Borough Budget Up for Introduction

The Council will vote on a resolution to introduce the 2012 municipal budget when they meet Monday night.

The proposed budget includes a tax levy increase of seven percent, which is under the allowable increase amount because of exceptions to the state tax levy cap, .

According to the presentation, the tax levy increase will raise the amount of funds collected from taxes to $8,078,374, compared to the $7,578,339 collected in 2011. Total appropriations total a little under $13.5 million.

The annual increase for the average home in Chatham Borough, assessed at $658,500, will be $172 for the year.

Lower home assessments in the borough have had a significant impact on the borough's revenues and forced them to look hard at raising other fees for residents, such as .

For the first time in 2011, Council President James Lonergan said, . These ratables have a significant impact on a built-out town such as Chatham Borough.

"We didn't gain anything on the ratables [last year]. All the work people did on houses was lost by [other] people and businesses who had their properties reassessed," Lonergan said.

This leaves the borough no choice but to raise taxes and other fees to raise the money necessary for a balanced budget.

“Taxes have generally been moving up and rising, and that’s simply a case of our revenues are going down, and going down significantly,” Lonergan said. “It’s a fairly simple game. Revenues plus taxes equal the budget.”

The public hearing on the budget will be held at the council meeting on April 23.

The council meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Chatham Borough Municipal Building. A full agenda for the meeting can be found in the "Photos" section of this article.