Cranbury Budget Intro Sparks Debate

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The Cranbury Township Committee voted four-to-one at its Monday meeting to introduce next year’s budget. At $10.3 million, the budget is $500,000 less than last year’s and includes a two-cent tax increase that would raise municipal taxes $87 for the average household.

Mayor Winthrop Cody opposed the introduction of the budget largely because of this tax increase. The remaining members of the committee voted for the tax hike so the township’s use of its $5 million surplus would be slowed to a more manageable rate.

David Cook referenced figures generated by fellow committeeman Dan Mulligan that project Cranbury’s surplus condition for the years ahead. According to these figures, the township’s surplus would drop to zero by 2016. Based on this outlook, Cook said that waiting to raise taxes could result in a “tax shock” should the township need to fill a budget gap of $750,000 or greater in three or four years and not have the necessary surplus to do so.

Mayor Cody seemed unaffected by this data, especially in light of Governor Chris Christie’s recent announcement that Cranbury’s state aid figure would be the same as last year’s at approximately $447,000. Cody also said that the township would need to spend almost $3 million of its surplus before the situation became dire.

Township Administrator Denise Marabello confirmed that it would take longer than one year for Cranbury to drain its surplus to a dangerous level, but said raising taxes now is the “fiscally responsible” thing to do.

“The last two years when we didn’t increase taxes, I gave my opinion to increase by a penny or two and the committee chose not to,” Marabello said.

Committeeman Jay Taylor said that last year he argued alongside Cody against a one-cent tax increase, but also said that it might not have been the correct decision.

The alternative to the two-cent increase, according to Dan Mulligan, is service cuts, which is something he is reluctant to approve.

“We’d have to have an honest discussion. ‘Do we let some police officers go? Do we let some public works people go? Do we cut the fireworks?’ Those are the kind of discussions we’re going to start having,” Mulligan said. “I could be wrong, but my impression is that people don’t want to see tremendous cut in services yet.”

http://eastwindsor.patch.com/articles/cranbury-budget-intro-sparks-debate