As in years past, township administrator Bob Sheehan sharpened his pencil and returned before the Plainsboro committee with a revised budget and a reduced tax increase.
Sheehan announced a municipal tax rate increase from 37.7 cents to 39 cents, for an increase of 1.28 cents, at the March 11 committee meeting. The introduced increase is down from the two cents increase proposed at the February 25 meeting. The municipal tax rate of 39 cents per $100 of assessed value represents an increase of $47 for the average Plainsboro home valued at $387,000. The budget will be introduced at a public hearing Wednesday, April 8.
“We’ve been successful in reducing the tax increase mostly through increasing anticipated revenue,” Sheehan says. “We’ve exhausted our comfort level with anticipated revenue.”
Miscellaneous 2015 revenues including hotel taxes and PILOT payments were revised upwards by $210,000 to $4.159 million. The biggest increase in the miscellaneous category was from the bond payment capital reserve: originally $205,000, the same as in 2014, the figure was revised to $370,000.
The total 2015 budget is $26.46 million, a 3.4 percent increase from 2014.
#b#Wicoff House Preservation Efforts.#/b# The township is exploring preservation plans for the Wicoff House and fundamental repairs could begin as soon as this year.
The architectural firm Clarke Caton Hintz, based in Trenton, presented to Committee an overview of the building’s condition and preservation priorities. The Plainsboro museum was located in the Wicoff House, built in 1875, but it has been closed since 2011 after the disbanding of the Plainsboro Historical Society. The house is located at the municipal center.
“It’s overall in pretty good to fair condition,” says Clarke Caton Hintz representative John Hatch, noting the HVAC system would require the most expensive renovation.
The preliminary preservation cost estimate: $105,000 for stabilizing the exterior and interior; $190,000 for restoring the exterior; and $1 million for restoring the two-floor interior.
Sheehan confirmed the township has provisioned $300,000 this year for stabilizing the interior and exterior, and for organizing the item collection.
Mayor Pete Cantu indicated support for a phased preservation approach that would first accomplish the objectives of stabilizing the Wicoff House exterior, reopening historical exhibits on the first floor, and improving the interior for use as a small-events venue. Renovations for the second floor could be dealt with later.
“I don’t see why there is a need to comprehensively address the building,” Cantu says.
The committee favored using the first floor primarily for exhibit space. Hatch also suggested the Wicoff House could have a mixed use, converting the second floor into office space that could be leased or used by the township.
According to Hatch, staff would probably be needed to manage the Wicoff House and coordinate museum programming, and he cautioned the committee on the costs.
“There are 14,000 historic house museums in the country, and they all struggle,” Hatch says.
In addition to building improvements, organizing and taking inventory of the 3,000-object collection was the other main objective. The Historical Society had previously started to inventory the archival materials in 2008, and Hatch suggested the public library as a suitable repository.
Ten percent of the objects were “really nice objects that should be displayed,” Hatch says, while half the objects should be moved to storage and the other 40 percent disposed of through sales or donations.
Cantu, a library board trustee, said further deliberation would be needed before deciding whether to send the collection to the library.
“It is a good direction to go,” Cantu says. “Whether the library is prepared or ready, that’s another question. The problem is you have to provide staffing and funding.”
Cantu added that a lot of private historical material from the township is available to add to any future organized collection.
#b#Dey Road Flooding.#/b# Recurring flooding on Dey Road, in particular the westbound side off of Petty Road and Orchardside Drive, has led to two road closings already this year.
Sheehan says Dey Road is a county road and the township is awaiting a response.
“About a year ago, I recognized the same pattern. The county did some drainage line clearance. We’ve seen it recur. We are going to need to focus our attention on that. Some parts are still farm fields, some of the roads are not designed to a high level in terms of drainage. The township can only apply pressure and make requests from the county. We’ll follow up on it and press the county to do anything they can.”
