Politics & Government

Scotch Plains, Fanwood Each Lose Several Hundred Thousand in Municipal State Aid

The state releases the specifics on aid cuts to municipalities Thursday afternoon.

Editor's Note: This story has been modified and more information will be added as it becomes available.

The state Department of Community Affairs announced Thursday afternoon that Scotch Plains and Fanwood will each lose several hundred thousand dollars in state aid this year. Scotch Plains is slated to lose over $600,000. Fanwood's will drop nearly $200,000.

Scotch Plains dropped from $2,854,052 last year to $2,227,587 this year, a 21.95 percent decrease. The aid this year will include $244,821 in consolidated municipal property tax relief and $1,982,766 in total energy tax receipts.

Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Fanwood's aid has decreased from $949,450 last year to $755,288 this year, equating to a 20.45 percent decrease. The borough's aid this year includes $28,412 in consolidated municipal property tax relief and $726,876 in total energy tax receipts.

The total state aid distributed to municipalities across New Jersey for fiscal year 2011 is nearly $1.5 billion. The budget for state aid this year has been reduced almost $359 million from last year's total aid appropriation.

Find out what's happening in Scotch Plains-Fanwoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Other municipalities in Union County lost about the same percentage as Scotch Plains-Fanwood. Westfield suffered one of the higher reductions amongst county municipalities similar to Scotch Plains — the town lost $941,470, a 23.45 percent decrease from the year before.

Prior to knowing the exact state aid reductions, Mayor Nancy Malool on Tuesday was already acknowledging that the loss would not be easy for the township.

"In Scotch Plains we already have a very lean budget to begin with, so we will have to try to make do the best we can, just like we did last year," Malool said. "There will be some pain along the way, but we'll get through it."

Fanwood's Administration and Finance Comittee council liaison Anthony Parenti also acknowledged at the council's most recent meeting that the borough's budget was somewhat contingent on what Gov. Christie announced this week. The committee says it has already identified several cost-saving reductions to start helping to make up for the loss.


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