Budget has reduced tax hike, roof repair work
BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer

JAMESBURG –– A municipal tax increase has been reduced for the second time since the 2005 budget was passed in February.

The borough recently learned it will receive $175,000 in state extraordinary aid, the same amount as last year, to help ease the burden on taxpayers, who are facing their first municipal tax increase in three years.

Council President Otto Kostbar said the tax increase will now be 11 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. A home assessed at the borough average of $122,000 will now face a tax increase of about $135.

The tax increase was originally proposed at 18.6 cents. That was reduced to 14.6 cents after the borough received $50,000 in homeland security aid and extended its police interlocal agreement with Helmetta, which will bring in about $45,000.

Kostbar said the extraordinary aid would have lowered the tax increase further, but officials have to use funds to fix the leaking roof at borough hall. The roof repairs will cost $100,000, but the borough was able to cut its allocation by $20,000 by releasing a bond for the roof.

Kostbar said there were only two means by which the borough could fix the roof — through bonding or by appropriating money in this year’s budget.

“We chose to pay for it this year, because bonding is much more expensive over the long run, with attorneys’ fees and interest, and because it would take us much longer to actually get the roof done,” Kostbar said. “And the building is getting damaged from all the water every time it rains.”

Had officials opted for the bonding, it would be months before the roof could be fixed. An attorney would first have to draft the bond, then the Borough Council would have to introduce and then adopt an ordinance for the bond, and the bond itself would have to be advertised.

“So that would take several months, at least, before we’d be ready to get any funds in,” Kostbar said. “And the roof thing has really become a crisis.”

The roof began leaking last year, but the problem escalated significantly when the borough was hit with the July 17 storm that brought flash flooding to the area.

Putting the funds for the repairs into this year’s budget, Kostbar said, means the roof project could be concluded in as little as one month.

“We would hope we can have it done shortly,” Kostbar said.

The $4.6 million municipal budget, includes $36,000 for stormwater management, $45,000 for municipal insurance, $36,000 for pension payments, $31,000 for recycling and $16,000 for mandated library appropriations.

All the line items, officials had said, were necessary, and nothing could be cut without negatively affecting the quality of life of the borough’s residents.