Neighbor News
To BH Mayor: Please delay Q2 tax payments and revisit 2020 budget
A letter asking to delay/postpone Q2 Tax Payments and to revisit the budget which includes $3,000,000 in new debt and 3.1% tax increase.
http://chng.it/xSffcTvY7L
The following letter was sent to the Berkeley Heights Mayor and Township Council in light of the recent events affecting all residents and beyond. It asks for two things. 1) Delay or postpone Q2 property tax payments and 2) Revisit the 2020 budget which was done before the recent events and includes $3,000,000 in new debt and a 3.1% tax increase.
With residents jobs put on hold, the financial markets looking uncertain and families making cuts to their own budgets, Berkeley Heights needs to take a new look at spending along with the residents.
A petition has been created to help reinforce this letter to the Mayor and Council
http://chng.it/xSffcTvY7L
Here is the letter that was sent to the Mayor, Council, Administrator and CFO.
Mayor Devanney and the Berkeley Heights Township Council,
In the wake of recent events with the Coronavirus Pandemic and associated financial recession, some residents of Berkeley Heights have had to put their work on hold and others have seen their savings/401K/IRAs significantly depleted. Many residents are in desperate need during this national emergency.
Find out what's happening in New Providence-Berkeley Heightsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
This also appears to be an ongoing trend. One that does not appear to be going away soon. US and Global financial markets are at a minimum showing uncertainty.
Mayor Devanney and the Berkeley Heights Township Council, in order to address these issues, please postpone Q2 property taxes and revisit any excess spending you already planned into the 2020 budget.
Taking this dire situation into account it would seem foolish to have our township engaging in an additional $7,000,000 ( $3m from Municipal plus $4m from BOE ) in new debt along with tax increases that we are seeing from the municipal building as well as a significant increase in the operating budget this year..
Find out what's happening in New Providence-Berkeley Heightsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
It would seem irresponsible for our local government to ask for its residents to pay even more in property taxes by bolstering spending when much of its constituency has had to cut back on their household budgets.
Please consider postponing Q2 property taxes.
In addition, have the Mayor, Administrator, CFO and Berkeley Heights Township Council revisit the 2020 budget taking these recent events into consideration and come back to us with a budget that is fit for this current fiscal situation.
Regards, Edmund Tom Maciejewski
