A Tale of Two Referendums

One referendum approval proved enough for Brick residents Wednesday.

A question asking voters to approve $8.6 million in spending above a state-mandated 2 percent expenditure cap narrowly passed muster with township voters, but the school tax levy question on the same ballot was rejected by a similarly narrow margin.

In all, according to unofficial results from the Ocean County Clerk’s Office, 8,585 people voted in favor of allowing the township to exceed the cap by 12.69 percent. Those opposing the referendum numbered 8,107, a 478 vote difference.

In the matter of the school tax levy, 8,800 voters supported the Board of Education’s proposed budget, while 9,481 voters rejected it.

According to the clerk’s vote count, 16,692 people voted one way or another in the municipal cap referendum questions while 18,281 voted in the school tax levy question – a difference of 1,589 voters.

“I think the winner in all of this is democracy,” said Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis, when asked his reaction to Wednesday’s results on the municipal cap referendum. “This is exactly what the governor and the Legislature wanted when they passed this law — putting the vote in the hands of the people who have to live it every day.

“We were ready to do whatever the voters wanted us to do, and we just went that route.”

As for the school tax levy, it will now go before the township council for a review, where council members can decide to cut the budget or leave it as it was proposed. As proposed, the spending plan would have raised taxes by an average of $55.58 for the owner of a home valued at $330,000, the township’s average.

The municipal tax levy referendum, which was approved, will result in a tax hike of about $441 for the average homeowner. The passage of the municipal referendum means the township will continue to provide all of its current services, including garbage collection, as well as maintain current police staffing levels. Had the referendum failed, township officials said they would have had to lay off as many as 172 employees and eliminate public garbage and recycling collection, as well as the jobs of 29 police officers and other township personnel and programs.