STONE HARBOR – Stone Harbor Borough Council March 15 voted to adopt its $19.8 million 2022 municipal budget. There is also an additional $5 million water/sewer utility budget. No local purpose tax increase is called for in the 2022 budget.
The budget in 2021 included an 8% tax increase, which led to calls for a “hard look” at the budget process going forward. Part of what drove the 2021 tax increase was an error in accounting for $335,000 in lifeguard salary increases in the 2020 budget, necessitating an emergency appropriation.
For several years, the Stone Harbor Property Owner’s Association (SHPOA) has been advocating for a 10-year financial plan that would lay out budget priorities and the likely impact of necessary spending on local taxes. The push has been to have the borough move beyond a singular focus on the year-to-year budget cycle.
During the public comment period of the meeting, Richard Fuchs, president of the SHPOA, lauded the borough for increasing the budgeted funds dedicated to beach and bay maintenance. He also expressed the expected pleasure of a property owner’s association with a no-tax-increase municipal budget.
Fuchs, speaking for the association’s trustees, expressed concern that the budget’s operating expenditures reflected no savings from cost management. The key to Fuchs’ comments came when he suggested that the council ask for a public report on a series of studies, which council had assigned to the business administrator and chief financial officer as part of the 2021 budget approval process. The number of the seven areas of study has not been formally reported on in the year since the assignments were initiated.
Fuchs said that SHPOA was particularly concerned with long-range financial planning for expected high levels of expenditure tied to the community’s sustainability in the face of environmental challenges.
Earlier in the same council meeting, a borough consultant reported on several significant areas of concern related to borough beaches, a presentation that reinforced SHPOA’s call for financial planning for sustainability.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
