The Moorestown Council approved the 2014 budget at its June 9 meeting, and residents will be happy to know that the budget does not come with a tax increase.
“I am very pleased we were able to approve the budget without raising taxes,” council member Victoria Napolitano said. “In speaking with the public, that seemed to be the most important thing for them.”
The $23.6 million budget includes about $16 million that will be raised by taxation. This means a Moorestown resident will pay about $1,800 annually in municipal taxes for a home assessed at $445,300.
The 2014 budget is the result of a lot of hard work, according to Napolitano.
“We have tossed around a lot of ideas in this past year to make this budget work without having to raise taxes,” Napolitano said. “Some of the ideas worked and some did not, but the end result was exactly what we wanted.”
One of those ideas was the privatization of trash services. Napolitano said this was the most impactful idea the council came up with during the past year. While it wasn’t the only idea that helped the council create a budget that did not require a tax increase, it had a huge impact.
“The trash privatization is the kind of idea that can have a profound impact on a community,” Napolitano said. “It’s important to keep the citizens in mind when we’re planning a budget, and this idea was the one we thought would help them the most.”
And while the 2014 budget has been approved, Napolitano sees that it is time to start thinking about next year already.
“Now that we’re done with this year’s budget, we have to start thinking about how to make this happen for the residents again next year,” she said. “This is such an important issue to residents, so we have to do all we can to make sure we can be in this same position again next year. In order to do that, we have to start formulating a plan now.”
Napolitano expects that the council will need to come up with an entirely new set of ideas, but is confident it will succeed in formulating another budget without tax increases.
In other news:
· The council discussed repairs that will need to be made at Strawbridge Lake Dam. The repairs will be discussed further before any action is taken.
· The council discussed the authorization for a sixth liquor license bid.
· Kevin Flannery and Cassidy Reid received Eagle Scout Awards.
· The next meeting will take place on June 23 at the new Town Hall at 111 W. Second St.
