By Allison Perrine
OCEANPORT – The borough council unanimously approved a $10 million municipal budget for 2020 at its June 25 virtual meeting.
Many of the items in the budget remain the same from 2019. However, some of the biggest increases this year will be made to employee salaries and uniforms, said Mayor Jay Coffey. That includes increases for the borough’s sanitation contracts and collection fees an additional $95,000 for solid waste, $66,000 for recycling and tipping fees. The borough pays for its recyclables and anticipates increases in waste as people remain home through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is going to become more and more difficult. The COVID-19 crisis has just changed the whole landscape of budgeting,” said Coffey during the June 25 budget hearing. “It used to be that we’re trying to do more with less. I think going forward, we’re going to do less with less because it’s going to be harder and harder to squeeze each nickel to get production.”
The borough’s Police and Firemen’s Retirement System (PFRS) increased in the 2020 budget by about $50,000, with additional statutory salary increases that topped $100,000. Those increases were offset with anticipated additional revenues as well as decreases in other departments, according to the borough. Oceanport also anticipates a little over $1 million in surplus from the current fund comprised of municipal court fines and costs, tax costs and interest, investment and deposit interest, fees and permits.
Of the $10,247,489 budget total, $6,637,318 will be raised by taxes, according to the resolution. The average Oceanport resident will see about a $30 increase per year on their tax bill. Last year, the municipal tax rate was 1.8 percent and this year it is 1.815 percent.
A $4.7 million capital improvement program is laid out in the 2020 municipal budget as well. Those estimated costs include mostly road programs, as well as public safety equipment costs, technology, radio communication systems, county road programs and more. The road program line item is the highest, accounting for $1.8 million of the $4.7 million total capital budget. The capital programs are expected to last through 2022, with road programs to be paid for with general bonds and notes and from the capital improvement fund.
“We put together a budget that I feel… addresses the issues that we needed to address as a borough, but still is conservative,” said Councilman Michael O’Brien during the June 25 meeting.
During the public hearing, resident Stuart Briskey voiced frustration that the borough would not be purchasing any speed radar signs in the 2020 budget. Directing his comments to Coffey, Briskey said that two years ago he approached the mayor about getting the signs in town. But Coffey said the budget does not allow for it.
“Our best bet is going to be trying to get it from the county on the county roads where the real speeds take place,” said Coffey. “We can afford anything we want if we’re willing to tax for it.”
The article originally appeared in the July 9 – 15, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
