Municipal Budget Adopted... Finally

The Borough Council both amended and adopted the 2010 municipal budget at Monday's meeting, more than five months after the first public budget work session and almost exactly two months after it was introduced.

The budget hearing was a month ago, held on June 28. At that time, it was known that the state was about two weeks behind its revision reviews this year, and that it would then take another two weeks to adopt the budget. So, the time period was as expected.

What wasn't expected at first this year was that Gov. Chris Christie would reduce state aid to municipalities, and specifically $227,383 to Madison, on St. Patrick's Day. That, coupled with the uncertainty leading up to the decision in Trenton, hampered the movement of this year's budget process.

"This process actually started in July of last year," Borough Administrator Ray Codey said at the time the budget was introduced. "So it's kind of hard to talk about 2010 when you are late in May and you started the process last July, but that's where we are."

Board of Education Vice President Pat Rowe addressed the speed of the budget process looming in 2011 during the public comment portion of Monday night's meeting

"I was wondering when the council was going to start to really take a hard look at the unique challenge–I think Mayor (Mary-Anna) Holden acknowledged there may be about a $2.5 million gap between anticipated revenue next year and what the expenses are going to be," Rowe said.

Holden responded by saying they borough is already looking at those numbers.

"Mr. (Borough CFO Robert) Kalafut is here this evening," Holden said. "As he has repeatedly stated throughout the year, this is a dynamic process. We have created a budget. We already have begun working with department heads with next year's budget. "

The budget for 2011 will also be effected by the new 2 percent property tax levy cap the state approved recently. But this year's budget is still not without a little uncertainty, at least as far as how the budgeted amount in one department will be implemented.

On May 18, attorney Donald B. Ross, Jr., on behalf of the PBA of Madison Local 92, filed a petition to initiate compulsory interest arbitration. Salary was one of nine issues listed as in dispute in arbitration documents. The municipal budget contains a zero percent raise for all municipal employees.

Codey has already said that if a department went to arbitration and won, the budget amount handed to those departments would still be what is listed in what is now the introduced budget. This means that the department would be responsible for taking that budget amount and applying it as it saw fit, which would include reductions and possibly layoffs in order to get to that number.

In shear numbers, the budget was very minimally changed upon review by the state. Madison's auditor Dave Evans, who works for Nisivoccia & Company, said that every third year municipalities need to have their budget reviewed by the state, this year being Madison's turn.

"The review initially was concluded about two weeks ago," Evans said. "You have an amendment before you that has a couple of technical adjustments, which adjusts the tax levy one tenth of a tax point."

According to the council during the budget introduction, the property tax increase on the average home in Madison, assessed at $409,500, is $438.29. Assessed value and market value are different, as the average market value of a home in Madison is $720,950.

The budget was amended and adopted by a 5-0 vote. Councilman Dr. Vincent Esposito was coming home from vacation and could not make the meeting. No public comments regarding the budget were allowed on Monday before the vote because the hearing had already taken place. No residents came forward to discuss the budget in the open public comments portion at the end of the meeting.