Mayor revises Ewing budget

$2.2M cut from 2009 spending plan to keep tax rate flat
Saturday, September 20, 2008
BY ROBERT STERN

EWING -- Mayor Jack Ball wants to freeze the municipal tax rate at its current
level under a revised 2009 budget proposal that would slash about $2.2 million
from the original spending plan unveiled by his administration on Sept. 8.

In dollar terms, fire protection and prevention services would face the deepest
funding cuts as a result of the overhaul to the proposed budget, which would
keep the municipal tax rate flat at 91 cents per $100 of assessed value.

The fire companies would get $216,000 less than initially proposed; the uniform
fire prevention budget would be slashed by $163,000 to just $2,000; and
spending on the water lines that supply the township's hydrants would be
reduced by $350,000 from the $500,000 initially proposed.

The revised $43.59 million draft budget also strikes out all three new posts Ball
had planned in the less austere version and could mean that at least some
vacant positions on Ewing's payroll will not be filled, the mayor said.

"I've instructed my administration to take the knife to that (initially presented

$45.86 million) budget and cut it," Ball said.

The changes are meant to spare the taxpayers from facing what could have been
a 21-cent increase in the tax rate under the heftier budget he presented to the
council almost two weeks ago.

They also are intended to ensure that Ewing doesn't turn to the state again, as it
did before he was elected, for the type of extreme financial intervention under
which township government surrenders some local administrative control to the
state in exchange for special aid, Ball said.

"I am not going to have the state of New Jersey basically looking over my
shoulder and trying to run Ewing Township," he said.

"We tightened the belt across the board for me to do what's right for the
taxpayers," Ball said.

He added, however, that he hopes the council will work with him to try to restore
some of the proposed spending reductions by applying for extraordinary
municipal aid from the state that doesn't come with onerous oversight conditions.
Council President Bert Steinmann said the council wants to work out a
responsible budget that puts the taxpayers first but expressed reservations about
how achievable the mayor's plan is.

"They had months and months to prepare the original document and come up
with millions of dollars in tax increases," Steinmann said. "Now, lo and behold ...
days later we hear at a mayor's forum that he's proposing a zero (tax) increase
budget.

"I think at the end of the day, we can restore some funds and we'll have a more
realistic budget," Steinman said.

But he said it's his understanding that Ewing won't qualify for extraordinary state
aid if it doesn't increase taxes at all.

Both the revised and initial versions of the proposed 2009 budget are millions of
dollars less than the $48.8 million budget the township adopted for this year.

But under the revised proposal, the amount to be raised by taxes, which
originally had been slated to increase by almost $4 million, remains unchanged
from the $16.49 million levy set for the current fiscal year.

The revised budget proposal anticipates about $1.68 million more in nontax
revenue than had been presented in the original version. That includes $1 million
more arising from the outcome of a tax appeal and $765,600 more than initially
anticipated from the auction of township property.

Details about those line items were not available yesterday.

On the appropriations side, Ball said, "there's no question that the changes in this
budget will come with some pain."

Aside from less money for fire services, other reductions from the initial proposal
include $215,000 from salary adjustments, $150,000 from administration, about
$98,000 from health and human services and about $117,000 from insurance
appropriations.

Despite the widespread reductions, not every department faces the funding ax as
a result of the revisions.

The big winner would be the police department, which received a $475,000 boost
in proposed funding over the $8.22 million the earlier budget plan called for. The
public works department also gained $66,536 in proposed allocations.
Ball said the administration anticipates that the budget will be discussed during
Monday's agenda meeting of the township council and hopes for its introduction
the following night.

"Council already has it, and we did post it on (Ewing's) website," he said.

Staff writer Lisa Coryell contributed to this report. Contact Robert Stern at
rstern@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5731.