Borough Administrator Presents Proposed Municipal Budget Details to Public

Mike Kronyak, borough administrator and chief financial officer, gave a presentation on the 2011 proposed municipal budget prior to opening the public budget hearing Tuesday night where he went over details that led to the current 4.2 percent increase of the proposed $14,569,290 tax levy.

The tax levy is the portion of the overall budget which is funded by taxpayers.  The overall municipal budget proposed for 2011 is in the amount of $18,429,052.

He explained that the finance committee continues to meet every week and is prepared to make further recommendations to reduce the tax levy amount. He said they are considering everything including restructuring and reducing staff.  The budget is expected to be adopted sometime in May. If there are no changes made to the budget it will cost the average taxpayer about $152 a year based on the average home value of $436,000.

Kronyak attributes the tax levy increase to  several factors including loss of revenue and surplus and increase in health insurance and pension costs.  Revenues are down $220,711 or 5.4 percent. Last year anticipated surplus was around $1.2 million, Kronyak explained but for this year they have about $900,000. That $300,000 difference was a huge factor in itself, he said.

He explained that they are within all the budget caps including the state mandated 2 percent cap however the health insurance and pension costs which are not included in that state mandated cap attribute to the additional increase. Kronyak said health insurance went up $151,000 and pension costs which is a figure the borough receives from Trenton went up $215,000.

He told the audience that the borough also saw a $101,000 increase in sewer service charges which borough officials are investigating as they do not understand why the amount increased by 10 percent.

As for salaries, Kronyak explained part of the budget process is to calculate what is needed for each employee. Department heads submit request but employees do not get increases automatically and he stated that, in most cases, salaries have remained flat for the past three or four years.  The amount for police salaries went down due to a number of retirements of which those slots were not filled. Kronyak said there was a $70,000 increase towards the Department of Public Works salaries.

Debt service decreased by $77,000 and the borough has paid back $375,000 in bonds and $665,000 in notes. Kronyak explained that it is in the best interest to stay on top of debts and pay more than the minimum so the debt won’t become a future tax burden forcing the borough to increase in one huge chunk in order to pay debts. Decreasing debt by a few hundred thousand each year allows the borough to borrow when needed.

The borough saved $20,000 in sanitation landfill costs due to the success of the recycling program. For every ton that does not go into the landfill the borough saves $72 and Kronyak said that as more is recycled the amount of garbage decreases, saving the borough money.

Copies of the budget are available in the Borough Clerk’s office and are also available on the borough’s web site.