Municipal costs, taxes on rise in Spotswood
Borough awaits word on aid for '07 budget with 7-cent tax rate hike
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

Barry Zagnit

SPOTSWOOD - The municipal tax rate would rise by about 7 cents this year under a budget introduced by the Borough Council, but officials hope to receive state aid to lower that hike.

The council will adopt the $8.33 million budget this summer when the state issues its extraordinary aid figures. As it stands, the 7-cent tax rate hike means the owner of property assessed at the borough average of about $250,000 would see the annual municipal taxes rise by about $183, according to council President Curtis Stollen.

And while the borough has requested $250,000 in state aid to defray the tax hike, the state has reduced the amount of aid being offered to towns this year, and officials are doubtful they'll receive the full amount.

Mayor Barry Zagnit said the state has municipal aid requests for about $87 million, but will only be doling out $23 million this year.

"I don't think we'll see $250,000," he said.

Zagnit said he went to Trenton recently to make the borough's case for state aid. He told the Department of Community Affairs about Spotswood's need to perform costly capital projects, especially fixing the water system, as well as the number of senior citizens on fixed incomes in town. Zagnit said many residents live only on Social Security, and are very hard hit by any tax increase.

Curtis Stollen

Last year, the borough received $100,000 in extraordinary aid, plus $50,000 in Homeland Security aid, he said.

If the borough does not receive all of the aid it requested this year, the budget will have to be revisited for possible cuts or changes, Zagnit said.

Councilwoman Marge Drozd said she understands that towns will receive less extraordinary aid than in previous years. If the full amount requested does not come in, Drozd said she would be willing to make cuts in the budget.

"I'm willing to look at everything, and I do mean everything," she said.

The proposed 2007 municipal budget is up about $450,000, or 5.7 percent, from last year's plan, an increase that is attributable to a number of factors, Council President Curtis Stollen said, including higher pension costs, increased police salaries and wages, and higher insurance costs. The borough also has to pay more for the borough library and more in debt service.

The borough is paying about $115,000 more in pensions, $115,000 more in police salaries and wages, $43,000 more in insurance, $36,000 in library costs, and $90,000 in debt service.

Stollen voiced frustration about parts of the budget that are out of the borough's control. For example, due to laws that control labor negotiation rules, the PBA is entitled to arbitration, while other groups only get mediation.

"We have so little control over our own costs," he said.

As for cuts, he said it would be difficult to make any without impacting borough services.

"Any significant cuts would mean a change of lifestyle," he said, pointing to areas like senior citizen aid and recreation money.

"There's no other way to cut the budget unless we cut services," Stollen said.

He was also upset that towns can no longer use the school tax increases they are facing as an argument to prove the need for extraordinary aid. Spotswood homeowners will face an average school tax hike of $194 for the 2007-08 school year as per a failed school budget that was recently trimmed by the Borough Council.

The 2007 municipal budget, Zagnit said, is "very tight" and about 85 percent is made up of fixed costs. The borough is trying to maintain the same level of programs and services, but that is becoming increasingly difficult with the budget circumstances, he said, noting that things will likely get harder next year due to a state limit on the number of expenditures that can be made outside of the annual spending cap.

"It will become much tougher to stay within the state-mandated cap," Zagnit said. "We'll have real tough decisions to make."