Borough Council President and Chairman of Administration and Finance Committee, Mr. Barry Mastrangelo offered the proposed 2016 Budget for introduction at a council meeting on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. Mastrangelo offered the following budget message as his introduction:
It is my pleasure Madame Mayor to make the motion to introduce the 2016 Municipal Budget. The Borough Administrator Jill Gougher along with Chief Financial Officer James Craft began the process back in September of 2015 providing expenditure histories and worksheet forms to all Department Heads. They were instructed to schedule at least two meetings with their Council Committees to discuss all Operating and Capital budget requests.
The Administration and Finance committee charged all departments with the task to once again maintain or reduce their budget from the 2015 level wherever possible. The focus for 2016 was to continue the Dredging of the Back Bays, Construction of a new Public Safety Building, installation of sentinel well as a requirement for our water allocation increase and various road, drainage and flood prevention improvements. The 2016 Budget as presented this evening will allow the Borough to continue these much needed projects while continuing to provide our residents with the high quality of service they expect. I am extremely proud to announce that the budget as presented results in no municipal tax increase in 2016. The municipal rate will remain at 23.9 Cents.
A copy of the 2016 Budget will be posted on our website and sent to the POA and various media outlets for our property owners to review. On April 5th the Borough will hold a Public Hearing on the proposed budget. At that time residents may ask questions. Residents are encouraged to review the budget documents that will be placed online prior to the Public Hearing. If they have any questions, concerns or recommendations please send them to the Borough Administrator who will share them with all of Council. At this time I would like to turn it over to the Borough Administrator and Chief Financial Officer for additional information prior to taking a vote on Introduction.
Borough Administrator Gougher thanked all the Department Heads and Council Committees for all their hard work putting the 2016 Budget together. Gougher further stated that “Because of those efforts I want to highlight that the Amount to Be Raised by Taxation will increase slightly by $20,000. Because of the increase in assessed value over 2015 the actual tax rate will remain the same at 23.9 cents. “
Salary and Wages increased overall by $190,030.02, Other Appropriations increased by $192,579, Capital Improvements decreased by $(88,231), Debt Service increased slightly by $3,318 for total increase of $366,300.08.
To offset the $366,300.08 in appropriation increases the Borough is able to utilize an additional $318,787.47 in Surplus and $7,512.61 in other revenues. As previously mentioned, the balance of the appropriation increase was offset by an additional amount to be raised by taxation of $20,000.00. An in-depth presentation will be presented on April 5th before the Public Hearing on the budget. The detailed presentation will be posted on the Borough Website for property owners to review in advance of the Public Hearing.
To review more detailed information about the 2016 Municipal Budget visit the Borough Website at: www.stoneharbornj.org