Lower Introduces $21.3M Budget; Tax Rate Would Increase

VILLAS – Lower Township Manager James Ridgway introduced the 2019 budget at the Feb. 4 Lower Township Council meeting. The spending plan includes a tax increase that would cost the owner of a $230,000 assessed property an extra $20 per year.
Ridgway attributed the property tax rise to a $324,000 increase in salaries, mostly in the police department, and $50,000 in solid waste disposal fees.
“We hired more police officers to cover having an officer at Lower Cape May Regional High School and Teitelman Middle School. We’ll have more officers on the streets and in the schools,” Ridgway said. He said the township employs 50 police officers.
The total budget of $21.3 million was arrived at by using $2.5 million in surplus funds and leaves the total increase this year over last at $388,000.
Township Auditor Leon Costello of the firm Ford, Scott told council the budget is within all the caps set by the state and leaves over $4 million in surplus funds.
“This is a preliminary budget that you can make changes to and then present them at the public hearing before you vote,” Costello explained. The public hearing is set for March 18.
Ridgway said the assessed value of property in Lower Township jumped $7.2 million over last year and is now at $3.6 billion.
All municipal budgets must be approved by April 30, Ridgway said. After his presentation, Mayor Erik Simonsen asked if council members had any questions regarding the budget.
Councilman Thomas Conrad asked Chief Financial Officer Lauren Read if she was okay with the budget numbers. “Yes, I am okay with the numbers,” she said.
Read said copies of the budget are available in the Municipal Clerk’s office and on the township website.