Sea Bright approves $4.5M '07 budget
Tax levy on average home would rise $142 per year
BY LIZ SHEEHAN
Correspondent

SEA BRIGHT - The Borough Council has approved a $4.5 million 2007 budget that will increase the municipal portion of the tax rate around 4 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

The tax rate will go from 59.2 cents per $100 to 63 cents per $100, Rich Hellenbrecht, manager of Robert A. Hulsert and Co., the borough's accountant, said.

The impact on a home assessed at $375,00, the average value of a borough home, would be a $142 per year increase in the municipal tax rate, Councilman William Keeler said at the Borough Council meeting March 20 when the budget was introduced.

He said that in the new budget, there is a small increase in spending over last year of approximately $4,000, or around one-tenth of 1 percent.

Keeler said the difference was that last year the town had additional revenues.

The budget was approved at the April 17 council meeting.

Hellenbrecht said that just like every other municipality, Sea Bright had an increase in pension costs, which went up by around $28,000.

The amount to be raised by local taxes for municipal purposes, including a reserve for uncollected taxes, is $3,234,931, with $1,331,839 anticipated revenues other than property taxes, including surplus, miscellaneous revenues and receipts from uncollected taxes.

The anticipated surplus is $517,500, down from $558,500 last year, while miscellaneous revenues expected include $31,000 for alcoholic beverage licenses and $11,000 for other licenses; $170,000 from fines and costs from the municipal court; $25,000 from interest and costs on taxes; $50,582 in interest on investments and deposits and $10,236 from cable TV franchise fees.

Other anticipated revenues are state aid in the amount of $265,574, which includes $25,000 in municipal homeland security assistance aid, $48,778 in consolidated municipal tax relief and $172,675 in energy receipts tax.

Some of the appropriations listed in the budget are $5,000 for salaries and wages and $46,750 for other expenses for general administration; $107,000 in salaries and wages and $14,500 for other expenses for the municipal clerk; $47,000 for salaries and wages and $7,400 for other expenses for financial administration; $43,000 for salaries and wages and $9,350 for other expenses for revenue administration; $3,750 for salaries and wages and $105,000 for other expenses for legal services and $3,000 for salaries and wages and $30,000 for other expenses for engineering services.

Salaries and wages for the police department for 2007 are listed as $900,000 with $118,250 as other expenses.

A major item in the appropriations in the budget is insurance, with $84,000 for liability insurance, $68,000 for workers' compensation, $355,000 for employee groups insurance and $15,000 for unemployment insurance; $104,000 was appropriated for solid waste disposal.

Also appropriated was $208,000 for salaries and wages for public works department, with $63,800 for other public works expenses and $4,750 for maintaining bulkheads.

Other appropriations are $14,000 for the volunteer ambulance companies, $92,000 in salaries and wages for police dispatchers/911 and $5,000 for other expenses for dispatchers; $5,000 for wages and salaries for the Office of Emergency Management and $18,600 for other expenses for that office. $20,500 was appropriated for parks and recreation with $7,500 of that for salaries.

Copies of the budget are available for review at Borough Hall, Councilwoman Maria Fernandes said Tuesday.