Moorestown Resident Checks If Fee Increases Cancel Tax Decreases

MOORESTOWN, NJ — The following is a Letter to the Editor about the municipal budget that was recently passed by Moorestown Council. Patch is accepting political letters to the editor from all sides through the election, and really all year long. Just send your letter to Anthony.Bellano@patch.com and we'll run them. Better yet, you can post them to the site directly by following these instructions.

To the Editor:

I read with interest Moorestown resident Timothy Daniels’ letter on the recent municipal budget passed by Council. In particular, I was curious about the statement that the average amount of tax decrease could be more than offset by increases in other costs to residents. So I did a bit of research on the Township website, taking fee schedules for parks and recreation from 2016 to 2018 as one example (resolutions 45-2016, 44-2017 and 46-2018).

I was surprised to see that, by my calculation, fees had indeed increased on the order of about 10% year-over-year. The median fee for 2018 was roughly $75, compared to roughly $60 in 2017. This is a hefty amount for many families, particularly those who don’t have the option of private activities.

Also, by my count while the overall number of activities (though an impressive offering at just under 100) stayed about the same, nearly half increased in price over the 2-year period while only 1 decreased. For many families, it does seem that increased fees could cancel out any decrease in municipal tax, and could lead to those families having limited access to Township services. I believe as a town we can do better.

Sincerely,

Rebecca Lorden

Moorestown resident