Township Council Approves $57 Million Budget

Deputy Mayor Brian Regan said the 2014 budget was “the best budget we can put forward.”

A $57 million spending plan for 2014 that includes money for road repaving and new sidewalks in parts of the township was approved May 13 by the Township Council.

As he did when the spending plan was introduced, Mayor Brian Levine (R) cast the lone “no” vote.

Levine objects to the $2.5 million allocation for road projects and the $750,000 allocation for new sidewalks, questioning the scope of the former and the need for the latter.

But Deputy Mayor Brian Regan, (D-At Large) said the budget is “the best budget we can put forward this year.”

The $57,040,501.15 budget is driven by a tax levy of $36,299,128.98, of which $33,359,598 is the municipal portion and $2,939,530.98 is the library’s portion. That’s an overall 3.6 percent increase over last year’s tax levy, and translates to a local portion tax of .373 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

Under the budget, the owner of a home assessed at $306,058 – the township’s average – would pay a local portion tax of $1,141.60.
Add to that the $101 library portion and $153.03 open space portion, and the total municipal tax bill for that average assessed home would be $1,395.62, a $9.93 increase over last year’s figure.

“This is a very good and stage budget,” Regan said. “I believe the members of the council did work in true stewardship” in creating it.

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