Shrewsbury approves $7.9M budget

SHREWSBURY - The Borough Council unanimously approved the 2007 spending plan May 21.

The budget allows for a 3.5-cent increase in the tax rate, a slight decrease over last year.

There was no public comment during the hearing on the budget introduced on April 17.

Thomas X. Seaman, the borough's chief financial officer, said when the budget was introduced that the $7,906,062 budget represents responsible planning.

Last year's $7,403,640 spending plan included a total amount to be raised by taxation of $5,405,764, which equated to a 3.9-cent tax rate increase.

The budget this year includes a tax levy of $5,763,338.

According to Seaman, the average home is assessed between $350,00 and $400,000. The tax increase on a home assessed at $350,000 would be about $304 more per year. The total tax increase, including the school, county tax and open space, is $18,998,278, an increase of 8.7 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Seaman explained that the municipal portion is 71.4 cents, the local school portion is 81.3 cents, the regional high school portion is 45.2 cents, the county portion is 36.4 cents and the open space tax is one penny.

He added that each penny raises $80,742.

Seaman said the biggest increase was pension increases of over $112,000; a debt service increase of $130,000; insurance increases of $25,500, which is actually about half the increase of last year; and salary increases of 4 percent.

- Linda DeNicola