Brick Council Adopts 2018 Budget With 2.7 Percent Tax Increase

BRICK, NJ — The Brick Township Council adopted the 2018 municipal budget Tuesday night with a 2.7 percent increase in the municipal purposes tax rate.

The rate is increasing from 68.5 cents per $100 of assessed value to 70.4 cents. For a home assessed at $300,000, it amounts to an increase of $57 for the year.

The total budget is $100,978,885.03, with a total municipal purposes tax levy of $72,615,350.13. That includes increases in salaries, the result of new hires to replace some retirements and some overlap to allow for training and increases in the cost of health insurance. It also reflects a $1 million decrease in revenue as the township is not receiving a $1 million gift from the Brick Township MUA this year.

Paul Mummolo, liaison to the Brick MUA, and Business Administrator Joanne Bergin said the MUA had told the township last year that it would not be able to provide that money because it was working on a $20 million capital improvement plan that includes putting in a new filtration system. (RELATED: Brick MUA Upgrading Filtration At Water Treatment Plant)

The budget also included what one resident labeled "astronomical" costs for water, though Bergin said she is focused on getting a permit that will allow the township to use well water to irrigate its parks in the hope of reducing that number.

The increase in the tax rate did not sit well with some residents, who felt the salary increases in particular were unreasonable.

"You padded this with so many new employees it's ridiculous," said Nan Coll of Greenbriar I, who has been urging the council to return to a meeting format that has caucus meetings one week, where matters are discussed, and business meetings, where action is taken separately. That format was abandoned in Brick and most towns in Ocean County a number of years ago.

"I will never be happy with an increase or even with a flat rate," said Vic Fanelli, a frequent critic of the council. "The only way I will be happy is with a decrease."

Brick Township's tax rate did decrease in 2017, its first decrease in roughly 30 years; the rate was 69 cents per $100 of assessed value in 2016.

Council President Heather deJong said, in introducing the budget, that it has risen just over $2 million since 2013, the final year under the administration of Mayor Stephen Acropolis. The 2013 budget audit notes the final appropriations total for 2013 was $109,704,146, a figure that included $$9,960,00 in money spent on Superstorm Sandy recovery. Without the Sandy appropriation, the 2013 budget expenditures totaled $99,744,146, according to the audit.

The 2018 budget was amended by the council shortly after it was adopted to add in grant funding the township has received — funding that not only went in as a revenue but also went into the appropriations column as money to be spent. The grant funding is tied to specific purposes and cannot be spent on general budget needs, however, deJong said.

George Scott, another township resident, urged the council to consider using more of its surplus to offset the loss of the MUA funding, but Chief Financial Officer Maureen Laffey-Berg said cutting into the surplus further is a risky move that could come back to haunt the town.

"I'm not only budgeting for this year but for next year and the following year," she said.

Photo via Brick Township Council meeting video