The 2009 Merchantville Municipal Budget
You won't find the budget on-line anywhere but here!
On the pages linked below is the municipal budget as it was introduced at the 27 April 2009 Council Meeting. It is presented here unchanged and unedited in any way whatsoever.
A few comments:
Members of the public have asked about reductions in number of borough employees as one possible way to control spending. There was some extended discussion about eliminating one position, as a large part of the responsibilities that go with that position disappeared in 2008, and a big part of the remaining responsibilities can be done by an outside vendor for much less than the cost of this position to the borough. However, one very strong special interest argued in favor of retaining the position, and Council chose to continue the position, with one member expressing hope that the problem would resolve itself.
We are now going into debt for infrastructure maintenance. I'm not speaking of the $1.8 million bond we passed in 2008 for the sewer lining (a major UPGRADE to part of our infrastructure), but I'm talking about the $189 thousand-plus bond ordinance that will be used, in conjunction with grant money, to repave two of our streets. And we'll have to allocate thousands more dollars not outlined in the ordinance for the projects listed there! I always thought such maintenance, because of its predictable nature, should be part of the borough's yearly budget.
Shouldn't we be eliminating questionable-value positions in the borough and using that money to reduce the amount of debt we're piling on our futures (even if it's just a little bit)? Doesn't that seem to be the fiscally responsible thing to do?
Finally, we're looking at an increase of just over 5 cents on our local taxes this year, or right around a 3 1/2 % increase. Certainly not the overly-distended budget we had last year, with its 18% local tax increase (which I opposed, by the way), but I had hoped that we would try to make up for some of that this year, and at worst HOLD THE LINE on the tax rate. But it doesn't appear that will be the case - while other communities in the area put large cutbacks into effect last year and many froze salaries this year, Merchantville has done neither. The only significant cutback last year in Merchantville was the elimination of the borough administrator position, and this year Council handed out an across-the-board 3% salary increase to all (with one or two exceptions) borough employees not covered by a union contract.
Our percentage of taxes collected is generally very high - around 98% or better (if everyone paid their taxes, that number would be 100%). In 2008 it dropped a couple of percent, which SHOULD tell us that some residents are feeling very financially stretched right now. What NO ONE needs is an additional tax burden to deal with!
Just my thoughts. Read through the budget and decide for yourself.
Mark B.