New Vernon budget cuts tax hike

VERNON — Taxes would still go up in Vernon under a revised version of the township's budget introduced Monday, but residents would pay little more than half of the original hike.
The amended budget would raise taxes by $2.26 per month, compared an increase of $4.06 per month projected with the original version of the plan. The revised budget carries a 1.6 cent increase to bring the tax rate to .62 cents per $100 of assessed value, Township CFO Elke Yetter indicated.
The more modest tax increase comes courtesy of some $230,000 in reductions to the originally proposed $27.8 million budget made by Mayor Harry Shortway's administration at the behest of the Township Council. The Council in a 3-2 vote rejected Shortway's budget earlier this month, and asked him to go over the figures again with an eye to cuts. The amended budget comes in at $24.52 million in appropriations with $16.24 million to be raised by taxes.
Speaking on Shortway's behalf at Monday's meeting, Business Administrator Charles Voelker said the administration found the savings by delaying hiring of new employees in the Police Department and Department of Public Works and putting off planned capital expenditures to bring water to the town center. However, no cuts were made to the line items for regular police or fire department expenditures, Councilman Dick Wetzel noted.
“We knew that perhaps there were certain things we could delay in getting done this year, others that were absolutely necessary. So we tried to make some decisions accordingly,” Voelker said of the cuts. “We felt that we made some cuts that were reasonable but not severe.”
The Council voted unanimously to amend the budget on Monday. The revised plan will go up for a public hearing on May 8.