Howell Township's Preliminary Budget Includes Rate Increase But More Work To Be Done

When Howell Township Manager Helene Schlegel introduced the proposed budget for 2011, the mayor and council credited her for the work that had been done, but also had questions as the process moves forward.

According to Schlegel, this year's budget would require a municipal tax increase of .036 cents. That would mean that for the average single family home assessed at $350,000, Howell residents would see an increase of $126 for the year. All told, the increase would amount to $2.4 million in new revenue for the general fund, according to Schlegel's presentation.

Schlegel said this year's budget, if approved as is, would come in $305,189 under the state mandated 2% cap. She also said that the work was done to trim the budget as much as possible without requiring furloughs, layoffs, or program cuts. "The budget is very lean," she said at the meeting. "We're trying to maintain the services that we have."

The manager said there is not a lot of wiggle room in the budget either if the township wants to keep things the way they are. "We're right there. We're just hanging." She credited the department heads with "tightening their belts," for getting the numbers where they were on Thursday night. 

In a list of frequently asked questions given out at the meeting, Schlegel said proposing a budget with no tax increase would not have allowed the town to operate as it has in the past. "To do so would have required greater reductions in service levels, inadvisable use of one-time funds, and/or budgeting to a lower general fund balance."

There were also several cost cutting measures that Schlegel pointed to. That included no pay raises for municipal employees except those that are contractually obligated. There has also been a full energy audit done, and some jobs not being filled by way of attrition. 

Thursday night's meeting also included a Powerpoint presentation by Schlegel showing where several factors contributing to the tax increase came from. That includes more than $2 million in municipal appropriations covering areas including social security and pension funds. The debt service will also be rising 6.51%, while Schlegel's presentation said the township has tried to reduce healthcare costs. The total proposed operating budget currently sits at $44,329,822, an increase of 4.79% over last year. 

With this being only the first meeting to discuss the upcoming budget, members of the mayor and council did have questions about things that could be done in a variety of areas. 

One question raised by several members of the council was the possibility of bringing on more staff for the department of public works and buildings and grounds crews to better service the township. With questions being raised over the course of the year about things like snow and leaf removal, it is believed that additional personnel could help with these jobs. 

Schlegel said she would have to talk to the respective unions about bringing on either full or part time employees, and that the money would need to be found in the budget. 

Also, when the matter of 15 new police cars requested came up, the council asked about the possibility of making some of the new orders as four wheel drive vehicles to help the department during emergency situations. 

Chief Ronald Carter and Schlegel said that the larger vehicles come with larger price tags, but that it was something that could be looked into as the budget process progresses. 

While a second budget meeting was not scheduled, the council is scheduled to meet for their regular meeting on Tuesday night. At that point another budget hearing should be scheduled for the coming weeks.