Oceanport stalled on budget vote
Special budget meeting May 3; public hearing set for May 24
BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

OCEANPORT - The Borough Council failed to approve the municipal budget last week after no members of council seconded a motion to adopt the $6.2 million spending plan.

An amended budget is expected to be introduced at a special meeting on May 3, Borough Clerk Kim Jungfer said Tuesday.

The public hearing and adoption of the municipal budget is scheduled to be held at the regular council meeting on May 24, according to Jungfer.

"We had 11 budget meetings," said an exasperated Mayor Lucille Chaump at the April 19 council meeting.

"I asked if [there were] any changes. No one came forward.

"Now you sit here ... and want to amend the budget." The spending plan, which called for a 3.2-cent tax rate increase, would have brought last year's rate of 28.5 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation up to 31.7 cents per $100.

Councilman William J. Johnson made a motion at the meeting to adopt the budget, but council members Ellynn M. Kahle, Richard A. Gallo, Hugh P. Sharkey and Gerald J. Briscione sat in silence.

Councilman John W. Ibex was absent from the meeting.

"Budget fails for lack of a second," Jungfer said at the meeting.

The council was expected to have a budget workshop meeting on Monday to discuss amendments to the failed spending plan.

At the meeting, council members also disagreed on when to hold the budget workshop meeting to discuss changes to the budget.

"I'd rather have a budget meeting sooner than later," Kahle said.

"How about right now?" Chaump replied.

Briscione agreed, saying, "Now is fine with me."

But Kahle made a motion to have the budget workshop on April 23, which passed 4-1, with Briscione as the only no vote.

"To have a special meeting would be an insult to the residents here," Chaump said.

For the average Oceanport homeowner whose home is assessed at $580,000, taxes would have increased $185.60 a year, or an additional $15 per month, if the spending plan was approved last week.

At the council meeting, Briscione said he did not support the motion to adopt the budget because he was opposed to adopting a budget that included funds for a borough administrator.

The post of a borough administrator in Oceanport has been vacated for more than 20 years and in March, council approved a 2007 salary ordinance which set the salary range for borough administrator at $15,000 to $90,000.

To help determine whether the borough needs an administrator, council voted 4-1 at the council meeting to hire Jersey Professional Management, a consulting firm, to study the administrative offices in the borough.

The firm was hired for an amount not to exceed $15,000.

Briscione voted against the appointment, saying that Chaump had appointed a committee of borough volunteers to oversee whether a borough administrator is needed in Oceanport.

"A wonderful thing happened and citizens came together to volunteer," Briscione said.

Chaump added, "You are paying taxpayers dollars. I just hired a blue-ribbon committee."

Sharkey explained at the meeting that the firm will conduct a study, act as a part-time borough administrator and determine if the borough needs a full-time administrator.

"It is a solution," Sharkey said. "This gives the group the mayor appointed to effectively evaluate the work of the position.

"This addresses needs and concerns of the people without rushing into anything."

But Briscione contended that the solution is the volunteers the mayor appointed.