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Zero Percent Tax Increase For 2017 Bellmawr Boro Municipal Budget

The 2017 Bellmawr Borough Municipal Budget was presented at Mayor and Council’s April, 2017 meeting. Bellmawr taxpayers will see a zero percent tax increase for the local budget.

The 2017 Bellmawr Borough Municipal Budget was presented at Council’s meeting on April 27.

Bellmawr taxpayers will see a zero percent tax increase for both the local municipal budget and also for the Black Horse Pike Regional School District.


Bellmawr Mayor Frank Filipek stated: “We are only responsible for one thing: That is the local budget. We don’t have any control over the other three [the Bellmawr School District, the Black Horse Pike Regional, and the County].”

Filipek stated that for the past two years, the County came in at zero and minus one, but this year he said he was shocked that it came in at 3.9. “I don’t know where that figure is coming from. They came in higher than the school board.”

He thanked the personnel committee “for doing a fantastic job. They worked hard with the directors. It wasn’t easy to come up with a zero budget. I don’t think there are too many towns in South Jersey that can say they have a local budget of zero.”

Before the presentation, Councilman Ray Bider gave a background on the budget process: “The finance committee is listed and met at least six times with various department heads. Mayor and Council also have extended their support for this budget that you are going to see, which I personally think is outstanding, and you will see why.”

He said that for all departments, a five-year plan is new this year. “It gives us a barometer as to what we can do with the current funds and expectations for the next couple years down the road.”

The four-tier plan includes Bellmawr’s (local) budget, the Bellmawr School District, the Black Horse Pike Regional School District, and the County.

Bider said that the initial goal was to come up with a zero percent tax increase across the board. “We would love to have come up at zero across the board. Unfortunately, that’s happened half-way…but not totally.”

Click the image below to view the Budget Presentation

Chief Financial Officer Maria Fasulo explained that the first slide (below) represents the Borough’s adopted budget history. “These amounts include grants that have been received throughout the years, which do not have a tax impact.”

2017 Bellmawr Borough Municipal Budget

In 2013 and 2014, Fasulo called attention to a large increase that was due to a grant that was received from the State Division of Parks and Forestry.

As for the total local tax revenue history and the percentage of increase for 2017, “We are at a negative. The Regional School is estimated at no increase,” Fasulo explained.

2017 Bellmawr Borough Municipal Budget

For an average home in Bellmawr assessed at $167,996, the municipal taxes will be $1,925.50 this year, Fasulo explained. “A penny would cost the average tax payer $16.80 a year. That does change when the net valuation changes. There is no increase in the municipal tax.”

Borough Administrator, Josh Tregear, spoke about the use of the local tax dollar:

Public works comprises 16%. Those services include road construction and maintenance, snow removal, storm water maintenance, buildings and grounds, parks, shared services, and sewer line maintenance.

Solid waste is 6% and includes garbage collection, landfill fees, and recycling.

Public safety is 24% and includes police, fire, EMS, municipal court, and animal control.

Administrative and general government costs are at 7%. That is the Clerk’s office, planning, administration, audit services, tax collection, finance, assessor, vital statistics, legal, engineering, construction office, and the zoning office.

There is a mix of expenses that make up the 47% remainder and that includes the Borough’s utilities, debt service, capital, statutory expenses, insurance, and our reserve from collecting taxes, Tregear explained.

 

2017 Bellmawr Borough Municipal Budget

All of this information has been posted on the Borough’s website, along with more financial information, Tregear said.  The user-friendly budget has been uploaded along with the annual financial statement and the audit from year end 2015.

“The auditors will be here in the next week or two to start the audit process for 2016 and when that is completed, we will have that uploaded to the Borough website and that is usually in June,” Tregear stated.

Councilman Bider concluded the Budget Presentation by saying: “[This] took a great deal of time that could have never been successful without the cooperation of every department in the Borough and the support of Mayor and Council to understand what it would take to keep it at zero. Our goal was not to go above zero and we were able to do that. A lot of people deserve thanks.”