Taxes

An ordinance authorizing $4.4 million for capital projects and equipment purchases – including 10 police cars – was introduced at the April 23 Township Council meeting. The township will issue $4,151,891 in bonds and put a cash down payment of $218,521 to pay for the work and purchases. According to the ordinance, the money has been earmarked for: $1,355,912 for …

An ordinance creating a $1.8 million road reconstruction program was introduced April 23 by the Township Council. The Council will pay for the work with $1,662,500 in bonds and an $87,500 cash down payment. The work will entail milling, paving and resurfacing all or part of the targeted streets. The streets included in the program are: Spruce Street Ellen Street …

The opening of the Colonial Park spray park has been delayed yet again, this time to late summer, after the project’s original contractor had to be replaced. The spray park, located next to the playground on Colonial Drive, was originally expected to be opened in the summer of 2018. Delays in permitting and other issues pushed that opening to Spring …

Sometime near the end of 2020, a 1.25-mile stretch of Amwell Road will look different than it does today. That’s because the road will be widened, repaved and have added to it ample shoulders for bicycle lanes. The project was previewed March 28 in the Township Council chamber by members of the Somerset County Engineering Department. They were available for …

The township was able to hold the line on municipal taxes in its proposed 2019 budget, but a mandatory hike in the library tax means an overall increase in local property taxes for township residents this year. The $61,931,338 proposed budget was introduced at the March 26 Township Council meeting. The total represents an uptick in the 2018 spending plan …

Update: John Hutchison, the D&R Canal Commission’s executive director, shed more light on the issue. Hutchison said that at the March 20 commission meeting, it was learned that the new cost estimate for the bridge was $876,000, with a 10 percent contingency. “Commissioners agreed that in light of the revised cost estimate, that it may be appropriate to suspend consideration …

A new library branch, a fitness center and music and video studios are just some of the amenities that will be included in the Franklin Township Youth Center when it opens on Lewis Street. The 24,000-square-foot center is slated to open in September of 2020. Under discussion for decades, and championed the last several years by Township Councilwoman Kimberly Francois …

Another increase in the value of township properties is contributing to a projected slight decrease in the school tax rate, the Board of Education’s business administrator said March 18. BA Jon Toth’s comments came during an open meeting of the school board’s finance committee, during which schools Superintendent John Ravally and Toth brought board members and the public up-to-date on …

The Township Council wants to know more about a proposed $500,000 pedestrian bridge to the Delaware & Raritan Canal towpath near Easton Avenue and John F. Kennedy Boulevard. The Council voted on a motion to give township resident John Loos – a member of the Delaware & Raritan Canal Commission – the authority to see whether Somerset County would be …

Franklin is in a “very good, strong financial position,” the Township Council was told at a Feb. 19 special budget meeting. That prognosis of the township’s revenue position came at the end of the meeting – the second budget meeting in eight days – from township auditor Andrew Hodulik. And as far as debt is concerned, Township Manager Robert Vornlocker …