Westampton begins budget process – phillyBurbs.com : Burlington County Times: westampton, budget, taxes, municipal budget, local purpose taxes

WESTAMPTON — although a municipal budget is still months awayfrom being introduced to the public, officials have begun thegrueling task of shaping the annual spending plan.

The five-member Township Committee and Township AdministratorDonna Ryan sat for a few hours Wednesday during the first ofseveral budget meetings.

This year, the municipality would be able to raise taxes byabout 2.1 cents per $100 of assessed property value to remainwithin the state-mandated 2 percent tax levy cap.

Mayor Sidney Camp said his goal is to limit the increase toabout 1.5 cents.

“I don’t think we should go all the way up to the cap,” Campsaid. “I’d love to be at 1 percent, but we don’t know if that ispossible. When I first got here, we had a zero increase three yearsin a row, and we are paying for it now.”

Officials said a slight increase seems unavoidable since thetownship has endured rising costs in health insurance, utilities,fuel and salaries. Health insurance rose 10.3 percent over the pastyear, Ryan said.

“It just so happened that a lot of employees got married and hadbabies over the past year, so insurance really went up,” shesaid.

Initial numbers showed a budget of $9.49 million, an increase ofabout $600,000. it put the township about $368,000 over thecap.

Before the night was through, Ryan had removed about $60,000 invarious small cuts, and the committee was in favor of selling alease to a cellular tower on municipal property for another $60,000of revenue.

A proposal to defer school taxes in the amount of $200,000 alsowas discussed, along with switching health insurance companies fora $9,000 savings.

It left the township about $40,000 short of reaching the cap andabout $100,000 short of Camp’s goal.

If the committee is successful in reaching the 1.5-centincrease, a taxpayer owning a home at the township average of$240,000 will pay an additional $36 a year in local purposetaxes.

The municipality approved a 3.2-cent increase last year and an11-cent hike in 2010 that included layoffs and furloughs.

“This is our third year of a very tough and tight budget,” Ryansaid, “but it’s not as bad as two years ago.”

The township has discussed raising local taxes by an additionalpenny outside the tax levy cap to start an outside fund for fireand emergency service equipment.

If approved, the added tax would remain steady over the yearsand would buy new gear and vehicles for the fire Department,officials said. One penny would cost the average taxpayer $24 ayear and raise about $117,000.

Among other things, officials are eyeing a ladder truck, whichthe fleet does not have. Neighboring Mount Laurel and BurlingtonTownship have ladder trucks and assist during mutual aid calls.having a ladder truck at the firehouse on Woodlane Road would lowerresponse times for major fires, officials said.

“It’s hard to raise a penny in this day and age when a lot ofpeople are struggling,” Committeeman C. Andre Daniels said. “But Ithink people are sympathetic when fire officials present a goodplan and it goes towards the quality of life and publicsafety.”

Officials said that the fire Department has been taking surveysin certain neighborhoods regarding the tax increase and that theresponses have been mostly positive.

“There have only been a few negative responses so far,” Ryansaid.

The next budget meeting will be held 6 p.m. Wednesday at themunicipal building on Rancocas Road. The committee will have moreprecise numbers when it discusses other options with its departmentsupervisors, Camp said.

The mayor seemed optimistic that the committee would be able tofind more savings in what was described as a “lean” budget.

“We are trying to be as frugal as we can in this economy whilemaintaining all our services and employees,” Camp said. “Idefinitely think we are heading in the right direction.”

Mark Zimmaro: 609-871-8059; email: mzimmaro@phillyBurbs.com;

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