Cranbury Budget Intro Sparks Debate

The Cranbury Township Committee voted four-to-one at its Monday meeting to introduce next year’s budget. At $10.3 million, the budget is $500,000 less than last year’s and includes a two-cent tax increase that would raise municipal taxes $87 for the average household.

Mayor Winthrop Cody opposed the introduction of the budget largely because of this tax increase. The remaining members of the committee voted for the tax hike so the township’s use of its $5 million surplus would be slowed to a more manageable rate.

David Cook referenced figures generated by fellow committeeman Dan Mulligan that project Cranbury’s surplus condition for the years ahead. According to these figures, the township’s surplus would drop to zero by 2016. Based on this outlook, Cook said that waiting to raise taxes could result in a “tax shock” should the township need to fill a budget gap of $750,000 or greater in three or four years and not have the necessary surplus to do so.

Mayor Cody seemed unaffected by this data, especially in light of Governor Chris Christie’s recent announcement that Cranbury’s state aid figure would be the same as last year’s at approximately $447,000. Cody also said that the township would need to spend almost $3 million of its surplus before the situation became dire.

Township Administrator Denise Marabello confirmed that it would take longer than one year for Cranbury to drain its surplus to a dangerous level, but said raising taxes now is the “fiscally responsible” thing to do.

“The last two years when we didn’t increase taxes, I gave my opinion to increase by a penny or two and the committee chose not to,” Marabello said.

Committeeman Jay Taylor said that last year he argued alongside Cody against a one-cent tax increase, but also said that it might not have been the correct decision.

The alternative to the two-cent increase, according to Dan Mulligan, is service cuts, which is something he is reluctant to approve.

“We’d have to have an honest discussion. ‘Do we let some police officers go? Do we let some public works people go? Do we cut the fireworks?’ Those are the kind of discussions we’re going to start having,” Mulligan said. “I could be wrong, but my impression is that people don’t want to see tremendous cut in services yet.”

Former mayor Alan Danser offered advice to the township’s current committee

“The important thing is to watch the expenditures. If you’re doing a frugal job of managing the expenditure side, the revenue side will kind of take care of itself,” he said.

Tom Ingegneri, owner of the Cranbury Inn, agreed with the former mayor’s words and also said he wanted more transparency regarding how the committee has come to their decision to raise taxes.

“Before saying, ‘We’re going to increase taxes,’ I’d like to know: What did you do to show us what [the township’s residents] could have done to cut costs?” Ingegneri asked. He added that the committee needs to make “tough decisions” regarding services that could be cut and said that raising taxes is the “easy” way to find money in a budget.

After several public comments concerning a lack of budget explanation, Taylor noted that the committee discussed the budget at length and public attendance was nearly non-existent at each of the three meetings.

“I keep hearing the point that we didn’t share information, [but] the information was here,” Taylor said. “We had three days of budget meetings where we were discussing everything in an open session. The public was welcome to come in and one person showed up.”

In response to the public outcry, Mayor Cody added a work session to the committee’s next meeting, which will be designed to better inform the public of the figures they analyzed before introducing the budget. The committee also mentioned the possibility of creating a list of services that would need to be cut in order to avoid a tax increase. The total of these services would have to be approximately $320,000, which would cover the amount of money a two-cent tax increase would mean for the township. Although the board has already voted to introduce the budget, Marabello clarified that it can still be altered during the committee’s budget meeting prior to Cranbury’s adoption date, which is March 28.

In other news, representatives from Cranbury’s Environmental Commission requested that the committee adopt a resolution supporting the township’s participation in the Sustainable Jersey Municipal Certification Program. Once in the program, municipalities are eligible for community grants that will fund further “green initiatives.” The two-step certification process involves preparing a registration that lists sustainable projects the township is looking into completing. This registration is designed to outline Cranbury’s ideas and will not obligate the township to complete every project on the list.

The township’s master plan already contains a list of projects, such as an energy audit and a national resource inventory, that have already been completed and that Cranbury will receive credit for during the certification process. To date, 326 municipalities have already registered, 67 of which have become certified. The committee unanimously voted to register for the program.

Cranbury’s Recreation Department was also given permission to investigate what it would entail to build a six-lane track somewhere in Cranbury. The department will attempt to find funding to ensure that the township won’t have to pay any costs associated with the track’s construction. A proposed location for the track is still in the early discussion stages.