Midland Park March 30, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 7 Municipal expenditures in Midland Park will account for an additional $48 a year in taxes for 2011, while no reduction in services is anticipated. The Midland Park Council last week introduced a total operating budget of $9,764,228, an increase of $295,125 or 3.1 percent over last year’s expenditures. The total budget includes $455,000 to support the public library. Of this amount, however, $436,990, the statutory amount the town must contribute to the library, will be reflected separately in the tax bills residents receive quarterly. Governor Christie signed legislation mandating the separate listing last Wednesday. “The municipal tax levy appears lower because the library now has its own line, but there is no net effect on the taxpayer,” explained borough Auditor Mark Bednarz. The cap in future years will be affected, however, because the overall appropriation for municipal purposes is reduced by the library contribution, he said. The $18,000 the town contributes to the library over and above the statutory requirement remains a part of the town’s operating budget. The amount to be raised by taxation, $6,625,554, is up $121,048, a 1.9 percent increase over 2010. This will bring Municipal budget to increase taxes by $48 per year the total tax paid by the owner of a $300,000 home, the borough’s average, to $2,304 for municipal purposes only, an increase of 2.1 percent. “The services are being maintained, and there will be no layoffs,” commented Councilman Nick Papapietro, the council’s finance chairman. “We met with all the departments; we spent many hours on this budget, and the tax increase is $21 less than the prior year,” he added. Due to previous reductions in state aid, local taxes pay for 93 percent of the budget. Papapietro said that while state aid had remained flat, the borough has to deal with substantial increases that were well above the state-imposed 2 percent cap in several areas. Anticipated employee pension costs are up $36,420; liability insurance, $25,000; employee health benefits, $43,000; and sewer charges, $38,500. Papapietro noted that the borough had suffered from recent tax appeals which affect the bottom line. In 2011 the borough is realizing a $706,245 loss in property tax ratables due to the lower tax base created by the appeals. He also said that the return on investments had gone down last year, even though it had improved over previous years. Mayor Joseph Monahan said that the borough continues to aggressively pursue sharing services and restructuring options so as to maintain the level of service with minimal impact on taxes. “It’s a $121,000 increase on a $6.1/2 million budget (from taxes),” he stressed. “We ended 2010 with an extremely healthy balance sheet reflecting a general fund surplus of over $2.8 million and a capital fund of $1.6 million totaling almost $4.5 million between the two,” Monahan said in a statement. “We have now reached a point where we have a reasonable and fair PBA contract, restructured our administrative staff, increased utilization of shared-services (provider and receiver alike), significant deployment of grant money as well as a steady and predictable future stream of accrued capital towards road improvements, drainage projects and vehicle purchases that minimize future spikes in the tax levy. In addition, revenue has stabilized after the last two years of dramatic decreases. All this without a single cut in services and some even enhanced while providing fair and transparent as possible governance,” the mayor added. The public hearing will be April 28 at 8 p.m. in the council chambers. ������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������� ��������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ���������������� ������������������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ����������������������� ������� ��������� ��� ������������ ��������� ���������������� Coupon must be presented. New Clients Only. 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