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As Council Looks To Trim Tax Hike, Department Heads Continue Budget Presentations
By Catherine Snipe
For several weeks now, township department heads have presented their proposed budgets to the township council at public council meetings.
And one thing was key on the council's mind: Were those department budgets growing?
Several are. The main question for council members such as Ruthanne Scaturro is, "Can we find the efficiencies?"
Last week, three departments - Building & Code Enforcement, Planning & Board of Adjustment and Human Resources - presented their proposed budgets.
Most of the departments that have presented thus far are spending more in salaries than last year, but some have managed to cut in other places to keep spending down.
For that, council members offered praise.
But last week, Daniel F. Newman Jr. presented the proposed Building & Code Enforcement budget. Under his proposal, the department's spending would be the same as last year, though a portion of last year's funds went unspent.
Scaturro asked why that is. Couldn't this year's proposed figures be reduced to reflect the lack of spending last year?
"In every line item except for one, you spent less, but you asked for the same amount," Scaturro said to Newman. "In today's day and age, businesses are looking at ways to do things differently. We should be doing the same."
In previous weeks, Scaturro asked similar questions of others, including the police department and public works. Her concern is budgeted versus spent money.
Newman said because of the nature of his department's work, contingency funding can be key. While some line items were underbudget last year, he argued that it's hard to predict a department whose work is based on applications for buildings, fences and other construction, as well as code enforcement. A surge of applications means more work to do.
Plus, last year's code books are outdated, Newman said, so the department must spend more than last year to buy these essential publications.
Under Kelly's proposed budget, Brick Township may face a 12-cent tax rate increase. Council members are hoping to reduce the double-digit hike.
While Township Council President Stephen Acropolis focused on budgets with rising operating expenses, Vice President Scaturro and Councilman Mike Thulen have questioned a number of specific line items regardless of the budget's overall size, hoping department heads could provide some insight into their spending practices.
Some, such as the Human Resources Department, are tinkering with personnel and reassigning staff to vacancies instead of hiring replacements as employees retire. Mandie Krakosky, of Human Resources, said this resulted in a 20 percent overall reduction for her department. The decrease equals $110,000 in salaries, but the department will soon pay $8,000 more in the line item of expert services when it is time for collective bargaining, Krakosky said.
At next week's township council meeting, the budget presentations will continue. Debra Welty of Senior Services, Ermand Centofanti of Information & Technology, Fred Millman of Tax Assessor and Diane Stutesman of the Welfare departments will present their budget proposals.
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