Tonight (10/28), the Township will roll out its FY 2022 budget. There is good news, and there is bad news. The good news is that the Township received $19 million this year from the federal government due to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. While this money goes far to cover a lot of expenses, it also comes with a number of strings attached, and is not a cure all, so… the bad news is that, after not increasing taxes in 2020, a tax increase is inevitable this year. This was predicted in the 2019 budget, deferred due to severe cuts in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, but now is an unavoidable reality.
There are a number of upsides in this year’s budget- we’ve reduced the fund balance (in essence, the cash reserves that we hold for emergencies) from a level that would cover 90 days of operating expenses to the state mandated 60 days of operating expenses, which frees up some cashflow. 2022 is also the year that we will pay off all of the Township’s debt, meaning there will be no more debt service after this year. Unfortunately, the Township has only added a net of less then 200 residential units in the past 10 years, and has lost an assessed tax value of approximately $5 million in the past year alone due to the lack of development, which is the highest in a trend of declining value that started occurring in 2018. This reduction of assessed value, combined with the skyrocketing costs of goods and services in the post-pandemic era, has led to an increase that is otherwise insurmountable.
The budget roll-out include an orientation of new web-based software that will make it easier for the public to inspect the proposed FY 2022 budget and find pertinent information and detail. A link to that website will be provided following tomorrow night’s meeting.
As with previous township meetings, this one will be a hybrid format. Space inside the township building will be provided for public participation, but the meeting will predominantly be hosted via Zoom. A link to the Zoom info can be found below.