After slight modification, the Plainsboro Township Committee unanimously voted to adopt a $20.8 million municipal budget for 2008 during its April 23 meeting.
Some 61 percent of this year’s proposed budget, which is up $1.2 million — or 6 percent — over last year’s, contains employee-related expenses, including salary and wage, health insurance, and pension costs.##M:[more]##
The budget comes with a total $11.7 million tax levy. Township officials attributed more than half of the 1.8-cent increase in this year’s tax rate to a decrease in state aid this year. The new tax rate is 31.7 cents per $100, up from 29.9 cents the year before. That translates into a tax increase of roughly $70 on a home with an assessed valuation of $400,”000.
Despite the loss of $368,”679 in state aid, officials characterized the tax increase as modest, and boasted the large appropriation of surplus, which is anticipated at $3.3 million, up from $1.7 million in 2007.
Before adoption, Township Administrator Bob Sheehan explained that some of the numbers in the budget had changed because township officials found out after the introduction that there were some health insurance costs originally placed out of the mandated 3.5 percent appropriations cap that had to be placed back under cap. “That presented a challenge to us,” Sheehan said. “We went back into our budget, and having already had a four-month experience (in dealing with the budget), we were able to cut that health budget down a little bit to get that number under the cap.” The result was $32,”600 in cuts from the tax levy, and the reduction of the tax rate increase from 1.9 cents to 1.8 cents.
“We are doing that without any inconvenience or pain,” he said. He said that in addition to allowing the township to implement its raod maintenance priorities, “it also prepares us for the demands of new development we are anticipating this year.” A temporary inspector of code enforcement, in anticipation of demands from the Novo Nordisk construction project and possibly the hospital, as well as the new executive assistant to the mayor position — filled by former Township Clerk Pat Hullfish — and a machine operator/laborer in the Public Works Department, are all included in the budget.
Mayor Peter Cantu said he felt township officials were able to absorb almost a $400,”000 reduction in state aid but still came up with a budget that put the township in good financial standing. He said that it was “not only a responsible budget, but it also puts us in a better position today than we were yesterday.”
The budget was adopted with a 4-0 vote, with Deputy Mayor Neil Lewis absent.
In other business, the committee also approved a partnership with Middlesex County for a purchasing and shared services cooperative. “Middlesex County needs to designate a municipality as the lead agency,” Sheehan said, adding that it facilitates a state grant that will help fund the initiative.
“It has real promise,” he said. “It is essentially a website where there will be resources on sharing services. Towns will be able to go on there, identify areas where they would like to share services, and seek vendors that are cost effective.”
The committee also approved a partnership with the Princeton Forrestal Center under the state Department of Agriculture’s gypsy moth spraying program, that would authorize spraying for the insects along College Road East between Scudders Mill Road and Research Way. The partnership will see Plainsboro only spend about $1,”200 for the spraying.
