Fresh off a contentious meeting over roadway lane configurations, Council members took another bite out of a more familiar apple: the municipal budget.
The public hearing for the 2016 budget at the April 18 meeting featured partisan divisions once again, as a majority of Council led by president Linda Geevers and vice president Hemant Marathe approved three last-minute amendments to the budget. Council members Alison Miller and Ayesha Hamilton opposed the cuts, but Geevers, Marathe, and Peter Mendonez had the votes needed to muscle through their desired changes.
Ultimately total budget expenses were reduced by $30,000 to $38,963,000. Coupled with an increase of $200,000 in anticipated uniform construction code (UCC) fee revenue, this reduced the needed municipal tax levy by $230,000 to $23,364,274. The 2016 municipal tax rate will increase by one cent to 39 cents per $100 of assessed value. For the average West Windsor residential assessment of $522,601, the municipal tax bill is $2,038, and Council’s amendments represent a savings of roughly $25 compared to the previously introduced 1.5 cent increase. (Municipal taxes account for roughly 15 percent of a resident’s total property tax bill.)
As in years prior under former Council president Bryan Maher, the dispute was a tale of two budgeting philosophies. Mayor Shing-fu Hsueh and his administration deliberately underanticipate revenues and overanticipate expenses, an approach designed to generate a year-end surplus that in turn replenishes the township’s fund balance. At the beginning of the next year the majority of the fund balance is then allocated as revenue to pay for roughly 14 percent of the next year’s budget.
The mayor advocates maintaining a fund balance amount approaching 20 percent of the total budget. Township CFO Joanne Louth presented the 2016 budget to Council and showed a nearly $2 million fund balance decline since 2008. The fund balance at the start of 2016 was $6.3 million.
Council member Marathe said a policy of having a fund balance that is 20 percent of the budget “makes no sense at all.”
Referring to the 2015 budget surplus, Marathe added: “On a $38 million budget, you’re missing the number by $4.8 million.”
While the mayor’s approach avoids drawing down the fund balance to cover expense increases, members of Council argue the mayor’s approach is too conservative in its revenue estimates. Increasing the anticipated revenue reduces the municipal levy, and the mayor’s opponents argue the township will still be in good shape even if yearly fund balance deficits arise.
The first change to the budget reduced legal service expenses by $10,000 to $270,000. Miller objected to the cut, as the $10,000 was paid for by reductions in other expenses. Hamilton asked if the $10,000 would be returned to its previous allocations, to which she received no response.
Geevers made a motion, Mendonez seconded the motion, and the two Council members plus Marathe voted 3-2 to approve the budget amendment.
Marathe made the next motion, seconded by Mendonez, to reduce gasoline expenses by $20,000 to $260,000. Geevers cited low fuel prices and how $260,000 in expected expenses is significantly higher than last year’s actual expenses. The amendment also passed 3-2. Mendonez had also proposed an amendment to reduce anticipated gasoline expenses by $50,000 but it was dropped because a 10 percent change in expenses at a public hearing would require a public notice.
Mendonez made motion for the final budget amendment, which raised the anticipated UCC revenue from $1 million to $1.2 million. He said he has long argued for a higher anticipation and cited last year’s realized UCC revenue of $1.7 million, which exceeded the anticipated figure by more than $700,000. (The surplus goes to the fund balance). The motion passed 3-2.
Before the public hearing Louth advised against increasing the anticipated UCC revenues for 2016. She attributed last year’s juicy UCC revenue figures to one-time big projects, most notably the new NRG headquarters in Carnegie Center, that will not be repeated in 2016.
She also warned against overanticipating revenue because a shortfall would be a line-item deficit and also handicap revenue anticipation next year.
“We don’t produce widgets; we service a community when they come in for service,” Louth said. “If you have a $175,000 shortfall, your hands will be tied next year. It’ll be a $350,000 impact in next year’s budget.”
Both Hamilton and Miller vigorously protested the three amendments, questioning the purpose of the previous budget work sessions if the three other Council members were going to make changes at the last available opportunity anyway.
“What is all the point of all the work sessions if there’s going to be this 11th hour crap?” said Hamilton, calling into question the word of her colleagues.
Added Hamilton: “I will never again assume once we have a consensus that it stays a consensus. Did we not discuss these exact line items?”
Geevers said there was consensus when the budget was introduced at the March 21 meeting, but Council members had the right to make changes.
“The introduction of the budget is a moment in time when we introduced to get reaction from the public,” Geevers said.
In response Miller said: “It is your right to change your mind, and it is your right to listen to the public. You are the leader, you must follow them, as a Mel Brooks movie had it. But I think we should be making these decisions when, if somebody wants to research an assertion, there’s time to do it. I regret that we’re doing it now, so I’m going to comment that fuel prices aren’t staying as low as they have been.”
Council ultimately voted 4-1 to adopt the amended budget, with Hamilton voting no. A resigned Miller voted yes alongside her Republican colleagues.
Hamilton asked what the average household savings were in the wake the amended budget, and said, “$25 won’t make a difference in your retirement, but it has a very different effect on township finances.”
Residents John Church and Marshall Lerner sat through the meeting and expressed support for Council’s actions to provide tax relief.
Another resident, Paul Pitluck, also sat through the meeting and said, “Why are we arguing over these pennies when we want to make our community the best community possible, which it is now? When will you complain about school taxes, which take up the lion’s share of tax dollars?”
Before amending the budget Council passed the cap bank ordinance, 4-1. Mendonez voted no. Last year Council opposed a cap bank, which allows the township to exceed two percent budget increase limits mandated by the state. In other words, the township can utilize any amount of a given year’s cap bank to increase the total allowable budget appropriation.
This year’s approved cap bank of $938,000 represents 3.5 percent of budget appropriations, the maximum allowed by the state this year: $371,000 in cap bank applies to this year’s budget, and the remaining $567,000 in cap bank is retained for future use for the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years.
An ordinance for an open space land swap between the township and the Mercer County Park Commission was introduced, with a public hearing set for the Monday, May 2, Council meeting. The township will receive a 34.8-acre parcel on Conover Road that the township already leases for recreational uses, and in exchange the township will give a four-acre parcel at 1260 Windsor-Edinburg Road. The tract is adjacent to the County’s Assunpink Creek greenway.
Council approved fireworks displays in Mercer County Park for the Freedom Fest on Saturday, June 25, and the Symphony Concert on Sunday, June 26. Miller called two consecutive days of fireworks “a bit much” for the West Windsor residents residing near the park. She asked if the township could limit the length of the fireworks or control the start time. While Council members discussed the prospect of voting down the resolution, the township attorney advised that Council could only vote it down for reasons of safety.
Council also approved a $149,000 contract with Carr and Duff for the replacement generator for the municipal building; and a $124,400 contract with ACT Engineers for remedial investigation of the township bus garage on Wallace Road. Ted Begun was reappointed to the Site Plan Review Advisory Board.
#b#Doctor’s Orders:#/b# Residents have two opportunities to dispose of expired and unwanted prescription drugs. On Saturday, April 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Plainsboro police department will host a collection site. The West Windsor police department will host their own collection site Saturday, May 7 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Both police departments also have 24-7 disposal boxes.
