Lacey Township Committee Approves Introduction of 2013 Municipal Budget

Lacey residents with a home assessed at the township average of $316,000 will pay an extra $79 a year in municipal taxes, according to the preliminary municipal budget.

"We take it very seriously," Mayor David Most said at the April 25 Township Committee meeting. "We are very frugal."

The municipal purposes tax rate will rise to 25.3 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation, up from 22.7 in 2012.

Township Committee unanimously approved the introduction of the $28,406,708 budget, up from $26,525,171 from 2012. The amount to be raised by taxation is $10,797,861, up from $9,767,233 last year, according to figures provided by Chief Financial Officer Adrian Fanning.

The primary reasons for the increases are a $425,000 jump in health benefits costs - a 16 percent increase over last year - and $481,000 in tax appeals, Fanning said Friday.

The township's health insurance carrier is Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield. The township switched to a private carrier from the state health insurance plan two years ago. The move has saved a net of $180,000 over the past two years.

"Had we stayed in the state health plan, we were looking at a 21 percent increase," Fanning said.

Although township department heads had requested $3.9 million in the capital improvements budget, Township Committee members sliced that to $1.9 milllion, he said.

"It's just a question of saying no," Fanning said.

The township is using $3.6 million in surplus, the same amount as 2012. That leaves a cushion of $254,235. But Fanning expects the $3.6 million to be made up over the course of the year.

The budget is within both the state-mandated two percent cap on the tax levy and the cap on appropriations, he said.

The public hearing on the budget is slated for 7 p.m. on May 23.

Fanning said that while the numbers could still change before the public hearing. But he doubts they will, given the amount of time Township Committee member have spent reviewing the budget.

Most stressed that the bulk of the overall tax rate - which includes schools and the county - comes from the school tax rate.

"We can't control the schools," he said at the meeting.

Residents with homes assessed at the township average will pay an additional $235 in school taxes this year, he said.