Thursday, August 17, 2006
By JAMES YOO
STAFF WRITER
RINGWOOD -- Take the state aid and accept the fact that municipal taxes still will increase. Or risk losing the aid by trying to cut taxes further.
That's the crux of 2006 budget talks among borough officials that will stretch into September because of uncertainty surrounding a $500,000 extraordinary aid grant from the state.
An amended budget, which added in the aid money, was defeated by the Borough Council on Tuesday night after budget-control concerns came up. That budget, now $14.3 million, will be examined for more potential savings before the next council meeting, scheduled for Sept. 12 at 8 p.m.
In April, the council introduced a budget with a 15 percent increase in the local tax levy. That would have increased taxes by about $225 for the owner of an average home, assessed at $180,000.
But then the borough gained some tax relief after it applied for and received the state extraordinary aid grant. The borough cited legal and engineering costs associated with cleanup at the former Ford toxic dump as a major reason on its application for the aid.
However, council members still wanted to enact more budget cuts to lower the municipal-purposes tax levy, which still would increase by about $100, to about $1,633 on average even with the $500,000 in aid, several members said.
But the aid comes with some restrictions, and that did not sit well with council members on Tuesday night.
"Towns receiving extraordinary aid can amend their budget after the aid is awarded as long as DCA approves the amendment. All extraordinary aid, however, must go to reducing property taxes," said Chris O'Donnell, spokesman for the state Department of Community Affairs.
In effect, fiddling with the budget would impact the state aid.
"It would jeopardize the amount of the grant this year. It could jeopardize our getting a grant next year," said Borough Manager Ken Hetrick.
Some council members said they may not accept the state aid money under certain conditions.
"The conditions would have to be proved to me that we couldn't get the budget lower without the aid," Councilwoman Wenke Taule said.
Councilman Bill O'Hearn preferred revisiting budget cuts proposed by council members.
Mayor Joanne Atlas said she felt changes can be made to the budget over the next few weeks, but she did not want to risk the extraordinary aid money. "So we have to figure out a way of doing that without jeopardizing the $500,000," she said.
In the budget vote, Republicans Donna Anderson and William Marsala voted against the budget with Democrats Bill O'Hearn and Taule. Atlas, a Democrat, was the only vote in favor of it. Councilman Tom Mac Allen, a Democrat, and Councilwoman Linda Schaefer, a Republican, were absent.
Marsala had voted against the budget and the state aid from the beginning.
"It's just that Ringwood had never received extraordinary aid, so I thought it was a long shot," he said.
Hetrick said he would begin looking at areas where the borough could cut costs.
"Some services would suffer," he said.
Layoffs are also a last resort, Hetrick added.
"I'm [going to] work on proposed cuts of up to $800,000 from now to Sept. 12," he said.
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