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Politics & Government

Manchester OKs 2012 Budget With Average $52 Tax Hike

Property owners to see slight increases in taxes for next fiscal year

 

Manchester Township’s taxes will slightly increase next year, now that the council has approved its fiscal year 2012 budget (see attached PDF file).

The $30.8 million budget, which the council approved unanimously, increased by more than $1 million from the $29.5 million spending plan in fiscal year 2011, explained C.F.O. Diane Lapp.

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Lapp outlined the budget during the council's Nov. 14 meeting, in a PowerPoint presentation projected onto a pull-down screen.

The funds to be raised from taxes in 2012 are set to be $20.5 million, compared to the fiscal year 2011 amount of $19.4 million.

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Lapp showed that the more than-$1 million difference this year will result in a .02679 increase per $100 of assessed value, which for an owner of an average-assessed Manchester home of $194,000 would amount to an extra $51.99 in taxes for 2012.

Explaining the breakdown of the tax burden, Lapp explained that 54 percent of Manchester’s taxes go to the school district (just over $11 million), while 27 percent go to the municipality (roughly $5.5 million), and 19 percent go to Ocean County (just under $4 million).

Lapp later summarized the proceedings by emphasizing that Manchester Township was under both the 2 percent cap on the tax levy and the 3.5 percent cap on appropriations mandated by the state – leading the state to sign off on the town’s budget.

Council President Craig Wallis said that the township’s financial professionals along with Councilmen Warren Reiter and Brendan Weiner had worked tirelessly on the budget for six to eight months, and that certain costs contained within it were necessary expenses (such as maintenance of infrastructure and official vehicles), and/or ones that the governing body did not have total control over (healthcare and pension costs).

The C.F.O. explained that revenue sources in the township include surplus, state aid, grants, miscellaneous revenues, receipts from delinquent taxes and the amount to be raised through taxes.

The surplus for the 2012 fiscal year budget is set at $1.275 million, a decrease from the 2011 fiscal year surplus amount of $1.364 million.

One slide in Lapp’s presentation showed how state aid to Manchester has decreased $1.4 million in the last few years, going from nearly $4.6 million in 2008 to just over $3.2 million for 2012. “As state aid has been reduced, municipal property taxes have increased,” Lapp stated.

Lapp explained that under the heading of appropriations, the township was legally obligated to cover salary and wages (covering nearly 40 percent of the budget), operating expenses, statutory expenses, pension obligations, grant expenditures and debt service.

Health insurance costs in the 2012 fiscal year budget are anticipated to be $4,932,000 – an increase over the 2011 amount of $4,375,000. Lapp described Manchester as negotiating for alternative care plans that are less expensive to the township and its employees, and that a step in a positive direction was that township employees have begun contributing into their own premium costs.

“Though we’ve had an increase in this area of 30 percent over the past five years, we are still well below the state plan (cost-wise),” Lapp stated.

The 2012 fiscal year budget also shows the anticipated cost for public employee retirement payments at $675,503 (an increase over last year’s amount of $617,364), and the anticipated cost for police and firemen's pensions at $1,620,495 (down slightly from $1,631,425 last year).

Resident opinion

Opinions of residents who chose to speak during the public comment session banked sharply in the direction of expressing concern, and in some cases frustration, that the 2012 budget was resulting in taxes being raised.

Fred Lund, a resident of Leisure Village West in Manchester, spoke to the council several times on why the township was not making more sacrifices. "This budget as proposed will increase Manchester’s real estate taxes over $1 million. These are extremely difficult economic times, and another $1 million increase will not improve the situation," Lund read in a prepared statement.

Lund later added that many municipalities in Ocean County last year were able to pass budgets featuring either no increase in costs or extremely nominal ones, but inquired as to why that wasn’t the case in Manchester.

“All non-governmental expenditures must be trimmed to the fullest extent possible or eliminated. The amended budget should then reflect, at a minimum, a zero tax increase or a reduction of our property tax,” he said.

Margaret Camposano, a Whiting resident, commented that although the town provides a great police department and employees, she emphasized that the local government must find ways to cut costs. “As one of the (town's) most supportive taxpayers, I urge you to hold the line,” Camposano said.

Reiter thanked Camposano for her comments, and replied that the personnel who had worked on the budget had “gone over it with a fine-toothed comb” as far as trimming expenditures, and had worked hard to stay within the state-mandated caps on the tax levy and appropriations.

Seymour Sussman, of Leisure Village West, said that tax levy increases have “a drastic impact” on many people, and that it was “unconscionable” of the governing body to have increases for the 2012 fiscal year budget. Sussman also urged Manchester to look at other municipalities’ example of creating new ways to generate revenue.

In response, Reiter suggested that for those residents who qualify and have the specific financial need, to go through the Department of Social Services to have their tax rates frozen. “It’s really something to take advantage of (if you qualify),” he said.

Councilman Wallis later added that many parts of township operations and services are not being expanded at all in the next fiscal year budget, only maintained. In crafting the budget, Wallis said that “a lot of tough choices” had to be made; ones which will continue to be made in the future.

“We’re trying to anticipate our needs (going forward),” Wallis said.

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