Toms River to Introduce Municipal Budget on Tuesday

Toms River will introduce its 2011 municipal budget in a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 29.

At Tuesday’s township council meeting, Township Administrator Paul Shives said the budget was not yet ready and that a special meeting would likely be called to introduce it, in order to meet state deadlines. That meeting is Tuesday night; the township began advertising the meeting on Thursday.

At the budget meeting, the 2011 tax rate and operating budget will be introduced. The public hearing on the budget, held before a final vote, will be at a subsequent township council meeting. The meeting will be held in town hall, Washington Street.

So far, the budget will include state aid equal to 2010 levels, according to the state.

“It’s a moving target,” Shives said in a recent interview. “We’re glad to hear it is level, as opposed to last year’s cut in aid, but we are still up against increases (in spending).”]Last year, the state awarded $2.5 million less to Toms River, bringing aid to $8.49 million.

A 2 percent cap on tax rate increases, mandated by the state, will impact the 2011 budget greatly, he said.

Shives also mentioned that rising gas prices will create an increase in the operating budget. While the state allows for some elements of the budget to grow more than 2 percent, increases for fuel prices are not exempt from the 2 percent cap, Shives said.

In Toms River’s form of government, the budget is submitted by the mayor to the council, Shives said.

Since October, township departments have been working to prepare their proposals for 2011’s budget, Shives added. A council committee, with the mayor and the department heads, have been meeting to prepare the spending plan.

The 2010 tax rate was 33.24 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, which was an increase of 4.1 cents over the 2009 rate. The 2010 operating budget was $94.19 million, and it called for the use of attrition, furloughs and renegotiated contracts for township employees, as well as the use of $11 million of its surplus.