Middle Introduces $22.3M Budget

COURT HOUSE – Middle Township Committee introduced a $22.3-million municipal budget March 2, with no local purpose tax increase.
The $5.5-million budget, for the township’s water and sewer utility, includes the rate increase passed earlier in the year.
Although the budget reflects increases for solid waste and recycling, along with additional statutory retirement funds payments, the budget was helped by a $5 million increase in ratables, strong returns on investments and a 99.44% tax collection rate.
Mayor Timothy Donohue thanked the township staff that had “worked hard” to deliver a “zero increase” budget. He reminded the public that the township must deliver services to 20% of the county’s population with only 6% of the county’s ratables.
Committeeman Theron “Ike” Gandy explained that construction fee income in the township dipped this year because “the state took permit fees away” for a number of minor construction activities.
Broadening the definition of ordinary maintenance by the state increased the types of work that can be done without seeking, and paying for, a permit or necessitating an inspection of the work.
Speaking about the increase in solid waste handling and recycling, Donohue said the township had considered all alternatives, but that rising costs are captive to a global shift in recycling processes. He lauded Business Administrator Kimberly Krauss for her efforts to reduce the size of the increase in the trash handling contract.
Township Chief Financial Officer Susan Quinones said that the budget utilized 78.5% of surplus for 2020, a figure she said was in accord with historic use. 
The budget introduced in 2019 used 78% of the township’s $2.3 million surplus.
Auditor Leon Costello told the committee that the state’s information system for submitting the introduced budget had changed. “It will look as it has always looked, but we have new processes to go through this year,” he said. The result of that change is that the budget will not be available on the township website “for a few extra days.”
Earlier in the year, the committee raised residential fees for water and sewer customers.
Fees for commercial customers were raised a year ago. Donohue reminded the public that the fee increases were necessary due to the need to invest in the aging sewer system, parts of which “date to 1937,” he said.
A multiyear project to modernize the township’s two pumping stations has already been initiated necessitating the almost 15% increase in residential rates.
Before the increase, rates had not been raised since 2012. One factor in the increase has been the increase in county Municipal Utility Authority fees for wastewater flow to the county system from the municipality. Stormwater infiltration of the old sewer system is a likely culprit in the increased flow annually impacting the township budget.
A public hearing and final vote on the budget will likely occur at the April 6 meeting of the governing body, well in advance of the state’s April 30 deadline for municipal budget approval.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.