state, the township was required to borrow money instead of self-fund an emergency appropriation prior to adopting the municipal budget

The Committee tabled adopting the municipal budget after the state requested the township first borrow money rather than self-funding the emergency appropriation that was approved in December 2011 to reimburse furloughed employees.

“This does happen sometimes,” Township Attorney Lauren Staiger said. “It is procedurally fine. It’s just a little glitch that we hit.”

The state reviews municipal budgets every three years — this year being Lacey’s, Chief Financial Officer Adrian Fanning said. The township got the go-ahead to hold the public hearing on the budget but could not move forward with the adoption.

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During the fall of 2011, the township faced a legal battle against two local unions after the Committee served 22 furlough days to employees in 2010. The Teamsters Union Local 97 won through arbitration, and the Communications Workers of America Local 1088 reached a settlement agreement with the township, forcing the in the amount of $218,250.

“The emergency appropriation that we approved toward the end of last year called for us to borrow money,” Fanning said. “I have not borrowed that money yet. I am in the process of borrowing that money.”

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The township was required by the state to borrow the funds prior to adopting the budget, Fanning said. Once the township has a note, then the Committee can approve the budget.

The committee passed a resolution amending the emergency appropriation authorizing Fanning to borrow the funds. 

While the township had originally planned to self-fund the appropriation through the municipal budget and pay it over the course of the year, it will now be receiving a short-term note from Ocean First Bank, Township Administrator Veronica Laureigh said.

The note will also be paid off by the end of the year, she said. But it carries .75 percent interest, which in the end will amount to approximately $1,000 more.

“I think we all know my opinion on borrowing, however, this is not your typical situation,” Committeeman Sean Sharkey said before voting “yes” to authorize the transaction.

Talk of More Cuts

Sharkey along with Committeewoman Helen DelaCruz continued to seek ways to make cuts and lessen the tax burden during Thursday evening’s public hearing on the municipal budget.

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.

DelaCruz proposed to eliminate 5 percent from the operating expenses, which would save the township $94,756.

“We can’t just arbitrarily cut the budget 5 percent without giving direction on where it should be,” Mayor Mark Dykoff said. “The problem is, we already cut everything out that we possibly can.”

Cutting the budget further would tap into department’s materials, township services or lead to layoffs, he said.

In addition to basic line item cuts, the township has turned down approximately $200,000 in requested promotions and cut $160,000 in health benefits, $90,000 in gasoline and another $90,000 in recycling line items, Fanning said.

“I fully expect those line items to cause us problems by the time we get to the end of the year,” Fanning said. “I would recommend strongly that we make no more cuts to this budget because we will need to utilize transfer resolutions towards the end of the year to make this budget work.”

If departments face shortfalls, the township will have to raise that dollar amount next year, he said. 

“The reality is we have all these contractual obligations we have to live with,” Committeeman Gary Quinn said. “At the end of the day, I think we did a good job getting to the point where we’re at.”

The township already asked each department to cut 10 percent, he said.

"I think it's time that we do what's right for the township and do what's right as leaders of the township," Dykoff said. "The longer we delay it, the worse off we're going to be."

Unsatisfied with the inability to make further cuts, DelaCruz sacrificed her salary for serving as a committeewoman.

“Take my pay,” she said. “It is not much but I give it to you anyway because I love you.”

In February, Patch reported that each committee member, with the exception of Dykoff, would be after waiving their salaries in 2011. Each of the four members would receive $7,020 for the year.

DelaCruz’s salary will go back into the budget after she submits a letter forgoing it, Laureigh said.

Resident: 'Hope and Pray Budget'

Resident Gary Vaccaro called the budget “the hope and pray budget.”

“It seems like we hope that we can defer taxes every year and we pray that we have a surplus left and it’s going to catch up with us,” he said.

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

Fanning calls the move an “accounting mechanism.” The state allows municipalities to defer 50 percent of the school levy and the township has done so for the last 24 years.

The school district raised taxes by a little over $1,000,000 in 2012, he said.

“Now the township will have another $500,000 to use in the budget,” he said. “The bottom line with that is we don’t raise taxes by the amount of the deferral…I think the governing body needs to be applauded for taking that action over the years.”

Without deferring school taxes, taxes would increase by an additional 2.5 cents, Fanning said. On the other hand, that fund will eventually be depleted depending on the school district.

“We need to look at different strategies,” Vaccaro said. “This budget, it’s going to catch up with us. You’re going to have to make some really critical decisions that are going to effect peoples lives.”

Vaccaro recommended actively pursing shared service agreements and revenue generating resources such as solar carports.

Resident Barry Bendar asked the Committee to consider doing a town-wide audit on each department.

“We hear from you up there that we’re bare bones but until one is done, we don’t know for certain that the departments are bare bones,” he said.

Through the budget process, the township goes line item by line item and the department heads explain why they need those figures, Dykoff said. To do an audit, the township would have to hire someone.

"More often than not, it doesn't help much. It's just an extra cost,” he added, stating that it’s a good idea but it's not something the township can afford to do right now.

Since the public hearing on the municipal budget was held, the Committee can no longer make further adjustments. The Committee is hoping to adopt the budget by the next caucus meeting on Thursday, June 14 at 7 p.m.

Below are the 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 


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