Scotch Plains Mayor Calls Aid Cuts Tough, But Necessary

Scotch Plains Manager Christopher Marion has begun making additional cuts to the 2010 budget after learning late last week that the township will lose over $600,000 in state aid. 

Mayor Nancy Malool told Patch on Friday that she met with Marion that morning about the reductions and that he already has some ideas for where to reduce funds. The township had anticipated losing about $100,000 in Consolidated Municipal Property Tax Relief Aid, or CMPTRA aid, but instead lost $626,465 in both CMPTRA and energy tax receipts. Malool said she's not sure how the state is taking money from the latter, since previously they weren't allowed to. In total, the cuts took the aid from $2,854,052 last year to $2,227,587 this year, a 21.95 percent overall decrease.

"The budget's lean to begin with, and now (Marion) has to go back and cut some things he didn't anticipate," the mayor said of the budget. "Our goal is for no layoffs. We have a skeleton crew as it is since we lost eight people last year. We have to try to keep our services acceptable to people. The last thing we want is people to pay more for taxes and get less services. Unfortunately, that's what's going to end up happening in a lot of places."

Malool noted that a tax increase was already factored into the 2010 budget, but that she's not yet sure how it will change now that the loss in state aid has made the budget even tighter. The tax increase that was planned was a 6 cents rise per $100 assessed value.

"It's all everywhere looking doom and gloom," Malool said. "I don't see any other way around it than making these hard decisions."

In his budget speech on Tuesday, Gov. Chris Christie announced that he would be reducing municipal aid by $445 million, justifying it by saying: "No longer will we reward cities and towns who irresponsibly spend."

While Fanwood Mayor Colleen Mahr told Patch she rejects the notion that municipalities are out of touch, Malool said she doesn't take offense to the characterization.

"I know it doesn't apply to us," she said. "While he said 11,000 people were hired last year, we laid off people. We had a budget reduction. We don't have a lot of fat to cut, so when he's talking about local government being more responsible, I know that's not aimed at us. We're lean already. We're not irresponsible, but I know there are municipalities that are, and unfortunately we have to pay the price just like they do."

The state budget won't be final until June, and between now and then, Malool said the only thing that may change in Scotch Plains' favor is if the legislature approves what the governor is calling his "tool kit" to help municipalities and school districts, which includes pension reform, collective bargaining reform and civil service reform.

"If the legislature approves what the governor said and ends up with a 1.5 percent (health benefits) contribution, that will really be a boost to everybody for their budgets," she said. "We're in talks with the police department for their contracts now, and I don't know how this will affect those talks, either. If the legislature passes this tool kit, then we need that now because we have to introduce our budget soon. I'm not really sure how quickly it's all going to happen, but that's what can change before the introduction. I think everybody's still trying to absorb the shock of the magnitude of the cut first of all, then absorb the bigger picture of what it really means for the long run."

Overall, the Republican mayor acknowledged that Christie's cuts to Scotch Plains will be tough, but said she still thinks they were necessary. How much of an impact they'll have on taxpayers remains to be seen, she said, until the school district announces how it plans to make up for the $3.4 million deficit that resulted from its state aid cuts. The mayor said residents should "brace themselves" for what's to come.

"(The governor's) made a lot of people's lives really miserable, but I don't see how he has any other choice," Malool said. "I think he's drawn a line in the sand that nobody else was willing to. I wish he could have done it in a way that spread it out over a couple of years, but I guess that wasn't possible and he figured if he's going to pull the trigger, you might as well do it all the way. I have to applaud his philosophy. We've been irresponsible for too long and it's time to set the record straight and do things the right way. He said, 'if you tell me you don't like it, then tell me where to get the money,' but I haven't heard anybody come up with anything. It's going to be painful, but I really do think he's doing the right thing for the right reasons."