After looking at options given by chief financial officer Tom Merchel, Moorestown Township Council decided to move forward with submitting the 2013 budget that includes a 1.5 percent increase, or approximately $27 per average assessed home.
On Tuesday, March 5, Merchel presented the council with four budget options, along with the projected impact over the next three years.
By deciding to submit the 2013 budget with a 1.5 percent tax increase, the township is looking at an increase of $23 in 2014 for the average assessed home, $45 in 2015, and $118 in 2016. At the end of 2016, there would be $1.33 million in the surplus.
“If we did not have the liquor license revenue and other one-time revenues we would not have that surplus,” Merchel said at the March 5 meeting.
Merchel said he presented council with four budget options because he wanted to show council the possible impact of each version over the course of three years.
Adjustments made from the last version of the budget include $400,000 in tax appeals from last year that need to be accounted for.
At the March 5 meeting, township manager Scott Carew said he did not want to see the township hit a wall in the future by “over using unsustainable revenues” just to keep taxes down.
Merchel said the township must submit the proposed budget to the county before final approval.
