Middle Twp. Details Avalon Manor Special Assessment for Dredging

COURT HOUSE – Middle Township Committee gave over the start of its work session April 18 to a public hearing held by the Special Assessment Board.
Sixty-eight properties are sharing responsibility for a $1.14 million special assessment for the cost of dredging of Sterbeck Harbor, in Avalon Manor. The work was performed by contractors engaged by Avalon as part of a joint agreement between the two municipalities.
Property owners who attended the hearing heard board members and Business Administrator Connie Mahon explain how assessments for each lot would be calculated.
Combining a fixed cost and variable cost approach, the board’s recommendation splits the expense into two parts.
The proposal first takes $700,000 of the total and divides it as a fixed equal expense across 68 properties. The remaining amount is allocated based on the assessed land value of each lot. The formula divides the aggregated land value of the community by the assessed land value of each lot to determine a percentage of the total. 
That percentage is then applied against the remaining almost $500,000 of project expense. The fixed and variable costs then add to each property’s special assessment.
Response to Questions
In response to questions, board members explained that using the assessed land value had built into it considerations related to lot size, length of water frontage and similar factors. Concerns about whether or not the assessed value itself is correct remain a separate issue which a property owner would take up through the assessment appeal process.
Property owners who elected to have private slips dredged dealt with that expense through an individual contract with the firm Avalon hired for that purpose. Those expenses are not included in the special assessment.
Mayor Michael Clark said that township committee would take up the recommendations of the board at its May 16 meeting. There will be another public hearing then before formal consideration of the recommendation.
Mahon did point out that Avalon may decide to keep the road that was constructed to the contained disposal facility (CDF). The issue is being discussed by Avalon and Army Corps of Engineers.
If that happens, there will be a credit for all of the property owners. She explained that the township’s bonds for the dredging project need to be paid and the special assessment cannot be held up to wait for the CDF road decision. Any credit would be after the special assessment.
Recreation Study
Chief Financial Officer John Clifford and Recreation Supervisor Robert Matthews presented an analysis of township athletic recreation programs. 
They also did not recommend any increases in participation fees for 2016. Final decisions on fees will result from committee May 2.
Data supplied in the presentation shows a recreation program with growing participation rates in most sports. A number of sports are entirely self-sufficient and require no financial support from the township.
There are some sports that still rely on township support but are increasingly moving to self-sufficiency. Only baseball emerged as a subject of public discussion due to the $18,000 cost that township taxpayers fund to subsidize the sport.
Deputy Mayor Jeffrey DeVico and Clark both pointed to the annual $15,000 mortgage the sport pays to cover the cost of batting cages constructed in 2009. The indoor cages at Davies Goshen Sports Complex opened in 2010.
Clifford explained that the township reversed what should have been the process and left the sport to cover the mortgage and the township with a greater annual subsidy for the sport. Both Clark and DeVico defended the size of the municipal subsidy for the sport at least in this period while the mortgage is being paid off.
Councilmember Timothy Donohue urged consideration of the fee structure for tournaments held in the township. “We want to keep participation rates low for the children of taxpayers,” Donohue said, but “we should maximize the rates for those coming in from the outside for tournaments.”
Clark said he hoped any increase in tournament fees would be for the next year. Raising fees in the current year does not give people time to adjust, Clark argued.
Budget Hearing
The township will consider adoption of its 2016 budget at committee’s May 2 meeting. A public hearing will precede any vote.
Disagreement exists between Donohue and the Democratic majority on the committee over the way in which the budget arrives at its zero increase in the local tax levy.
Former committee member Daniel Lockwood has also been critical of some of the decisions made to get to a balanced budget that requires no tax increase.
The debates center on the elimination of the reserve for tax appeals, a 6 percent greater use of surplus funds and some less conservative projections in expected revenues from fees and licenses.
The debate is also impacted by the switch in party control of committee and the November election in which Lockwood has announced he will challenge Clark for his seat.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.