Township Reiterates: No Tax Increase for New Annual Budget

PETERSBURG – Upper Township’s Committee held its regularly scheduled meeting March 9 and introduced the new budget for 2015. “With a lot of hard work and team work we are introducing a budget for 2015 that does not contain any increase in taxes for residents,” said Mayor Richard Palombo.
Details of this budget will be posted on the township’s website as of tomorrow as well as through the clerk’s office of the township. “This budget is not final, it’s still open to comment although no line items can be changed more than 10 percent,” commented Committeeman John Coggins, chair of the Revenue and Finance Committee. The public will have the opportunity to offer insights and input on the budget on April 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Township’s Municipal Building in Petersburg.
New Farmer’s Market
Township Engineer Paul Dietrich announced that the Upper Township Green Team Advisory Board has vetted the township’s fledgling Farmer’s Market and that it will start operation probably the last week in June. The location of the market will be on Pastime Place on Route 9 near Rte. 50, which is private property, and indeed the total initiative is a private endeavor.
“Other than trash pickup, the township will have no involvement in running the Farmer’s Market including for liability,” said Dietrich, adding that he expects the market to emphasize New Jersey produce and home-produced crafts and “will not be a flea market.”
Township Solicitor Dan Young, in response to a discussion point during the public comment period, emphasized that “the township will not have any affiliation with the Market, it’s being run as a private, not for profit entity.”
Beach Replenishment and Commonwealth Ave. Re-paving
Palombo said that he received a letter from engineer Dale Foster requesting a Committee resolution to support Foster moving forward with a grant application for federal funding to improve Commonwealth Ave. in Strathmere.
“The potential project already has $1.3 million on hand and the additional funding would provide for a longer stretch of this main route to be re-paved, definitely not to widen it, and also include curbing, drainage and storm release as well as better parking,” explained Palombo. The Committee passed the necessary resolution by a unanimous vote.
Dietrich updated Committee on the beach replenishment project for Strathmere saying, “It’s moving along per the plan, and should be up and mobilized within the week.”
Palombo responded, “We need to accommodate any area churches who will be holding their sunrise Easter services on the beach and advise them as to the best location to do so” which Dietrich will handle.
New Industrial Shredder for Township and Resident Use
There was a request to buy a new shredder for both shredding by the township per state requirements and timetables as well as to continue to offer monthly shredding to Upper Township residents since the one being used is beyond repair.
Two new models had costs diverging by $11,000 with the price of the industrial grade shredder coming in at $23,000 and the less powerful model which would only be for township use costing $12,000.
There was brief discussion as to whether it would be more cost-effective to hire a service although that option would run about $1,500 per day and could not accommodate residents’ shredding needs.
“I believe we should get the industrial-grade shredder even though it might cost more since it’s more environmentally sound, residents will not need to burn their documents when they cannot shred them or otherwise dispose of them in an environmentally unsound manner. We also are offering a good service to residents that I have heard many times that they appreciate. We can take the funding for this shredder from the township’s recycling budget of $110,000 since this purchase well fall within this line item,” said Palombo. This purchase was approved unanimously by Committee.
Township Sports Initiative
Committeeman Hobie Young, responsible for Sports and Recreation reported that he has explored an offer from Global Premier Soccer that will allow youth and teens who are at a very high level of the sport to continue to play competitive and elite standard matches within the township rather than play on travel teams throughout the state.
“We will be able to start a partnership with this outfit which will be a great resource for our higher performing players, they are for-profit and will charge a fee for players, and Global Premier will pay fees to use our under-utilized fields,” explained Young. “Our kids will have a better chance at soccer scholarships and there is no other program like this in Cape May County and it won’t take away from our regular sports activities.”
Young will report back to Committee with more details of implementing this initiative as soon as they are available.
Referring to the recent game his football team, the South Jersey Storm played, Young asked that the correct information be disseminated regarding preparing the field. “My brother and I cleared the field, there was no use of any township man-hours or equipment and I wanted to make this clear to Committee and the public,” said Young.
To contact Camille Sailer, email csailer@cmcherald.com.