The mayor and Town Council introduced a 2012 municipal budget of $46.88 million at Tuesday’s council meeting, which will result in a very small municipal tax increase. For the owner of an average home estimated at $163,000, taxes will rise slightly from $2291.78 last year to $2308.08 this year, an increase of less than $20 for the year.
The budget runs from January of 2012 through this coming December. The council may listen to suggestions from the public before they take a final vote at their next meeting on April 10. On Tuesday, some council members said that they will attempt to reduce the budget to reflect a zero municipal tax increase if possible.
The town budget is only one of three components that influence how much someone pays in taxes each year. Property owners also pay toward the school budget and county budget, which are introduced in the spring by the Board of Education and county freeholders respectively.
Budget banter
At the meeting, school board trustee and candidate for re-election Thomas Troyer, a sometime critic of the mayor, brought up the town’s new mascot, Henry Krajewski, who happens to be a pot-bellied pig. The pig was rescued earlier this month. In a Reporter cover story last week, Gonnelli joked that the pig wanted to run against Troyer for school board but missed the deadline to file his “pig-tition.”
Troyer said to Gonnelli, “I know you are going to pay for what this pig eats out of your own pocket. Don’t take it out of the food bank. I’ll be watching that. Will Henry qualify for health insurance benefits or must we wait until you hire a consultant?”
Gonnelli responded that the town veterinarian gave Henry a tetanus shot free of charge.
Troyer has been critical of the mayor and council for their process last year in hiring a town insurance broker of record. The town lost a lawsuit brought by one of the bidders charging that the town did not correctly follow the open bid process.
Troyer asked about the town’s requests for proposals for a health consultant. Gonnelli said they go out to bid every year. He added that he had asked the school board to see copies of their professional service contracts, but that in two years of asking, he has never received them.
“We will work hard on this to see if we can bring it down a little bit more.” – Gary Jeffas
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Remaining affordable
Town officials said Tuesday that they were pleased that the budget kept taxes stable, but that they wanted to make even more cuts.
“Despite the economic climate, which has unfortunately forced many surrounding communities to decrease services in order to meet the governor’s [law against raising taxes more than 2 percent each year], this budget meets that mandate without any impact on services,” said Councilman Robert Costantino.
“We agreed that we will work hard on this to see if we can bring it down a little bit more,” said Councilman Gary Jeffas.
Mayor Gonnelli said that he expects the ratable base – or the total value of taxpaying properties in town – to increase next year, which is always good news for taxpayers. With more contributing, that means each person has a lower share to pay. Gonnelli said the ratable base contracted by $25 million last year because a lot of buildings were demolished, but next year the town expects the ratable rate to go up by $100 million.
“It didn’t go down because we lost businesses,” said Gonnelli. “A lot of buildings were demolished. They are being rebuilt into more modern facilities.”
The current budget is funded by $33.94 million from the taxpayers. The rest of the funding to pay for a town budget generally comes from state aid, grants for specific programs, permit fees, court fees, and any other fees the town collects.
What’s up
The budget includes an increase in police pension bills by $188,000, and an increase in employment buyouts and retirements by $275,000, $200,000 in increases for the Secaucus Municipal Utility Authority, an $80,000 increase in what the town has to spend on fuel, a $150,000 increase in legal costs, among other increases.
Presentations: Girl Scouts, Purple Day, and Dinosaur Way
The mayor and council, in front of 72 Girl Scouts, made a proclamation in honor of the national Girl Scouts’ 100th anniversary, which was celebrated on March 12. Secaucus has 150 girls and 25 adults led by troop leaders Judy Jaeger and Helen Allen. The Girl Scouts have planted flowers throughout town, participated in the town parade, supported Meals on Wheels, and the food pantry.
Also at the meeting, the mayor and council declared March 26 Purple Day to raise awareness about epilepsy.
They also passed a resolution designating the roadway leading from New County Road to the offices and parking area of Field Station: Dinosaur as Dinosaur Way. The exhibit opens to the public later this spring.
One of the animatronic dinosaurs, a T-Rex, barely fit through the council chamber doors and caused quite a stir among the Girl Scouts and the audience, which evolved into applause.
Adriana Rambay Fernández can be reached at afernandez@hudsonreporter.com.
SIDEBAR
School board tensions ongoing
Before the council meeting, during a caucus session, the Board of Education presented a preliminary school budget to the council. The board will now present their official budget to the public next week on Mar. 22, and the public can vote on it in April.
Last year, after the school budget was rejected by voters, the council and board had to come up with an amount to cut. Since the council proposed $1.1 million in cuts to the school budget, which the board later adopted, tensions have persisted between certain trustees and the mayor and council members.
Tensions flared once again during the public comments section of the council meeting Tuesday night. The core issue was health insurance costs. The mayor and council believe the school district administration should have joined the state health plan to cut costs. But Board Trustee Dora Marra said during the meeting that the teachers did not agree to the state plan because it was not equal or better than what they already had in place.
“I would have loved for the union to do it; we couldn’t force them to do it,” said Marra.
The election for the budget and for three school board members will be April 17. Mar. 27 is the last day to register to vote in that election. The town clerk’s office will be open until 9 p.m. on that day for last-minute registrants.
Absentee ballot applications must be in to the county office by April 10. After April 10 people must go in person to that office to retrieve an absentee ballot between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.