The state Department of Community Affairs has awarded Guttenberg $650,000 of “extraordinary aid” to offset a pending tax increase on a 2001-2002 fiscal budget that has yet to be ratified by the Township Council.
According to Councilman David Delle Donna, who heads the township’s finance committee, Guttenberg received about half of the $1.2 million that it applied for from the state’s extraordinary aid program, which was set up for municipalities which suffered severe financial hardship during the course of the last year. The difficulty was caused, in part, because residents failed to pay their property tax bills.
“It helps a lot,” Delle Donna said. “Although we didn’t get what we asked for, we still got something and that’s going to go a long way. We’re still looking at the budget to see where were can make cuts. Since we received the money from the state, we can’t decrease taxes so there will be a minimal tax increase.”
The council was set to adopt the proposed $9.7 budget last month, but held off when the council learned of the extraordinary aid program and whether the state would approve the township’s application. The township figures it can raise $6.3 million from property taxes, which is an increase of $1.1 million over a year ago.
There were 19 applicants throughout the state that were seeking the extraordinary aid, but only 16 received funding, including Guttenberg as the only Hudson County municipality.
“It was very competitive to receive any money,” Delle Donna said. “We have a little bit of a budget problem and we needed some help.”
Delle Donna said that one of the major reasons for the budgetary woes stemmed from four years of tax decreases, as well as one-time revenues the township received for participating in the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue.
“We didn’t anticipate having these problems,” Delle Donna said. “But only 89 percent of the township paid their taxes. We were upfront with the state and gave the state our best estimates. We don’t have the right figures right now, but this money will enable us to solve some problems right now.”
Help from officials
Delle Donna credited the work of State Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Jane Kenny, State Sen. Bernard Kenny and Assemblyman Albio Sires for their efforts in enabling the township to secure the funding. “They all did a lot of leg work for us and we’re grateful,” Delle Donna said. “Mayor [Robert] Sabello was constantly on the phone making contact with them to assure that we had a good chance to receive the funds.” Delle Donna believes that Guttenberg has now survived the toughest of budgetary times.
“I think we’ve straightened out our problems and come January 1, we’ll get our tax money because I can assure you we’ll have a tax sale and companies will come in and buy the liens,” he said. “We’re going to recoup our money.”
Delle Donna said that the K. Hovnanian Bulls Ferry housing development should be completed by spring and become fully occupied by next October, which would garner even more tax revenues for the township.
“By next year, we should be back to normal,” Delle Donna said. “Once we get the money from the state, then get the tax liens, we should be back to stability.”
Delle Donna said that he also uncovered that the township was owed nearly $400,000 in state grant funding that it never collected.
“There was some money owed to us since 1995,” Delle Donna said. “And we didn’t collect the balance of the grant because paper work wasn’t properly filed. That’s money we didn’t expect to have.”
Although there hasn’t been a date set to formally adopt the amended budget, Delle Donna feels that the problems have been rectified – thanks to the lending hand of the state.
“All administrators like to say that they came into a mess and handled it,” Delle Donna said. “We didn’t want it to be this way, but we’re well on the way.”