By MELISSA DIPENTO
Mt. Laurel Township Manager Jennifer Blumenthal presented a plan to show members of council and residents what services would be cut should council stay under the mandated 2 percent tax cap, or the referendum is applied and it fails, at last week’s special budget meeting.
Blumenthal said the township is facing about a $3.3 million budget deficit. The township is considering using the referendum, which would allow the question to be put out to voters on whether or not they would allow the township to exceed the 2 percent cap.
“Over the last year and a half we did a lot of initiatives to address the budget issue and these included very significant decreases in our salary and wages, including reduction of department head salaries, eliminated over 20 positions within in the township, rescheduled employee scheduling and renegotiated contracts. There were significant decreases in salary and wages,” Blumenthal said.
“Revenues have gone down. Over the years, the township has relied heavily on using surplus and deferred school tax to balance the budget. Moving forward, we only have a little bit further we can go with efficiencies, so we have to move into service cuts.”
To raise the $3.3 million solely through the taxpayers, taxes would be raised by about 16 percent per homeowner, Blumenthal said. Township Auditor Robert Marrone said a 16 percent increase would cost residents with an assessed home value of approximately $180,000 an additional $226 in taxes this year.
Earlier in the month, Mayor Jim Keenan asked the manager to prepare a budget at the 2 percent cap, showing which services would need to be cut. At the meeting, Blumenthal outlined a detailed plan of personnel and services that would be cut, should the referendum be applied and voted down.
“Anything that we’re implementing, if the referendum gets voted down, has to be done immediately. So first going over services that we can eliminate, we’re eliminating the ones that have the least effect on the community and also things we can implement by the May 6 date,” Blumenthal said.
First, Blumenthal discussed the potential reductions in the police force.
Blumenthal said proactive policing would essentially be eliminated.
“A lot of the proactive policing would end. This would include bike patrols and addressing isolated residents’ concerns that are not emergencies. We would end neighborhood watches. We would eliminate the school officer and also the community safety officer. Police would no longer be able to attend the community events in town,” Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal said the following would also be cut: Homeowners associations, school festivals, domestic violence work groups, safety presentations for the community and the Burlington County Festival.
Non-violent crime investigations would also be cut, including proactive policing for investigations on burglaries, narcotics and prostitution.
“Not having this kind of policing would most likely cause these crimes to go up in the community,” Blumenthal added.
Blumenthal said police response times would likely increase.
“Certain calls will be reduced. This includes burglar alarms, EMS calls, house checks, vehicle lockouts, motor vehicle accidents, and also traffic enforcement will be reduced. This includes various speed reduction enforcement around town, DUIs, traffic surveys, which we use to determine traffic lights around town and parking enforcements,” Blumenthal said.
The next reduction in the proposal calls for the closing of the Senior/Community Center.
“This would eliminate all senior services, health access, transportation we provide to the seniors, including grocery shopping and medical appointments,” Blumenthal said. “The meeting facility would also be eliminated. There are various groups around town that use the meeting facility on a consistent basis. We wouldn’t have any events.”
Blumenthal also recommended that the township eliminate all crossing guards and close all sports fields at dusk to save money on lighting.
Blumenthal also recommended transferring the library to the county system.
Council discussed other cost-saving options such as residents paying for their own trash costs and moving the EMS to the county system.
“If the referendum gets voted down, I believe we’ll be in the same place next year. We’ll just chisel away at services because we wont really be addressing our revenue issue,” Blumenthal said. “So if the referendum is voted down, I’ll be meeting immediately with the department heads to start working on other larger service reductions for the township that would start later this year or next year at this time.”
Should layoffs occur, they would be implemented on May 9. The last day of work for those employees would be May 6.
