It's That Time of Year: SP Council Reviews $23.5 Million Budget for 2011

The Township of Scotch Plains will clear the state-mandated property tax cap by $473,000, Township Manger Christopher Marion announced at the council's first workshop on the proposed 2011 budget Tuesday evening. Over the course of the two-hour meeting, Marion laid out the highlights of the proposed municipal budget, which totals about $23.5 million, and the township's department heads answered questions from Mayor Nancy Malool and members of the council. 

The budget rose by about 2.2 percent from 2010, Marion said, or just under $500,000. Spending, meanwhile, decreased by about 3.6 percent, or about $830,000. The average tax bill, however, will increase by about $57, plus the amount assessed by the Scotch Plains-Fanwood school district. 

Here's why: A new state law separates the tax levy for public libraries from the rest of a municipality's tax bill, and places it as a separate line item alongside the school tax. In addition, the state requires that Scotch Plains provide at least $1.3 million for the public library. Hence, without factoring-in that $1.3 million line item, the township's budget is lower than it was in 2010. But by factoring-in the library's budget, the township's budget is actually higher than in 2010.

Marion and the department heads who attended Tuesday's meeting stressed that their budgets largely remained flat or fell from 2010 to 2011.

“Nobody escaped the scalpel this year,” Marion said.

Notably, the may not fund two vacant positions, Chief Brian Mahoney said. Specifically, it may not replace an officer who relocated to another town, and it may not provide for a part-time dispatcher – two positions that had been previously budgeted for.

“Over five years, productivity was up about 200 percent,” Mahoney said. “Last year the numbers were down; we were short in the neighborhood of 1,000 tickets and the anticipated revenue was a lot less. I think those two positions are a direct correlation with the drop in productivity. Overtime bucks are up about $150 from last year and down $100,00 in a few years. We kept those overtime costs relatively stable.”

Malool cautioned that the force reduction did not mean that public safety was being compromised. “I don’t want it to seem that because we’re down a cop that we have less police out there, that we’re less well protected than before because we don’t have a police officer," she said. "If we were to get below our minimum staff requirements we would bring someone in on overtime.”

Mahoney noted that the department does its best to shift personnel when needed, but that being down an officer means covering more space with fewer offers. 

“In a perfect world, everyone goes to work on time every day,” he said. “We do our best to shift personnel when needed, but every time we’re down an officer or two, we only have limited ability to fill the shift.”

He added, however, that the staff reductions would not decrease public safety.

In terms of revenue, Marion said that the township will receive income from about $2.2 million in state aid – the same amount that Scotch Plains received in 2010 – $14.2 million in taxes, $570,000 in construction code fees and $2.2 in miscellaneous revenue.

The next budget workshop is scheduled to take place Monday, April 11, at 5 p.m. 

For an overview of the proposed municipal budget for 2011, check out the chart below: 

2.17%