Committee member Kimberly Brown voted “no” to the presented budget at last week’s meeting.
At last week’s meeting, the Tabernacle Township Committee presented the final budget, including decreases as discussed during April’s meeting. Committee Member Kimberly Brown was the sole vote of opposition on this resolution, putting a halt in moving forward to a public hearing for the budget.
The budget reductions presented were to take $40,000 out of the capital improvement fund, $10,000 from workers compensation insurance due to Tabernacle Rescue Squad’s offer to pay for its insurance coverage, $5,000 from garbage and trash removal, $10,000 from public buildings and grounds, $6,000 from fire department expenses and $23,000 from aid to volunteer ambulance companies.
At last month’s meeting, it was discussed for there to be a $5,000 decrease in the aid to the ambulance companies, taking the aid from $35,000 to $30,000. This made the now $23,000 decrease come as a shock to some, leaving $12,000 in squad funds.
Brown was concerned the decrease would result in residents being balanced billed, and therefore voted “no” to the resolution.
Since Mayor Joseph Barton and committee member Richard Franzen were not present at the meeting, Brown’s vote left the committee at a standstill. In order to pass a budget, there needs to be a majority of the full committee in agreement.
“Being the ‘no’ vote, you know what my concern is,” Brown said to the committee. “My concern is having the residents balance billed.”
Deputy Mayor Stephen Lee said shortly after, “I think if we’re going to handcuff the whole budget over an ambulance service, I think it’s irresponsible. What do we need to do? I don’t know what to do next.”
Tabernacle resident Stephen Cramer spoke to the committee and said, “It felt emotional tonight from that end of the table, it feels like you’re going after the squad because you’re angry about something or somebody, or you’re not happy with the service that’s been provided.”
Cramer went on to say, “I listened to the discussion last month, I thought the discussion of the committee was good. I understand where you started, I saw where you ended, I thought you made the right decision. I don’t know what happened between that meeting and this meeting where we went from 30 [thousand dollars] to 12 [thousand dollars].”
No modifications will be made without the full committee. The committee is anticipating to hold a meeting on June 4 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss further action.
In March, when the committee introduced the budget, the proposed budget was $4.3 million. As originally introduced, the budget would have increased the municipal tax rate by one cent to 43.2 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation.
That increase would have raised municipal taxes by $26 for a Tabernacle resident with a home valued at the averaged assessed value of $263,744.
According to the 2017 tax information, if the most current budget was passed, there would be no tax increase and the municipal tax rate would have stayed at 42.2 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation.
In other news:
● Robert C. Sunbury was appointed emergency management coordinator/JIF safety coordinator.
● State Sen. Chris Connors is going to reach out to state Department of Transportation to discuss the possibility of receiving a discretionary grant to continue paving Carranza Road for the 2018 Road Program.
