Amended Lakewood budget puts tax increase at 3.1¢

LAKEWOOD — The numbers are in. Lakewood taxpayers will pay more for the public services they receive in 2005.

At the May 19 Township Committee meeting, Mayor Charles Cunliffe announced that the $50.8 million budget introduced last month would be amended to $50.9 million based on recommendations by department heads for improving the quality of life in town.

Instead of a municipal tax rate increase of 1.9 cents per $100 of assessed property value, which the committee proposed on April 21, township property owners would pay a 3.1-cent increase if the amended budget is approved at a June 2 hearing.

A 3.1-cent increase will result in a $31 municipal tax increase to the owner of a home assessed at $100,000; a $62 increase to the owner of a home assessed at $200,000; and a $93 increase to the owner of a home assessed at $300,000.

The increase in services will be worth the increase in taxes, according to Cunliffe. He said the committee has approved modest increases in 2004 and 2005 while increasing services and creating a quality of life task force.

“I think we’re doing the right thing,” the mayor said.

Cunliffe said taxpayers in 1996 who owned a home assessed at $275,000 were paying 95.4 cents per $100 of assessed property value, or approximately $2,625 in municipal taxes that year. In comparison, he said, owners of the same home assessed in 2005 at that value would be paying $345 less in property taxes.

When Democrats took control of the committee in 1996, tax increases were rolled back for seven consecutive years. According to Chief Financial Officer William Riker, the municipal tax rate decreased 1.1 cents in 1997; 4.7 cents in 1998; 8.5 cents in 1999; 3.1 cents in 2000; 2.2 cents in 2001; 1.3 cents in 2002; and 0.3 cents in 2003. Municipal tax rate increases have followed in 2004 and 2005.

The budget increase includes $40,000 a year in overtime pay to clean up litter in the downtown area on Saturdays and Sundays, which both Deputy Mayor Meir Lichtenstein and Committeeman Menashe Miller had proposed at past meetings.

Although taxes will be going up higher than initially proposed, Lichtenstein defended the appropriation to keep the downtown clean on weekends, which Committeeman Robert Singer had opposed at past meetings.

Cunliffe, Lichtenstein and Committeeman Raymond Coles were the only members present during the May 19 meeting.

Singer thought the litter problem could be diminished by creating a muster zone for day laborers away from Clifton Avenue, where the day laborers presently wait for employers to stop and offer them jobs. The muster zone has not materialized.

Coles disagreed, citing that the litter problem was also caused by store owners.

Lichtenstein said a portion of the funds spent to clean up the downtown area could be charged to property owners for the cost of township services.

“While we are spending money, we hope to recoup some of it,” he said.

The township will spend an additional $142,240 to hire four more police officers in addition to the five already budgeted. All nine officers will attend the Ocean County Police Academy in August, Township Administrator Frank Edwards said. The additional officers will bring the total police salary and wages to $11,516,074.

The Department of Public Works will receive an additional $78,428 in salaries for road repairs and maintenance; $42,211 in salaries for street cleaning; and $28,140 for garbage and trash removal. Edwards said the department would hire one additional code inspections officers and three more laborers. No new equipment would be purchased. The $201,563 budgeted for the new hires brings the department’s budget to $1,990,469.

The Inspections Department will add a clerk and another code inspections officer under the amended budget. The added personnel will increase the department’s budget by $52,784, to a total of $136,935.

Cunliffe said the amended budget represents an investment in Lakewood’s future as well as the community’s quality of life.

“I think this is money that’s very, very well spent,” the mayor said.