State blamed for hike in municipal tax rate
Jamesburg budget suffers from decrease of $150K in state aid
BY BRIAN DONAHUE
Staff Writer

JAMESBURG - A municipal tax increase is expected this year, thanks in part to a major drop in state aid.

Some borough officials said they believe that Gov. Jon Corzine is trying to force small towns like Jamesburg to merge with larger towns, and that the distribution of far smaller amounts of aid this year is part of that effort.

The borough will receive just $100,000 in extraordinary aid for the 2007 municipal budget, according to figures released by the state last week. That is $150,000 less than the town got last year and $250,000 less than it requested this year.

As a result, the municipal tax rate was expected to rise by 11.9 cents, or $148 on the average borough home, which is assessed at $124,000. The Borough Council was scheduled to vote on the budget's adoption after press time last night.

"I think, as far as this budget's concerned, our hands are pretty much tied," Councilman Otto Kostbar, who chair's the Finance and Budgeting Committee, said Friday.

The aid loss comes at a time when the borough must decide whether to continue funding its municipal library. State law requires that the council increase library spending, effectively by about 15 percent per year, and officials said the allocation is becoming too much. It now stands at $170,000 of the overall $5,350,625 budget, but could reach $200,000 next year. Meanwhile, the state will begin imposing a 4 percent cap on overall budget increases next year. The council was expected to vote last night on whether to make the library's shut down the subject of a referendum this fall.

Council members did not express confidence that the state would answer their call for help with the library situation, and it was not clear earlier this week whether they would vote to put the library on a referendum.

"I personally don't think the state is going to help us out with this," Kostbar said, noting that local officials have tried for years to get rid of the mandatory increases in library funding, with no success. And despite the recent support of local legislators in seeking a waiver from Corzine that would make the library allocation exempt from the 4 percent budget cap, Kostbar is doubtful that will come through.

"Why would the governor put a 4 percent cap in place if he was going to start giving waivers out," Kostbar asked.

While the library expense rises each year and state aid decreases, the town is forced to raise taxes or make cuts to a budget they said only contains the bare necessities. Councilman Brian Grimes said he agrees with Mayor Tony LaMantia that Corzine, who has touted the consolidation of public services, is sending a message to towns like Jamesburg to merge with other towns.

"The governor doesn't want towns like ours to exist anymore," Grimes said. He fears that Corzine will continue to "dry up revenue streams" to municipalities while passing along the burden of funding the state pension program, which is reported to have a deficit of $68 billion. A town like Jamesburg has little flexibility in cutting its budget to meet the 4 percent cap, and on the revenue side, has no options but to raise taxes to pay for state-mandated increases like the pension program and the library.

"It all comes back to the library issue," Grimes said. "If the state wants to eliminate small towns, why help us with this library issue?"

But a merge with another town, perhaps Monroe, would not be easy, and for many is not a desirable option. For one thing, residents of both towns would have to approve separate referendums to make the merge possible, and if taxes were to increase in one town as a result of its passage, it is unlikely to be approved. Residents of Monroe would likely be asked to approve a tax increase so that they can take Jamesburg under its wing, officials said.

"The tax rates would go up in Monroe," Kostbar said, "unless you eliminate our library, police department, public works department and our employees at town hall."

But even the consideration of closing the library, and the fact that residents would be able to use the expansive and nearby Monroe Township Library, has resulted in an outcry among borough residents, Kostbar noted. Losing other municipal departments may be as desirable to Jamesburg residents as a tax

increase would be to Monroe residents.

Grimes said the process of consolidation would take at least two to three years, but the state has not given any guidelines on merging, and has offered no incentives for towns to do so.

With the current state of its budget, Jamesburg officials are grappling with two other major issues, whether to fill an open spot on the police force, and to renew the town's garbage collection contract.

Kostbar said it appears that the town will not hire a new cop when Chief Paul Karkoska retires this month, and will operate with 12 officers instead of 13.

"And that's going to hurt us," he said. "That extra man allows our detective to do his detective work instead of going out on the road. I'm very concerned about that."

One area in which officials may be able to cut the budget is with regard to garbage collection. The borough can reduce services, and thus the cost, in its garbage contract this year, or privatize garbage collection altogether next year, meaning homeowners would hire their own service.

Kostbar said the current garbage contract is "excellent," because the service picks up everything placed at the curb, does double pickups in the summer and seasonal cleaning pickups. He does not want to lose those offerings in the contract. And if the town were to privatize the service, he said, homeowners would likely pay more money and more trucks would be on the road.

"But, if we don't have the money, we don't have the money," Kostbar said. "Instead, we have this silly cap and we're not getting the aid we need."

Grimes said however that cutting garbage pickup, which is the second largest item in the operating budget, could help the borough meet the 4 percent cap next year, Grimes said, and it might also free up room to keep the library in the budget. He stressed however that he still had some questions to be answered before he would propose such a move.

Regardless, council members were expected to reluctantly approve a tax increase this week.

"Quite frankly, that is exactly what the state wants us to do," Grimes said, "raise property taxes to offset the decrease in state aid."