Medford Township Council was met with applause from local residents at last week’s council meeting after announcing there would be no municipal tax increase in 2014.
Council passed a tentative budget of $19,995,721. After a pair of budget work sessions and hours of review, appropriation amounts for healthcare liability and debt service were reduced to allow for the flat tax levy.
Council is also looking to avoid large spikes in taxes by implementing a tax maintenance program beginning in 2015. The program would have 25 percent of Medford’s properties inspected each year by the tax assessor. The inspection will determine if a property needs its value readjusted. The new tax maintenance plan would help keep property values closer to fair market value than a periodic revaluation would.
“People have to understand there’s not going to be these drastic swings,” Councilman Jeff Beenstock said of the proposed assessment system.
Medford resident John Gimbel moved to Medford just prior to the township’s revaluation in 2011. He said he felt deceived after his tax bill was a few thousand dollars higher than what he was told when he bought his home in the Wingate section of the town.
“It was a big increase for us moving here, but it was comfortable,” Gimbel said. “Then it became uncomfortable.”
Gimbel’s story was used as an example of how the township’s proposed tax maintenance plan could help avoid large changes in residents’ tax bills.
Township manager Chris Schultz said the new program would cost about $50,000 annually. He said the cost would ultimately offset, citing Medford Township’s revaluation in 2011 cost about $800,000. Schultz also said the new system should help reduce tax appeals, saving the township more money in that department.
In other news:
• Two representatives from Goodwill in New Jersey spoke at the meeting about donation bins they say are deceiving residents in the township.
Mark Boyd, the president and CEO of Goodwill New Jersey, said clothing donation bins are popping up all over Medford Township and some are actually for-profit organizations.
Boyd said he wanted council to look at banning these donation bins from the township.
“Many municipalities in New Jersey have passed an outright ban on these donation bins,” he said.
Boyd said bins have been located everywhere from municipal parks to private businesses. Council seemed concerned about having these bins on township property, especially with the bins having no permits or identification.
“Nobody seems to know how they got on municipal property,” Schultz said.
Councilman Randy Pace was particularly adamant about the issue, saying the issue was originally brought to council in July of 2012. At the time, he counted 16 bins in the township and said seven of them had no legitimate contact information.
“My recommendation is to ban the bins in Medford Township, problem solved,” he said. “I’m not going to support anything except a ban on these outright.”
Buoni asked Schultz to ask organizations with bins on township property to remove them immediately. Council is expected to discuss possible legislation on donation bins in the near future.
• A new ordinance was introduced on first reading to update minimum and maximum wages for township employees. Schultz said the ordinance will establish a pay range for each position, meaning the ordinance will not have to be updated annually as it has been in past years.
• The next Medford Township council will be on Tuesday, April 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Public Safety Building.
