Mullica Must Cut $280,000 From Budget to Meet State Cap
Chief Financial Officer Dawn Stollenwerk said during a special budget workshop Tuesday night that the cuts are necessary due to an increase in operating expenses and decreases in state aid and tax collections.
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"Times are tough," she said. "Less people paid their taxes this year. They will likely pay them eventually. They'll just be late."
The municipality budgeted for a decrease in state aid comparable to the $6,400 that was cut in 2008 when the tax rate increased by 5.5 cents per $100 of assessed property value, Mayor Janet Forman said.
But with the state's finances in disarray, Stollenwerk said that number could easily increase, forcing the governing body to cut expenses further or ask taxpayers for help through a referendum.
The Township Committee agreed that it wants to avoid a referendum.
The committee cut its expenditures Tuesday night by refusing to hire an additional police officer or exchange two part-time Public Works employees for one full-time staffer.
Both departments made the staffing requests, in part, to cut the amount of overtime their employees were required to perform and to enable them to rotate shift schedules.
The committee initially tabled those decisions but later opted to remove them from the budget entirely.
"This year is completely different than last year, in terms of the economy," Forman said in explaining why she didn't want to add any nonessential expenses to the budget. "I don't mean to be dramatic about all of this, but I am worried."
Stollenwerk said these, and a handful of other cuts the committee made Tuesday night, helped a little, but said at least another $150,000 will have to be cut.
Meanwhile, the committee elected to give its public defender and prosecutor raises.
The decision sparked criticism from Committeeman Michael St. Amour, who said he felt like he was blindsided by the decision and left out of earlier discussions.
St. Amour said it would be difficult to justify to taxpayers giving those professionals 89 percent and 33-percent raises, respectively, when tax collections are down and the economy is struggling.
But Forman said that if the public defender was not given the raise, as much as $3,600 per year, the township would likely be unable to fill the position easily because it does not come with the pension benefits that many other towns offer.
The committee also agreed to spend $25,000 on hiring Hammonton's ambulance corps to provide emergency medical response on a temporary basis. This will give the committee more time to search for a suitable replacement for the Mullica Township rescue squad, which abruptly disbanded last month.
E-mail Robert Spahr: RSpahr@pressofac.com
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