NEW TOWNSHIP BUDGET MEANS SMALL TAX HIKE

Somehow in all the litter and other discussions at Tuesday's TC meeting, no one noticed the new budget or its tax hike.

Also discussion of more reciprocity with South Orange on the pool and a study of the Maplewood Village post office site for future use

Thanks to Alternative Press for this:

MAPLEWOOD, NJ - A 2012 budget for municipal expenditures totaling $38,870,779.55 was adopted unanimously Tuesday by the township committee.

The municipal budget will result in a $67.46 increase in municipal taxes on the average Maplewood home, assessed at $421,665.

On another matter, two township parents, Lisa Fellen and Lori Sauer, asked the governing body to intervene with South Orange officials so that their families would have some type of reciprocal membership privileges in the South Orange community swimming pool.

Fellen and Sauer said their children are among the few Maplewood students who attend the South Mountain School, whose student population is chiefly from South Orange, and the Maplewood children currently are unable to enjoy the company of their classmates at the South Orange pool.

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The governing body also authorized $20,000 to fund a proposal by the Urban Design Lab at Columbia University to conduct a planning and research proposal for possible uses for the Maplewood Village post office site.

John James, president of the Maplewood Village Alliance, and Marvin Clawson, an architect in the township, praised the study as a way of bringing a more constructive framework to deciding the future of the site.