Township officials wait for details on '07 budget
BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer

MANALAPAN - A discussion is scheduled for tonight's Township Committee meeting on a 2007 municipal budget that has property owners facing the prospect of an increase in the amount of money they will have to pay to support the municipal budget this year.

Based on the 2006 tax rate of 47.37 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, Mayor Andrew Lucas said last month that property owners could be facing a double-digit increase in the municipal tax rate this year.

However, things are a little more complicated this year when it comes to developing the 2007 municipal budget because Manalapan underwent a property revaluation which means the tax rate will actually drop. However, because of higher assessed property values, some property owners will end up paying more in actual tax dollars.

The new municipal tax rate for 2007 has not been determined.

According to the revaluation of all Manalapan property, the municipality's worth increased from $2.5 billion in 2006 to $6.1 billion in 2007.

Lucas and Committeeman Richard Klauber are this year's finance committee members and will make their presentation at the April 25 meeting based on input received from Township Administrator Tara Lovrich.

Lovrich has met with all of the department heads to assess their requests for this year's budget.

In each of the past two years the committee lowered the municipal tax rate. The 2006 budget totaled $28.6 million and raised $11.9 million in local taxes. The municipal tax rate was lowered from 47.40 to 47.37 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

That meant the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 paid $947 in municipal taxes in 2006, down from $948 in 2005. The owner of a home assessed at $300,000 paid $1,421 in municipal taxes in 2006, down from $1,422 in 2005. The owner of a home assessed at $400,000 paid $1,895 in municipal taxes in 2006, down from $1,896 in 2005. The owner of a home assessed at $500,000 paid $2,368 in municipal taxes in 2006, down from $2,370 in 2005.

The municipal tax rate is one part of the overall property tax bill, which also includes Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District taxes, Freehold Regional High School District taxes, Monmouth County taxes and several other assessments.

Lucas' recent comment about the looming tax increase came less than a year after the committee adopted the 2006 budget that cut the tax rate by a fraction of a cent.

Deputy Mayor Michelle Roth had objected to the 2006 budget and voted against its adoption, saying it would "recklessly drain our cash surplus."

Roth again had harsh words for last year's budget and the way it was developed, noting that the fiscal chickens were coming home to roost just as she had predicted when Lucas and committeemen Joseph Locricchio and Anthony Gennaro voted to adopt a budget that Roth said had been artificially stabilized.

At that time, Roth criticized developing a budget based on anticipated revenues, saying then, "this year (2006) we are also counting on and spending revenue that we hope will come in from construction fees, instead of having this surplus available to us for [2007's] increasing expenses. This is not the prudent thing to do. What does that do to us for [2007]? Taxpayers in New Jersey need meaningful tax relief, not political stunts. I am uncomfortable with this [2006] budget because it has not considered enough ways to trim expenses to the minimum and ignored the expenses that we must face [in 2007]."

Roth said she has been proven right due to the fact that the anticipated revenues fell short of the projections around which the 2006 budget was developed.

"For the past two years when expenses continued to rise, I said you can't cut or stabilize your taxes without cutting spending, but you have to be careful where you cut spending so that you can still deliver the services residents need," she said.

Roth said she told Locricchio last year that the budget he was trumpeting as a tax cut was in reality a "political stunt."

"He and (Committeeman Anthony) Gennaro pushed the auditor to assume we would take in more money in construction revenue than we did and what ended up happening was that we took in less than we did the year before without even coming close to what they predicted would be a big revenue source. This caused a huge problem," the deputy mayor said.

When asked to comment on Roth's assertions, Gennaro said, "It takes three to get anything passed in this town," noting it was he, Locricchio and Lucas who approved the 2006 budget in order to "keep the taxes flat."

"A budget is a projection. You sit with auditors and ask, 'What will make the budget flat?' We (he, Lucas and Locricchio) believed there would be enough revenue to balance the budget," Gennaro said.

As to what suggestions he may have for the 2007 budget, Gennaro said that since he was not a member of the finance committee he will wait until tonight's meeting to hear what recommendations Lucas and Klauber make after meeting with Lovrich.

"This is policy, not politics," he said.

Roth said she knows Lucas and Klauber will likely be submitting recommendations for certain cuts. Except to say that the discussion will include recommended cuts and "restrict certain departments," she would not elaborate beyond saying "our goal is to streamline our operation."

Roth said tonight's discussion will lay the groundwork for the introduction and adoption of the municipal budget in May.

Lucas was not available for comment by press time Monday.