Plumsted officials object to cut in municipal aid

PLUMSTED - The Township Committee, at its March 5 meeting, unanimously passed a resolution in opposition to Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's proposed state budget that will reduce state aid by 50 percent to the 323 municipalities in New Jersey with populations between 5,000 and 10,000 people, and eliminate all state aid to municipalities with less than 5,000 people.

According to state figures, the population of Plumsted is 8,122 people and if the state Legislature were to approve the governor's proposed budget, Plumsted's total state aid would be reduced by $154,741.

According to Mayor Ron Dancer, a Republican who serves in the state Assembly, the Township Committee's resolution to the governor expresses the unfairness of attempting to balance the state budget on the backs of local property taxpayers in communities of 10,000 people or less.

State aid programs to the cities, such as special aid for distressed cities and extraordinary aid, are projected to be reduced by only 5 percent. The Township Committee is enlisting the support of Dancer and his follow 30th District legislators, Sen. Robert Singer and Assemblymen Joseph Malone, as the state budget hearings begin this month and continue through May, until the state budget is adopted in June.

Dancer said the proposed reduction to Plumsted's local government state aid does not impact the nearly $2 million in additional state aid to the Plumsted School District under the new funding formula passed by the Legislature earlier this year.

The mayor said that regardless of the outcome with the state aid to the municipality, it is the resolve of the committee not to increase the local government tax rate of 9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Of the 566 municipalities in New Jersey that have a local government tax, there are only six townships that have a tax rate less than Plumsted's 9 cents, he said.

The committee also passed a resolution opposing the governor's plan to increase tolls on certain roads by 800 percent. The resolution states that New Jersey's $2.5 billion budget deficit should not be paid by commuters and taxpayers, but rather, by first cutting spending to eliminate waste, fraud, mismanagement and political patronage.

In other business, the committee adopted an ordinance to create a Special Improvement District that will provide opportunities for every business in Plumsted to participate in a voluntary program designed to preserve and enhance economic growth and employment with property tax abatements (reductions) of 10 percent each year for five years, according to Dancer.

He said the property tax reduction incentive plan expands on a similar program presently being offered by the committee for homeowners to reduce their property taxes by 20 percent for five years on the cost of improvements for homes 20 years old or older.

With a Special Improvement District, the township is now qualified to receive up to $600,000 at zero percent interest from the state Department of Community Affairs Office of Smart Growth Business Improvement Zone Loan Fund.

The recycling center, bulk waste, leaf and branch sites will be closed on March 22 in observance of the Easter holiday weekend.

The next regularly scheduled public meeting of the Township Committee will be April 2 at 8 p.m.