Also at its Monday meeting, council discussed SRO contracts, new recycling programs and affordable housing.
At its latest meeting, Gloucester Township Council approved a resolution introducing its 2018 budget municipal budget. The tentative budget is $61,893,753.69.
This year’s tentative tax rate is 1.091, which is a .079 increase from last year. The average assessed home is valued at $188,000, configuring an annual increase of $148.52 in municipal property taxes.
The budget has a tax levy increase of $3,464,367. The municipal rate will increase of 7.9 cents per every $100 of assessed property value. Township officials say that every one cent increase in the local municipal tax levy is equal to $439,380 in tax revenue for the township.
According to business administrator Tom Cardis, the increase is still $2,386,089 below the 2 percent tax levy cap and $1,292,000 below the appropriation cap.
The budget must to be approved within 28 days of introduction. A public hearing is scheduled for April 23.
Also at the meeting, council approved the execution of shared services agreements between the township and the Black Horse Pike Regional and Gloucester Township Public Schools boards of education to renew three-year contracts funding school resource officers in the 2018–2019 school year.
Each agreement costs the district about $300,000, according to council. Currently, there are three SROs designated to the 11 schools throughout the Gloucester Township district and two shared among the three Black Horse Pike Regional schools. There are also two drug-enforcement officers throughout both school districts.
The school boards still need to accept the contracts. Members of the community voiced concern over the contracts, saying the costs should be shared more between the township and school districts.
“I haven’t seen a more unfavorable, throughout various school districts in our area and throughout New Jersey in different SRO agrangements, I don’t know if I’ve seen a more unfavorable one for the school district,” resident Pete Heinbaugh said.
Heinbaugh says the township should pick up more of the costs, rather than charging each school district $300,000 for seven officers.
Other community members questioned the security effectiveness of three SROs among 11 schools in the Gloucester Township district.
The current three-year SRO contract, which ends in June, funds three officers who are based at the middle schools. However, as stated in the contract, these officers can go to other schools outside of the district, but other law enforcement must cover in their absences, according to Council President Orlando Mercado.
In other news:
• Community members also questioned if there are costs related to the resolution authorizing the 12-month pilot program of “Curb My Clutter, LLC,” which helps municipalities optimize the collection of certain recyclable items.
The program is a zero-cost to the township, according to Cardis.
“In fact, it represents savings to the township,” he said. “Statically speaking, it was explained to the township that 85 percent of the clothes that homeowners get rid of end up in a landfill at $60 per ton.”
Carids said this program provides a mechanism for people to schedule a time for clothes to be picked up at their houses, rectifying savings to the township.
Depending upon the success of the 12-month pilot, the township may continue the program.
• Council also passed two resolutions approving the township’s applications for two $25,000 open space grants from the county. The grant applications include a recreation facility enhancement project for Wye Oak Park and a recreation enhancement project for Cobblestone Park.
• Community members also voiced concerns about the township’s preservation of open space, as Glen Oaks resident Mary Matricciano questioned the township’s high-density development projects, including the potential 72-unit complex that includes 11 affordable housing units on Chews Landing zone.
Matricciano mentioned The Colony on Chews Landing, which has more than 55 apartments. The land adjacent to this complex is where the affordable housing will be built, pending both the zoning board and councils improvements.
“That’s like 150 apartments in a pretty condensed area,” she said. “I hope (the township) doesn’t take every available open space, because open space is important to a lot of us.”
Mercado said that recently a development near Little Pond Golf Center, which included up to 200 units, was denied by the planning board.
Although the project was denied, private lands are often subject to the owner.
‘There’s only so many things a township can do when it’s a private parcel,” he said. “If it meets zoning, planning, ordinance land use laws, that’s something that the township would have to adhere to.”
However, since Gloucester Township has entered into an agreement with the Fair Share Housing Center, the Chews Landing development, which is on private land, is part of the township’s constitutional obligation through the township’s Affordable Housing Element.
The particular ground that Matricciano mentioned was always part of the township’s second and third round COAH proposals, according to township solicitor David Carlamere.
“To meet the township’s all over plan for the whole community, we have a certain number that we have to meet by 2025,” he said.
He says this number is about 1,014, which includes the 11 on Chews Landing Road.
Mercado encouraged the public to attend the March 27 planning board meeting, which was scheduled to discuss the development in detail.
“I like this township. I like the open space,” Matricciano said. “I like driving down Chews Landing Road. It’s just a pleasure.”
