Lower Looks at Higher Fees to Raise Revenue

VIILLAS – Lower Township Council asked department heads at a Mon., Aug. 2 meeting to suggest where additional revenue could be raised on items such as zoning and planning board applications, Recreation Department fees, campground site fees, liquor license renewals, rental unit and boat slip mercantile licenses.
With Gov. Chris Christie’s 2 percent cap on raising property taxes coming next year, Lower Township needs additional sources of revenue to prevent cuts in services or layoffs. The reaction of campground and marina owners was a small increase may be tolerable, but a large increase, while the recession continues, would not be fair.
Mayor Michael Beck suggested the administrative lien fee to property owners who don’t mow their lawns, causing the township to cut the grass, be increased from $25 to $500.
Bill Galestock, township planning official, suggested the fee for a preliminary plat for a major subdivision be raised from $100 plus $100 per lot to $500 plus $300 per lot. He said the fees haven’t been raised in years, and attorneys for both the Planning and Zoning boards attorneys have had the same salary for more than 20 years.
Galestock suggested raising the fee for a minor subdivision for up to three lots from $300 plus $100 a lot to $500 plus $500 per lot. He suggested a number of other fee increases including fees for waivers.
Councilman Tom Conrad cautioned if site plan fees for commercial projects went too high, developers may look elsewhere to build. Councilman Wayne Mazurek said some of the proposed fee increases were significant, noting a number of builders are having a difficult time in this depressed economy.
Deputy Mayor Kevin Lare said he would not support the suggested increases he called “too drastic.”
Township Recreation Director Zack Zelwack suggested $5 increases across the board for registration fees for cheerleading, soccer and basketball and a $10 increase for football. He said the township’s fees were much lower than neighboring towns.
Upper Township’s football registration fee is $50, said Zelwack. He suggested a $30 fee for Lower Township.
Zelwack suggested raising the fee for cheerleading registration from $15 to $20.
Township Clerk Claudia Kammer said campground site fees are currently $4 per site, up from $3 in 1983. She said there is an annual $250 license fee for campgrounds.
Kammer proposed a site fee increase to $10 per site. She said there are about 2,800 sites in campgrounds in the township. Mazurek, Lare, Conrad and Councilman Glenn Douglass called for a smaller increase in site fees.
Beck said the fees hadn’t been raised in 18 years. He suggested a fee of $7 per site.
Kammer said liquor license annual renewal fees could only be increased by 20 percent per state statute. She a bar license could be increased from $2,000 to $2,400. The township has 18 licenses of that type.
Kammer said the township’s three liquor store licenses could be increased by $200 and eight club licenses could be increased by $38. The fees were last raised in 2005. Kammer said if the township were able to raise all the licenses to the state’s maximum allowable amount, the township would see an increase in revenue of $13,800.
Kammer said a license fee of $25 for each rental unit began in 1998 and increased to $50 in 2008 covering property owners that rent a house or condo to tenants. She said there were approximately 1,900 rental licenses, which includes single-family homes, condo units and strip mall stores.
Beck said a proposal to raise rental unit fees to $100 each was little too high.
Kammer said marinas paid an annual fee of $5 per boat slip. She said there were about 2,885 slips in the township. Mazurek said the township through a zoning change removed the right for marina owners to sell their properties for condominium development.
“I believe many of the marina owners have increased the number of slips they have to try to increase their revenue stream,” he said.
Mazurek said he did not want to see a 100 percent increase to $10 per slip.
Township Construction Official Gary Playford said the state raised fees from a minimum of 23 cents per cubic foot to 34 cents. On a 33,282 cubic foot house, that is a difference of $490.
Playford said township fees would be $1,526 currently on that size house which would increase by $490 under new fees to $2,116. He asked the township raise fees to the state minimum, which would generate an additional $32,000 this year.
Public Works Director Gary Douglass said the township has charged never charged commercial establishments for trash pick up. He said charging a fee could generate almost $100,000. He said an ordinance was passed with fees but was never enforced.
Douglass proposed a handling fee of about $6 per yard. He said most township businesses have a 2-yard trash container, which would amount to a charge of $12 per week. He said for businesses such as campgrounds that use a 30-yard roll off container, the fee would be $125 per week.
Douglass said only four other towns in the county offer commercial trash pick up. He said the township would not save money by eliminating commercial collection because the trash trucks have other duties.
During public comment, Joe Winters said fees needed to be raised or the burden would be placed on the taxpayers. He said wages and costs for the township continued to increase.
“We don’t want to see anybody lose jobs in this township, not one person,” said Winters.
“Where does this money come from if it doesn’t come from another source?”
Jay Sporl, vice president of Seashore Campsites, said the campground had its tax assessment raised from $1.8 million to $6.5 million. He said he could live with a site fee increase of 50 percent or $6.
Lower Township Chamber of Commerce President Sheri Hemingway said the township was all “mom and pop businesses” that supported community events. She said proposed fees for the planning department equaled 200 to 300 percent.
Hemingway said the township was “double dipping” when it collected a fee for store rentals because it sold a mercantile license to both the storeowner and business operator.
Ernie Utsch of Utch’s Marina said he opposed increases in license fees to campground and marinas. He said he has not increased boat mooring prices in the past three years and not had a full marina for three seasons as a result of the economy.
Utsch said he dared not raise prices, so he could keep his customers. He said business is slower than it was the in the past.
Ralph Farrell of Snug Harbor Marina said his property was assessed at $3,000 per slip and his highest slip rental was $2,000 per year.
Beck said the township charged $4 per slip in 1983, 27 years ago.
“Is there anything that cost $4 then that costs $5 now,” asked the mayor. That’s what were charging for a slip now.”
Council will continue to discuss fee structures at future work sessions.