Residents with an average assessed home will see their municipal taxes increase by $27.
Stephen Finn
The Sun
On Saturday, March 16, the Borough of Palmyra Council introduced the 2019 municipal budget.
With total appropriations set at $8,775,188.78, the budget will see the local municipal tax rate increase from $1.22466 per every $100 of assessed property value to $1.24312 per every $100 of assessed property value.
A Palmyra resident with the average assessed home valued at $147,600 would see a $27 increase in their annual municipal tax bill.
In total, the average homeowner will pay about $1,807.60 in local purpose tax.
According to Borough Administrator John Gural, the new budget includes an extra $10,000 for engineering services, specifically property and structural maintenance, bringing total appropriations in the new budget dedicated to engineering to $97,000.
“We’re moving forward now with potential demolition of various properties. We demolished two last year, one in particular required a very expensive structural evaluation. This is what we’re proposing to include in the budget this year,” said Gural.
There was also an increase in appropriations for police vehicles included in the new budget totaling $15,000.
“Last year, we began a different process of leasing sedans instead of buying SUVs via capital,” said Gural. “That’s why you see an increase here as far as vehicles are concerned, but we’re also not including anything for capital to buy new SUVs so it’s a tradeoff. Sedans cost considerably less than SUVs.”
The borough is also seeking an accreditation program from the local police force totaling $39,000 over the next year. The entire process is expected to take 13 to 14 months to complete.
According to the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police website, “accreditation is a progressive and time-proven method of assisting law enforcement agencies to calculate and improve their overall performance. The foundation of accreditation lies in the adoption of standards containing a clear statement of professional objectives.”
According to Gural, continuing road improvements remain one of the central goals of the new budget.
“We’re continuing our efforts, from last year in particular but the previous year as well, with significant road improvement projects throughout the borough, including Temple Boulevard and the streets immediately around the high school and other areas throughout the town. That’s really our primary focus from an infrastructure perspective,” said Gural.
Throughout the meeting, borough council discussed areas where spending could be cut this year. The proposed budget allowed $6,000 for miscellaneous expenses for the mayor and council due in part to the cost of their assigned mobile phones.
Several council members were confident they could do without their borough cell phone.
“I get four calls a year that are borough-related on that phone and the rest are telemarketers,” said Councilwoman Mindie Weiner.
Gural calculated that cancelling borough cell phones for members of council, excluding himself and Mayor Michelle Arnold, would save the borough $2,820 this year.
“I’m not saying communication goes out the window,” said Council President Tim Howard. “We also have different options, the borough phone message machine and we have email. I think it’d be a good savings right now.”
The borough has scheduled a public hearing on the 2019 budget to be held at the regular meeting on April 15.
