Extreme cuts such as shutting down a firehouse or closing the Bellevue Avenue branch of the Montclair Public Library won’t be made, according to municipal officials as a result of their most recent round of budgetary revisions.
All Township Council members, with the exception of At-Large Councilman Ted Mattox, voted on June 20 in favor of amending a $67.8 million municipal budget that, when combined with Montclair School District and Essex County taxes, will likely result in a 7.44 percent overall tax increase, officials said.
"We had several choices, and all of them were bad choices," Mayor Ed Remsen said. "We and the next council did not want to drag the budget deliberations into the summer. We are clearly not prepared to make structural changes to services like fire and Library, etc. until they are thoroughly analyzed, and so this budget is being reluctantly approved by the majority of the council at the request of the incoming council."
According to Township Manager Joseph Hartnett, Montclair’s revised financial plan carries a 6.3 percent tax increase and a 10.9 percent increase in the municipal portion of the tax levy.
The amended budget would keep funding of the Montclair Public Library flat, instead of increasing it.
The town’s refuse collection will probably be privatized or reconfigured, which would save an estimated $75,000 in three months and $300,000 in a year.
Community policing will be halted in the summer, saving $25,000.
Suspending the municipality’s commuter shuttle and outsourcing the deliveries of rear yard garbage collection would each save $30,000, and capping fire-fighting overtime represents a reduction of $75,000.
The Montclair Arts Council (MAC) will receive its full funding from the council, but the council will make a 10 percent cut in financial support to the Montclair Economic Development Corp.
Conversations on Race and the Summer Youth Employment are restored to their former funding of $15,000 and $5,000, respectively.
The Montclair Community Pre-K is cut by $100,000, while First Night Montclair’s funding was partially restored to $20,000, down from its previous municipal support of $45,000.
The town will start charging outside groups for overtime for Publics Works employees when they help set up for their events.
Professional and career advancement conferences would also be reigned in, along with eliminating two positions in the Department of Community Services.
HomeCorp.’s affordable housing consultant would be paid through a fund assessed on developers, saving $36,000 from the municipal budget.
The council members added $10,000 into its financial plan for a possible asbestos investigation in Renaissance Middle School.
The majority of representatives voted to earmark $40,000 for Clary Anderson Arena in the event privatizing the facility fails.
According to Hartnett, the council also cut an additional $39,795 from general expenditures and an additional $17,215 from his office’s expense budget.
The municipal budget must also stay within the state-mandated cap of no more than a 3½ percent increase in expenditures, while the municipal portion of the tax increase must adhere to a 4 percent cap, with certain items exempted.
Municipal officials are coping with significant increases in necessary expenses, which include major costs such as employee pensions, utilities, fuel and insurance, all of which result in an 11.61 percent tax increase.
Hartnett has said that the cost of municipal government without such items would result in a .93 percent decrease in the taxes for municipal operations.
Mattox, who opposed the introduction of proposed amendments, called the financial plan "as incompetent and insincere as previous budgets."
The council will hold a special meeting this Monday, June 30, at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building, 205 Claremont Ave.
During the meeting, there will be a public hearing on amendments to the budget that were introduced on June 20, and then a final vote on the amended budget.
