Township Council Launches Into "Painful" Budget Process Tuesday

The Township Council will plunge into the budget process on Tuesday night with an overview of the budget and departmental presentations from both the Finance Department and the Planning and Community Development Department scheduled.

In late January, the Montclair Township Council was told it could face a $3.3 million shortfall this year, and that the budget could result in a 5 percent increase in the municipal tax rate.

Now departments have been asked to trim their 2011 budgets as much as possible with presentations scheduled not only on Tuesday evening, but also on Feb. 18 and 26.

For more on the schedule, go here.

Councilor Rich Murnick said that a 0 increase in taxes is his cap and that even a 2 percent rise is not sustainable.

"I really hope the departments are creative," he said. "This is not business as usual."

Mayor Jerry Fried said he doesn't expect the budget process this year to go on as long as last year's process, when negotiations dragged on for several months after the Township applied for Extraordinary Aid, which was ultimately denied.

In October, the council finally approved a $70.6 million 2010 budget that increased municipal taxes by 9.2 percent.

"I believe we learned from last year that the state will not be assisting us so I don't anticipate that we'll apply [for aid this year] but I haven't spoken to any other council members or the manager about this," Fried said.

Fried said he expects the council to adopt the budget this year by April and that the official deadline from the state is April 22.

Councilor Cary Africk said painful decisions will have to be made this year with respect to personnel and organization.

"I think there are a lot of unsettled things in the budget we now have," he said. "We have a substantial gap, perhaps between $2.5 and $3.5 million. Given the proportion of the budget that goes to salaries, this means painful decisions will have to be made with respect to personnel and organization.

"I believe the manager is in discussions with the various unions, but again things haven't been settled," he said. "In the event that it comes down to personnel, there are contractual issues, i.e. seniority and bumping rights."

Africk said that the least expensive employees are often the first to go.

"And then there's the issues of 'values'," he said. "No one wants to 'lose' anything. So I would imagine we'd be looking to another month before we had clarification as to what is going to happen."