Boro Council holds off vote on 2007 budget
BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer

RED BANK - The Borough Council held a public hearing on the 2007 municipal budget last week but deferred voting until the state announces the amount of emergency municipal aid the borough will receive.

Borough Auditor David Kaplan was on hand at the April 9 council meeting to give a brief overview of the budget.

The $20.2 million budget will be partially supported through $8.596 in taxes, although Mayor Pasquale Menna is hopeful that the borough will once again receive state aid that would go directly toward property tax relief.

Emergency aid from the state is earmarked for property tax relief; last year the borough received $125,000 in emergency aid.

"This is not the budget that will actually be adopted," he said, "and the council retains the right to make revisions."

No member of the public stood to comment on the budget when Menna asked for public participation.

"I see no hands or pitchforks out there," he said, "so I guess we can close the public hearing."

Councilman John Curley said that although he appreciated that some of his suggestion for revisions are being considered, there are still some issues he would have liked to see addressed in this budget.

"I really wish we could have gone to a zero-based budget," he said. "In the age of computers and new technology, it would be easier to work a zero-based budget and get away from boiler-plate budgets."

Finance Committee Chairman and Councilman Michael DuPont, said that zero-based budgeting is generally used for larger budgets and does not make sense to use for a small borough's budget.

Curley also supports borough resident Gary Morris' request that the mayor and council no longer accept health insurance benefits paid for by the borough.

Curley and fellow Republican Councilwoman Mary-Grace Cangemi are the only members of council that do not accept those benefits offered by the borough.

Menna said that since the budget was not going to be voted on yet, there is still time to look into some of the changes and revisions requested by Curley.

Curley also once again voiced concern with the ordinance that the council approved last week setting salaries for certain borough employees.

He had said at a previous council meeting that although he supports a 3 percent salary raise for borough employees, he is opposed to acting Public Works Director Gary Watson receiving an additional $10,000 raise.

The council did vote to approve the salary ordinance, including the $10,000 raise for Watson, with the exception of Curley who voted against it.