STONE HARBOR – At its May 7 meeting, the Borough Council rescinded the 2024 municipal budget it adopted on April 16, and then approved a budget that had a revised amendment.
The unusual move came because the budget on April 16 had been amended without the amendment’s having been read in full at the meeting, a state requirement, according to borough auditor Michael Garcia. There was no explanation given for why the borough was unaware of that requirement on April 16.
The budget amendment from April 16 was again adopted on May 7 and read in full, with one change. The amendment accomplished three things, two of which came about as a result of a state review of the budget.
The state required that $190,000 in beach tag revenue be relocated from one budget area to another, resulting in no change to overall revenue. The state review also imposed what Garcia said was a new rule requiring the budget’s capital plan to be synchronized with the borough’s separate water quality reporting to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
As Garcia explained it, the state wanted the capital plan to reflect financing for any water system projects that the borough listed in its water quality reporting to a different agency of the state. “They want to be sure that you have plans to finance what you have told the DEP you are going to do for the water system,” he said.
While Garcia repeatedly said this requirement was new this year, he did not offer a reason why the borough appeared to be unaware of it.
The third item covered in the new amendment adopted on May 7 involved a number of grants that the borough had not received final word about at the time of the earlier budget.
The change in the May 7 amendment when compared to April 16 is that $50,000 that had been included in the April 16 amendment for small raises for the borough’s non-union employees was removed from the May 7 amendment. The effect of that change is no funding was identified in the budget for raises for those employees.
Councilwoman Jennifer Gensemer said the removal of those funds from the budget amendment does not mean the employees will get no raises. When asked by Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour how the raises would be accomplished without the funds, Gensemer offered no response.
In the end, a $22.2 million 2024 budget was adopted for the borough with the same 1-cent increase in the local purpose tax, representing a 3.3% increase over 2023. The water and sewer utility budget remained at $5.7 million. A borough home assessed at $2.8 million would pay an extra $277 in local purpose tax this year under the new budget.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
