Council adopts 15-cent budget increase $95M budget will raise taxes $110 per year for the average household BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer The Woodbridge Township Council adopted a $95 million municipal budget at the reorganization council meeting on Jan. 2 that increases taxes by $110 for the average homeowner. The municipal tax rate will rise 15 points, from $1.28 to $1.43 per $100 of assessed valuation. The average home in Woodbridge is assessed at $75,000; however, officials said the average amount that a home is assessed is not accurate, since each homeowner doesn't pay the same amount for his or her home. "It's better to look at the average impact per household in the township, which is $110 per household," said Robert Landolfi, the township's business administrator. "This is the net impact for homeowners of the budget passed on Jan. 2." The $95,870,817.63 budget increased by approximately $6 million from last year. The township received $700,000 in state aid this year to help offset the taxes that the township has to raise. "The amount of the budget hasn't been necessarily consistent within the last few years," said Landolfi. "But I would not say it has been a much higher increase from previous years." Landolfi said the township does a thorough review of the budget every year, which started on July 1, 2006, and ends on June 30, 2007. "There are two sides to the budget, expenses and revenues," Landolfi said. "Allocated expenses are very difficult. The increase in costs for pensions, employee salaries and fuel costs has been real tough to control because we have minimal control and the costs rose above inflation." However, the township has formed a good solid development to generate ratables and tax revenues. "We revised and looked at the assets that we didn't need and took an aggressive approach that translated into other ratables," Landolfi said. The township also entered into a shared service agreement for joint purchasing. "We are trying to utilize our expertise to benefit as a larger municipality by sharing services with other municipalities, the Board of Education, the Housing Authority, and local fire districts," said Landolfi. "We have been pretty aggressive with receiving and seeking out grants. We have two grants with the Carteret libraries and Board of Health. One of the grants that we are trying to receive is a Web-based shared service grant that we hope to try with the Board of Education, ReDevelopment Agency, the Chamber of Commerce, and Housing Authority." The grants offset the increased cost that the township has no control over. "We are trying to wrap our arms around the budget and the remaining expenditures," said John Hagerty, the township's communication director. "We want to move forward and increase businesses that will revitalize and re-energize the township that will increase dollars." Margaret Gorman, the township's CFO, said it took the administration a good nine months to put together the budget. "We had four different mayors this year," she said.