Budget Introduction Postponed Until Friday

Township officials had planned to introduce Barnegat's 2011 budget at Monday night's Committee meeting, but lingering uncertainty about the impact of the township's reserve for uncollected taxes has sent them back to the drawing board, pushing a planned budget presentation to Friday.

The township draws on the reserve fund when tax bills fail to pay for the entire tax levy because of appeals from residents, Administrator David Breeden explained. A reserve is required to make sure the township can pay all its bills, even when residents don't pay their taxes.

Barnegat requires a large reserve, he said – in 2010 it was about $1.6 million, or about 7 percent of the budget.

Breeden said a new state law has led to some changes in the effect of the reserve on the municipal budget, and those changes weren’t taken into account in drawing up the plan the Committee intended to introduce Monday. As a result, some last-minute adjustments are necessary, he said.

“I don’t want to miscalculate a large reserve that will cost taxpayers money,” Breeden explained.

Mayor Jeffrey Melchiondo said a Friday meeting was necessary because the budget must be introduced before June 1, and the township has to advertise the meeting in advance.

But some residents were frustrated that the budget presentation had been pushed back for a second time this month – this time to the Friday before Memorial Day weekend.

“Most townships have already had their budget approved,” said Marianne Clementi, pointing out that the 2010 budget wasn’t approved until last November. “Why do we have so much trouble getting it out to people?”

 The Committee will introduce the budget and offer a PowerPoint presentation at 3 p.m. Friday in the municipal courtroom.