Haddonfield budget to be passed at later date

Borough commissioners held a public hearing for its 2012 budget, but because of an issue with the state, the budget will not be approved until sometime in May.

The commissioners took comments on the $15.2 million budget, which includes a $134 tax increase for the average assessed home in Haddonfield — at $491,359.

The local tax rate is to increase by about 2.72 cents over last year’s rate, Commissioner Jeff Kasko said. For the average assessed home this would be about a local purpose tax rate of 46.9-cents per every $100 of assessed property value.

The increase in the local purpose tax rate falls within the 2-percent cap that was initiated by the state a few years ago.

Kasko said the overall budget increased by almost 7.5 percent — excluding grants — but the daily operating expenses increased by less than 1 percent.

Employee salaries, benefits and pension payments were again a big-ticket item for the borough, making up almost half of the entire budget at $7.2 million.

The commissioners listened to sparse comments from a crowd that had gathered at the meeting in anticipation of a discussion about overnight parking.

Betty Phillips, a longtime Haddonfield resident, asked why the reserve for uncollected taxes increased the most out of all the line items in the 2012 budget. The reserve increased by more than $452,000 this year, she said.

Kasko said uncollected taxes increased last year, so the borough is mandated to raise its reserve for uncollected taxes. Haddonfield has to pay 100 percent of the full tax amount to the school district and the county, he said, even if there are uncollected taxes.

It’s not as if the borough is just losing the uncollected taxes, Kasko said. If the taxes are still unpaid, the borough can institute tax liens on the citizen and will eventually be repaid its money.

Also included in the budget is flat state aid of $981,000.

It’s unknown when the borough would be able to pass its budget, Kasko said.

Due to a lack of staff at the state level, the borough’s budget has yet to be analyzed and approved by the state, he said, something that each municipality in New Jersey has to do before approving its document each year.

“It has to be said that there is no issue with our budget — this is purely due to a lack of staff at the state level,” Borough Administrator Sharon McCullough said.