South Orange Village Trustees voted to introduce a $33,530,565.05 proposed budget for 2015 at its July 13 meeting. Should the budget remained unchanged, it will represent a 1.6% levy increase for an increase of $82 for the average South Orange homeowner, Village Administrator Barry Lewis told the Trustees.
Lewis said that a breakdown of the proposed budget should be available on southorange.org by the end of the week.
A public presentation and hearing on the budget will take place at the Board of Trustees meeting on August 10 at SOPAC. Lewis said that, according to State statute, there must be at least 28 days between the introduction of the budget and the hearing.
Lewis said that there would be no loss of services in the 2015 budget.
Lewis noted that the Village had experienced a loss of revenue of a “few hundred thousand” and that, due to the many successful tax appeals, the aggregate assessed value of the town had decreased.
However, Lewis noted that there was good news on the horizon: The Third & Valley housing development project would be coming on line late in the year, yielding a more than $600,000 payment in lieu of taxes to the town in 2016. Lewis also noted that the tax levy increase for the town was, once again, lower than the increases levied by the two other local taxing authorities (Essex County and the South Orange-Maplewood School District).
Lewis also noted that several initiatives of former Village President Alex Torpey had been removed from the budget. Instead, some initiatives favored by new Village President Sheena Collum had been added. These included a budget allocation for the completion of the Master Plan process as well as money for matching grants for facade improvements for businesses in town. Collum expressed optimism that some of these costs could be mitigated through outside grants.
Lewis and several Trustees also credited Finance Chair Howard Levison with saving the town “hundreds of thousands of dollars” over the years by finding and negotiating decreases in phone and electricity contracts and negotiating better rates for gas for the town’s signature gas lamps, among other cost savings.
Finally, Lewis said that although the budget process was late this year, due to the May elections and the change in Village leadership, the state had “signed off” on the Village’s budget deadlines.
This story will be updated with additional information.
