Tinton Falls Budget to Include Major Tax Hike for Residents
By ELAINE VAN DEVELDE
There was some budget bad news in Tinton Falls on Tuesday night.
Though he didnt announce the specifics to the public, Mayor Peter Maclearie told residents to brace themselves for an unprecedented whopping hike in the municipal tax rate that they could blame on the reckless financial decisions made by the prior administration.
For the past couple of years there has been no municipal tax hike. Now, the mayor said, residents are paying for years of overspending that was disguised only because the surplus was being drained to cover costs and keep taxes stable.
As a result of years of basically robbing Peter to pay Paul, the mayor said that officials have now estimated that there will be a tax hike of 15.8 cents per $100 of assessed property value. For an average property assessed at $152,000 it amounts to an increase in the municipal tax bill of about $250 a year.
The prior administrations yearn for chasing new ratables led to increased costs that can no longer be offset against these ratables, Maclearie read from a prepared statement. Their decision to utilize over 94 percent of the existing surplus has left me no choice but to increase taxes to stabilize this and future budgets.
The mayor, who is a controller by trade, offered a long term fiscal plan that he said would end up setting finances straight in the borough.
My current plan is to establish a correct base tax rate and limit future tax increases to 2 percent or 3 percent, he said. I know going forward that expenses are projected to increase at least 3.5 percent to 4 percent annually based on current salary trends, contractual commitments and inflation rates within the county, but this administration will work toward controlling spending and finding other revenue sources to offset possible tax increases. Our efforts to reduce future increases will include but are not limited to:
Reviewing all programs offered by the town and adjusting fees when required to offset the rising costs for these programs.
Examining all services offered to determine the most cost effective way to deliver those services.
Preparing feasibility studies for the privatization of certain services.
Evaluating the possibilities of replacing retiring full time employees with third party providers or contact employees when possible.
Exploring the possibility of sharing services with other governmental entities as way to reduce costs.
Continuing a review of employee benefit costs. On April 1st we will switch medical insurance carriers with the expectation of saving approximately $150,000 annually or approximately $450,000 over the next 3 years.
Examining the use of all borough owned vehicles and eliminating all those deemed excess.
The mayor also blamed the state for increasing its spending while cutting back on aid to municipalities and forcing towns to operate under onerous regulations.
A couple of residents echoed his sentiment in the meetings public portion.
Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck attended the meeting and announced that she had just come from the governors budget message and its not a great budget for the state or Tinton Falls.
While state spending was up by more than $2 billion, there were also no cutbacks, she said.
The state keeps spending money and telling us we cant, said Sycamore Avenue resident and Board of Education member Peter Karavites. The state should stop blaming municipalities and boards of ed for tax hikes.
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