Moorestown Council Adopts $24.4 Million Budget

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Moorestown residents can expect a slight decrease in taxes after council unanimously approved its proposed $24,350,000 budget during its meeting Monday night, July 10, at town hall.

This represents an increase of $453,000 (1.90 percent) over last year’s budget, but due to an increase in ratables, taxpayers would see a tax rate decrease of 0.25 percent.

The owner of the average Moorestown home valued at $448,000 would pay $1,832 in total local purpose taxes, including both municipal and library taxes. The township’s Utility Budget is $11,085,000 this year.

The budget received praise from residents, including resident Ed Begg, who noted the contrast between Moorestown and the work being done in both Washington, D.C. and Trenton.

“Maybe we should bottle some of the water we have down here in Moorestown and send it up to Trenton,” Begg said.

This is the first budget Tom Merchel has assembled while filling the dual roles of manager and CFO. Merchel was named Township Manager on Jan. 23, about a week after council held a special meeting to accept former manager Scott Carew’s resignation.

In this light, Councilwoman Victoria Napolitano thanked Merchel for his efforts putting together the budget while serving both roles.

"We're doing everything we can at the municipal level," Napolitano said, echoing Begg's comments by calling for more of the same at the federal and state levels, and from the board of education.

Deputy Mayor Stacey Jordan also echoed those comments, saying others should take heed of what is happening in Moorestown.

"You can do it if you work together," Jordan said.

The budget approval followed council’s acceptance of the audit, which featured no corrective action plan. Merchel noted it’s the 11th consecutive year the township has had a clean audit.

He noted that the township began last year with a fund balance of about $7.6 million and ended with about $5.5 million.

“This is because of the temporary (water) treatments and because we had to buy extra water last year,” Merchel said. “It’s money that needed to be spent.”

He said the important thing to note is that the township is in good financial condition. He also said he’s working on a $27,750,000 bond sale for next month that could help pay for a lot of the projects.

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