Township Council Postpones Budget Vote

The much-anticipated Montclair Township Council meeting Thursday night promised to be eventful — and it was.  

In response to an outpouring of public protest over the proposed 4.3 percent increase in the municipal tax levy, the township council surprised everyone when it voted unanimously to postpone the approval of the budget until next month. 

After the vote, cheers and applause rang out through the chambers. 

The council said it will reconvene on May 3, after it has had another chance to review the figures. 

Montclair residents presented a united front at the meeting, voicing their concerns that irresponsible fiscal spending would be disastrous for the town in the long run. Many residents expressed fear that they would have to move out of Montclair and that the town would lose its diversity and character if taxes were raised any further. The crowd of about 100 people filled the room to capacity and made some compelling points during the public session. 

Resident Wade Layton said, “What I see is a death spiral of real estate (in Montclair). The only thing that will stem that cycle is fiscal responsibility.” 

Michael O’Leary, a parent and Montclair real estate agent, agreed, “It’s frightening. I’ve lived in this town for 10 years. Our home, our property values are being confiscated as we speak. We’re looking at property taxes of 17-17.5%. For young families the answer is, ‘give the keys back to your bank’.” 

“I am willing to do with less,” resident Trudy Fraser told the council.  “We’ll take out our own garbage. We’ll sweep our streets. But go after the money! And bring it back home.” 

Before the public session, council members roundly expressed appreciation of the work being done by the Operating Budget Advisory Committee [OBAC], an advisory group appointed by the township council in December. Several members of OBAC, including Karen Turner, Laurence Kopp, and Brian Clarkson, addressed the council separately.

“Why are we giving contracts to people who we have legal disputes with? People who owe us money already?” Clarkson demanded. Applause followed his remark.

“You’ve got to get the budget under control,” said Kopp, who read out letters he’d received from residents: ‘The council’s job is to make right, not easy, decisions. You’re sitting on a goldmine of talent in this town. You need to figure out how to do more with less."

At the conclusion of the public forum, the council spoke.

“I wasn’t going to vote on a budget with an increase tonight,” said Councilor Rich Murnick. “In the past three months OBAC has come up with some great suggestions. The council hasn’t had a chance to discuss a lot of those points. We hope we can implement those things next year, if not this year.”

Councilor Baskerville said, “We have a lot of work to do. I’m not confident that we’ve done all that we can do.”

Baskerville, who stated at the beginning of the meeting that she objected to the timing of it (conflicting with Holy Week), went on to say, “I didn’t vote for the budget . . . we hope we can keep digging until we get this (tax increase) down to zero.”

The next township council budget meeting will take place on May 3.