Politics & Government

Manchester Township Council Approves Budget With Decrease From Last 12-Month Budget

Manchester is switching to a calendar-year budget, as opposed to a fiscal-year budget.

Manchester Township Council unanimously passed a budget on Monday night, May 13, that saw a $30.90 reduction in the average home’s property tax levy.

And that’s a reduction from the last 12-month budget.

The $31,059,684.16 budget is equivalent to the six-month budget that covered the township from July 1-Dec. 31 of last year, and is a reduction from the 12-month budget that was in effect from July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012, according to Chief Financial Officer Diane Lapp.

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The township council approved the budget without the 2 percent tax levy cap.

The township had a six-month budget because it transitioned from a fiscal year budget to a calendar year budget at the suggestion of the State of New Jersey.

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“The State is looking for all municipalities to revert to the calendar year because that’s what they prefer,” Lapp said.

Manchester was on a calendar year budget until 1990, when the State took control of the township following the Joe Portash scandal. At that time, the State preferred a fiscal year budget, so it modified the township’s budget to conform to that schedule.

Despite the most recent switch, Manchester stayed in line with the six-month budget, due in part to a large amount of tonnage that came into the township following Superstorm Sandy in the final quarter of the year.

Manchester is designated as a “Host Community.” Municipalities that serve as “Host Communities” receive monetary compensation in exchange for living in close proximity to a landfill, and the alleviation of landfill impacts, including landscaping and revegetation to compensate for a negative visual impact.

“All the debris that we moved into the landfill made our revenue go back up,” Lapp said.

This “at-risk revenue” helped Manchester stay even, but will only benefit the township this year and next.

The township also lost $2 million in tax appeals last year, but saw a decline in tax appeals from about 21,000 last year to about 80 this year, following a revaluation.

Manchester is in the second year of its four-year phase-in of its new insurance plan. Health insurance for employees currently costs $5.2 million, but Manchester is in the process of instituting a plan for employees to pay a certain percentage of their salary, dependent on what they make, toward insurance.

The 64- member police department is currently under contract, but when that contract expires, the officers will begin contributing a percentage of their salaries, beginning with the same four-year phase-in plan.

The Manchester Police Department is already below the state-recommended 77-person staff, but to adding more officers at this time would significantly increase the budget, Lapp said. The department is replacing five cars during this budget period, after replacing four cars last year and three the year before that, Lapp said.

One resident raised the question of 17 increases among the 23 appropriations for salary and wages.

“There are still pay raises,” Council President Craig Walls said. “Those are normal increases.”

Walls said there were too many variables involved with those pay raises to explain the $516,500 worth of raises, but stated no individual raise went over 2 percent, and when factored in with the four that were the same as last year and the two that were less, the average across the township remained the same.

A copy of the introduced budget is attached to this story as a PDF.


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