By ROBERT LINNEHAN
An early draft of the 2011 township budget suggests an increase of almost 2.2-cents the local purpose tax rate. Thanks for the hard work, said Mayor Randy Brown, but that’s not good enough.
Brown thanked Township Manager Tom Czerniecki for his hard work on crafting the very early version of the budget, but asked him to go back and work on the document to reduce the tax rate for Marlton taxpayers.
If the township receives no FEMA funding for the snowstorms this year, Brown said the tax rate increase will likely be in the 1-cent range. The township spent more than $350,000 this year in snow removal costs than the last winter season.
An increase of 2.2-cents for the averaged assessed homeowner in town would mean an extra $65 in local purpose taxes. With the current rate, an average homeowner pays $1,035 for the township portion of the tax bill.
Czerniecki actually presented a township budget that is $500,000 less than last years. The proposed budget is $32,480,000 for this year, as opposed to last year’s $32,977,000, Czerniecki said.
Yet, despite a $500,000 reduction in the overall budget, it still includes a tax increase. Brown said this is not a problem that resides in the township, but at the state level.
“I must point out that we are $1.4 million less in state aid than when I took over in 2007. Funding was consistent from 2000 to 2007, but it’s been decreasing ever since,” Brown said. “If we were still getting that $1.4 million in state aid this year, we’d be able to give our residents actual tax decreases in the budget.”
Czerniecki said it’s his goal to have the township council vote on the budget by May.
