TOWNSHIP ADOPTS $41 MILLION BUDGET WITH AVERAGE $82 TAX HIKE

The Township Committee on Tuesday adopted a $41.88 million municipal budget for 2016 that includes a 1.96% tax increase and a $568,115 increase over 2015.

The TC voted, 5-0, to approve the spending plan that will result in a tax increase of $81.98 per average home assessed at $396,993. 

See the entire spending plan HERE.

The budget is slightly higher than the $41.52 million spending plan introduced last month. The increase is due to an additional $20,000 added in for legal expenses and $40,000 for the Township's portion of funding for a new police resource officer at Columbia High School. The other two-thirds of that expense will likely come from South Orange and the school district.

The 2016 budget uses about $2 million of a $2.8 million surplus, with about $1 million of that savings from the sale last year of the former Maplewood Village Post Office site.

The budget also includes a 2% raise for the Township Committee members, bringing their annual stipend from $4,000 to $4,080. The TC received a raise from $3,858 to $4,000 last year after going 20 years without such an increase.