Brick Patch Provides Live Updates During Budget Meeting

Brick Patch will use this space during Tuesday's Township Council meeting to provide live updates on Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis' municipal budget presentation.

UPDATE 10:15: Correction. Looks like $8.4 million on referendum. Remaining $300K within cap.

UPDATE 9:52: Public comment in session. Mostly questions on specific numbers. Deputy Admin said situation still fluid and more numbers would be available when the budget is adopted in two weeks. Did learn ballot question may ask for $8.7 million. Will ask some more questions and get some more specifics after the meeting.

UPDATE 8:05: Presentation over. Public comment on budget will come later in the meeting. We'll have reaction and more numbers in a full story later.

UPDATE 8:01: Average property tax increase if referendum passes would be an additional $30/mo. Acropolis said survey shows private trash collection would cost $40/mo on average.

UPDATE 7:53: Average tax bill if referendum passes will be $6,207. Standing by for more numbers.

7:34 UPDATE: Acropolis: If not for state aid cuts over last three years totaling $5.65 million there would be no need for referendum. Still waiting on exact numbers.

7:22 UPDATE: Presentation starting now. Titled "The New Normal" on PowerPoint screen.

7:09 UPDATE: Meeting just starting. A few pieces of business to get through before the budget presentation. Hang tight for a few!

~

The budget presentation will include details on the total amount of the township's operating budget, the tax rate, potential tax increases and more details on which services will remain or be eliminated under the spending plan.

Check back here during the meeting for updates. A full-length, traditional article on the budget will be posted after the meeting has ended.

For residents planning on attending the meeting, Brick Patch has prepared a pre-meeting fact sheet which may make things more clear when they are discussed.

What's Happening?: There are many forms and types of municipal government structures in New Jersey. Under Brick's, the mayor serves as an executive and prepares an annual budget presentation for the council, which serves as a policymaking body. At Tuesday evening's meeting, Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis will present his budget to the Township Council. The meeting will include a presentation of the budget, but according to the agenda, not the formal adoption of the budget. According to the state Department of Community Affairs, the council must adopt a budget by April 7.

What About the Referendum?: Though the mayor and some members of the Township Council have said a referendum is planned, a specific ballot question has yet to be approved by the council. The potential question would appear alongside the school tax levy question on the April 27 school election ballot, though municipal and school budgets remain autonomous and are managed by two different governing bodies – the Township Council and the school board, respectively.

A potential referendum would allow the township to exceed a 2 percent cap on expenditures and tax levy increases under a new law that was the result of a compromise between Gov. Chris Christie and the state Legislature last summer. The township will be allowed to ask residents to allow a specific tax levy to be approved in a ballot question; township officials are not allowed to place multiple questions on the ballot to fund specific services, such as trash pickup or to maintain current police staff levels.

On March 7, the township filed a resolution with the state Department of Community Affairs and the county authorizing the advertisement of the availability of mail-in ballots for a referendum question. However, that filing was largely a formality and did not detail the tax levy the governing body could seek in its ballot question.

So, What Happens Next?: The township council has until April 7 to adopt a budget for the year. That same date is the deadline for the township to submit the levy cap referendum question, the amount by which the question asks voters to exceed the cap, as well as a tightly-regulated explanatory statement to Ocean County Clerk Scott M. Colabella. The adopted budget must be published in newspapers by April 15. The potential referendum would be decided by voters April 27.

By May 13, the township council must adopt, with cap referendum, its final budget. If the cap referendum fails to garner a simple majority of voter support, the budget for the year would revert to the original budget adopted by the council which remains under the 2 percent cap.