Maplewood Township will be hosting municipal budget hearings on Monday and Tuesday evening, January 30 and 31, 2023. The public is invited to attend and participate. Both meetings are scheduled from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
- Register and watch the Monday, January 30 meeting here.
- Register and watch the Tuesday, January 31 meeting here.
See the agenda for the January 30 meeting below. The January 31 agenda is not yet available.
Last year, Maplewood adopted its budget “embarrassingly late,” according to the town’s chief financial officer, Joseph Kolodziej. The budget necessitated a 5.4% tax levy increase that Kolodziej said was the result of factors such as a $187,000 police union settlement, $845,000 in costs from Hurricane Ida, $300,000 of overtime at the fire department, $450,000 in lost liquor license revenue, and $235,000 in unrecovered insurance payments from Ida.
Town leaders in both Maplewood and South Orange have signaled that the 2023 budget cycle will also be challenging, in particular due to an approved 23% hike in the cost of health benefits for municipal workers across the state — effective January 1, 2023 — and the state government’s lack of response in providing relief.
