Following Mayor Peter Cantu’s directive to reduce the tax burden on residents, the revised Plainsboro municipal budget will increase the tax rate by less than a penny. The budget originally submitted by township administrator Robert Sheehan called for a tax increase of 1.5 cents.
The revised budget, formally introduced at the March 12 Township Committee meeting, calls for an increase of .98 cents, which equates to a tax impact of $38 for an average home, valued at $386,200. The actual tax impact on individual residents may be more or less than $38, depending on the assessed value of their homes.
To reduce the tax levy increase to less than a penny, the administration had to adjust some of the revenue-side line items. According to Gregory Mayers, chief financial officer for the township, the revenue portion of the budget was increased by $190,000.
“We allocated $50,000 from the fund balance surplus, $40,000 from the capital surplus, and $30,000 from the assessment fund balance. In addition, in light of strong figures we have seen in January and February, we felt comfortable raising the revenue line item for the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) payments we will receive from the medical arts pavilion, so we increased this by $50,000.
“For the same reason, we increased the revenue line item for the cable franchise fees by $20,000. This gave us the $190,000 we needed to lower the municipal tax levy,” said Mayers.
“We did reduce the expenditures side by $20,000, but this actually had nothing to do with the tax levy,” Mayers explained. “We are anticipating receiving a recreational opportunities for individuals with disabilities (ROID) grant from the state, but we have not received it yet, so by law we have to remove it from the budget until we actually have a letter saying that the grant will be awarded. When we do receive that letter, we will amend the budget and add that line item back in.”
In addition, while the proposed capital budget remains $2.7 million, the introduced budget contemplates a 5 percent down payment of $171,900 for capital projects, whereas the original budget called for a 5 percent down payment of $139,369.
Said Mayers: “Because of the many storms we experienced over the winter, the township decided to accelerate the replacement of the municipal building roof. This capital project had not been included in the original budget. So we added $30,000 to the total capital down payment number, in order to include the down payment for the roof.”
In addition to the new roof, the proposed capital budget includes projects such as: road maintenance and repair; the purchase of public works equipment; and the purchase and maintenance of equipment and technology for various township departments.
The township committee will hold a public hearing on the budget at the committee meeting on Wednesday, April 9. If there are no issues or changes, the committee could also vote to approve the budget on that date.
