BRICK, NJ — The Brick Township Council approved the 2026 township budget in a split vote on Tuesday night, 4-3 along party lines.
The $127 million budget increases the municipal purposes tax rate 3.2 cents, equalling about $98 per year for a home assessed at the township's average. The tax rate will be 84.5 cents per $100 of assessed value under the new budget.
Republicans Lisa Reina, Gregory Cohen and Perry Albanese voted against the budget, criticizing the increase at a time when residents are faced with rising expenses across the board.
Democrats Steve Feinman, the council president; Derrick Ambrosino, Vince Minichino and Melissa Travers voted to approve the budget.
Reina and Cohen were critical of the amount of surplus used in the township's budget, saying it put the town in a precarious position if an emergency arises.
The township's budget uses $16,108,085 of the town's $19,072,528.88 current surplus, leaving $2,964,443.88, which is 2.3 percent of the town's budget.
Towns use surplus yearly as part of their budgeting, and carryover surplus balance varies based on actual expenses. It is created when actual expenses are less than what is budgeted for the year. At the end of each year, Brick Township transfers funds from departments that are under budget through a legally defined process that moves the money into surplus, creating the town's surplus balance for the following year.
Surplus also allows the town to adjust if something happens in the middle of the year that pushes expenses up unexpectedly.
Joanne Bergin, the town's business administrator, said that was the case with tipping fees for garbage at the Ocean County Landfill in Manchester, which she said jumped 15 percent with no notice.
New Jersey does not place a minimum requirement on municipal surplus and it does not cap the total amount of surplus a town can hold.
New Jersey law caps surplus balance in school district budgets at 2 percent.
Reina, who called the surplus historically low, said her concern was the amount of surplus Brick Township has been working with yearly has declined over the last several years, which she believes puts the town's credit rating at risk.
Cohen echoed those sentiments, and also criticized increases in several areas of the budget, including the police department, which came in under budget in 2025.
Cohen also contended the town's use of surplus put it at risk for a repeat of 2011, where the township had to ask voters for permission to exceed the then-brand new 2 percent cap on municipal expenditures to avoid laying off 172 employees, including 29 police officers, and privatizing garbage collection.
Articles from the time cite the 2 percent cap instituted under then-Gov. Chris Christie as the primary driver behind the referendum that increased taxes 24 percent when voters approved it. The council was controlled by the Republicans at the time and Republican Stephen Acropolis was mayor. Read more: A Week Before Referendum Vote, Anger and Angst at Council Meeting
That referendum set the stage for the Democrats to take over the township council and the mayor's seat, and the Republicans have been fighting ever since to regain control.
Ambrosino pushed back on the criticisms and accused the Republicans of voting against public safety by voting against the budget, drawing a sharp rebuke from Reina.
"Disagreeing with the budget is not the same as opposing essential services," Reina said in response. "Suggesting that fiscal scrutiny equals a lack of support for essential services is not only inaccurate it undermines honest public discourse."
The meeting can be watched below:
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