Saturday's budget meeting / Cranbury's Property Tax Rate for 2010 & 2011

[Dan Mulligan]

I attended the township budget meeting this past Saturday along with 3 other residents.

After a much spirited debate in which many different ideas were exchanged between the members of the committee (Mr. Stannard was absent) in the end they were all able to agree on not raising the tax rate this year for Cranbury.

The main point of the budget discussion was whether to keep the current tax rate stable or to increase the tax rate anywhere form ½ penny to 1 penny.

Win Cody and Jay Taylor pushed for no tax increase this year from the start of the meeting as they appeared to feel the current $4.6 million surplus Cranbury has was sufficient enough to not raise the tax rate for the taxpayers during these difficult economic times. The other committee members Dave Cook and David Stout were in favor of raising the tax rate this year by ½ penny to 1 penny as they were concerned with using the towns surplus now due to the potential for other tax appeals from commercial properties in the township.

All in all is was a very good back and forth debate and discussion. Which is a good thing for our town as several different thoughts, concerns and ideas were shared by each of the Committee members.

In the end the attending committee members all agreed to keep the tax rate stable this year.

The key part of this decision was using approximately 1.15 million of our 4.6 million surplus to offset the need for an increase this year. If the tax rate had been increased by one cent as was discussed then we would have used approximately 170k less surplus. The view was stated by Win and Jay that the 170k difference was minimal compared to the effect a raise in taxes would have on residents a point on which the others agreed.

Last year the same was done with about 79% of 1.58 million of surplus used last year being replenished through taxes raised and lower costs for some expenses.

Also of note is that we may see these numbers change based on what the State does with the aid (our tax dollars) we receive this year which has yet to be finalized. The state aid changes could in a worst case scenario be a 600k reduction for Cranbury. However that is the worst case which we will find out about in the coming months.

Additionally a warning was given by Mayor Stout and supported by all on the committee that while we did not see a tax rate increase this year it appears that unless the economy picks up and the warehouse and office space in the township is rented then tax increases could be looming in the next year fiscal year (2011).

All in all the committee did a great job of working together in a bipartisan manner to come to the final decision which will be voted on tonight.

[Guest]

Let's hope the school board can accomplish the same goal and not raise taxes this year.

[Guest]

Don't hold your breath about the school budget holding steady. I've lived in Cranbury for 16 years and it always goes up.

[Guest]

Thanks Dan

[Guest]

I am new to town and want to understand why Cranbury has a surplus of close to $5 million and how could they even think about raising my taxes with so much extra money sitting in the bank?

[Guest]

I have lived here 15 years and I also do not understand how the town can run a surplus if they are only taking in what they need in tax dollars? I guess we are being over charged then?

[Guest]

There are two points. Surplus comes from sale of land, taxes, revenue- fees charged, or spending less.

There are no right answers at this time because the economy is so bad and no one knows what will happen.

As Dan said, Dave and David took a long term view of what happens if the markets and economy don't rebound what is the situation then. We'll lose value in our commercial property and be forced to hit more surplus. Eventually, you have no surplus and a large tax increase to support the spend. It may be easier to raise taxes a cent and use even less surplus. It is not an easy decision to make because you'd have to increase taxes when people are hurting. So I give them credit to present that view.

Jay and Win took the tact of looking at the here and now needing to keep costs low, but balanced that with the unknown in the future. If markets and the economy rebound there is no issue. I think they took a long term view that eventually the economy has to come back and we probably reached our low point.

I am inclined to believe that the commercial properties can't get much worse and believe even with their revaluation we're better off than if those were homes.

IMO, I think the TC did the right thing. They used less surplus than last year and did a zero increase. I don't think there is blame to be had because a difference of opinion is good to have and so is good discussion.

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Guest]

Surplus can be found on page 18

http://cranburytownship.org/2009%20budget-6.pdf

We had 6.8 in 2005 and used 2.2 million. It has been down each year going to 4.9 in 2009. This year will actually be the lowest amount of surplus used in the last 5 years.

[Guest]

thank you for the detailed answers it has been helpful to me.

[Guest]

One thing I think the TC should be commended for is that they are using less surplus this year and keeping the tax rate stable. Let's not lose sight of that aspect. In order to do that spending would have to be down.

Dan- Do you have the spending numbers?

This is what this forum is about now!! Sharing information and seeing all sides of a situation.