N.J. towns have easier budget time

After a mad scramble in 2011 to find ways to pay bills without increasing taxes, some New Jersey municipalities are drafting this year's budget with relative ease. A few are even rehiring police and other staff they had to let go over residents' noisy objections.

Some found lifelines in one-time revenue sources, others made significant cuts, and still others got surprise assistance.

"In my opinion, the worst is over," said Mike Mansdoerfer, who's been on the Lumberton Township Committee for nine years, including two stints as mayor.

After slashing salaries and laying off police and public works staff, he said, the Burlington County town finds its finances have improved to the point where a few workers can return to their jobs.

When Gov. Christie, lawmakers, and lobbyists for municipalities sparred last year over ways to hold the line on property-tax increases, Lumberton and 13 other cash-strapped communities across the state found themselves in the spotlight. Unlike the rest of New Jersey's 566 municipalities, the 14 towns opted to hold referendums in April to get voters' approval to exceed the state's 2 percent cap on property-tax increases.

But when the majority of voters said "no," officials were forced to make deeper spending cuts or search for more revenue.

In the Philadelphia metropolitan area, five Burlington County towns held referendums and suffered defeats: Lumberton, Mount Holly, Medford, Bordentown, and Mansfield. Except for Medford, they crafted budgets within the state limit this year and are on the rebound.

"Exceeding the cap is interpreted as, 'You're not being sensitive to taxpayers,' " said Bill Dressel, executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities. "But it's becoming more and more difficult for towns to maintain adequate service levels because revenues are going down" due to tax appeals, foreclosures, reductions in state revenue sources, and other factors.

Municipalities face individual circumstances, but each is required to provide state-mandated services. The way they deal with the requirements sheds light on governance in a home-rule state.

Medford, which began the year nearly $6 million in the hole after years of uncontrolled spending and no tax increases, will go back to voters for help balancing its budget. Township Mayor Randy Pace said officials had trimmed staff, eliminated recreation programs, cut out leaf pickup, and more, but the town can't afford to continue municipal trash pickup if voters don't agree to a 24 percent hike in the municipal portion of their taxes.

Medford is one of only two towns statewide that will have a referendum April 17. When voters said "no" last year, the council relied upon one-time revenue, such as selling rather than leasing space atop water towers for cellphone transmission.

Lumberton's Mansdoerfer said his town struggled after it was forced to lay off four of 16 police officers.

"Now we have some two-man shifts, and it's just not safe," he said. "It's a system that eventually will burn people out."

Crime has not risen, Mansdoerfer said, but township officials decided to rehire two officers this year to reduce the stress in the department and rising overtime costs.

More money also became available when the chief, a captain, and a sergeant retired over the summer after the layoff of patrol officers.

A renegotiated police contract that called for lower salaries and increased health contributions also helped. The officers "agreed because of the financial situation of the town," acting chief Tony DiLoreto said, "and there were other givebacks."

But some two-person shifts, he said, end up with only one officer on patrol if the other gets called out to a scene.

In nearby Mount Holly, officials are still debating whether to restore a public works department that went from six workers to one last year. Town Manager Kathleen Hoffman has proposed privatizing public works by hiring two laborers to do leaf and brush pickup, minor road maintenance, and janitorial work at Town Hall. She also would hire a snow-removal contractor.

But some council members say that the playgrounds, curbs, and roads are looking shabby, and that there may be enough money in the budget to rehire several public works employees.

Last year, after its referendum was defeated, the town made up for its budget shortfall by diverting money designated for business revitalization and by laying off police and public works employees. This year, Hoffman said, she is slashing legal bills by ending years-long litigation in a controversial redevelopment project.

Bordentown climbed out of its financial mess last year by laying off four police dispatchers and joining the county Central Dispatch system. The township was the last of the county's 40 municipalities to join the shared service.

Deputy Mayor Michael Dauber said the town also got special state approval to take out short-term loans to pay off residents who won tax appeals. "We would have had to shut down the township," he said, explaining that the town had to pay nearly $3 million to residents who won tax appeals.

The town, he said, found itself in unusual trouble because it was ordered to conduct a revaluation in 2008, "at the height of market, and from that point on, everyone's property values were crashing."

In Mansfield Township, the defeat of the referendum did not lead to big changes. Mayor Arthur Puglia said layoffs weren't needed because "everyone pitches in and we do what we can." Workers' hours have been cut and the town was "running lean."

The vote would have led to a $90,000 increase in the tax levy to help support the Mansfield Township Ambulance Corps, he said. But in the end, the money wasn't needed.

"We got a $35,000 donation from a resident at the same time we were voted the number-one private ambulance squad in New Jersey," said Richard Archer, the squad's administrator. The unusually large donation, he said, arrived shortly after the question was defeated. The squad no longer needed the town's help to pay its expenses that year, he said.