By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Montgomery Township residents will have a chance to weigh in on the township’s proposed $27 million municipal budget for 2017 at a public hearing set for Township Committee’s March 16 meeting., Final action on the spending plan also will take place at the meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. and will be held in the courtoom at the Municipal Building on Route 206., The proposed budget carries a municipal property tax increase of $86 for the owner of the average house in Montgomery Township. This is less than the $248 property tax increase that the township would be permitted to levy under the state’s 2-percent property tax cap., Mayor Ed Trzaska said the township could have increased the municipal property tax bill by up to $248, but chose not to do so. The township is using only 35 percent of the allowable amount of the increase., “Most towns and school districts take as much as they can every year, but we do things differently,” Mayor Trzaska said., The mayor said the proposed 2017 budget declined by approximately $520,000 over the 2016 budget. At $27 million, the proposed 2017 municipal budget is less than the 2005 budget, he said., Most of the budget decrease is due to the retirement of senior employees, Mayor Trzaska said. They are being replaced with entry-level employees who are not being paid as much money as those who are retiring, he said., Township Committee is very proud of the proposed 2017 municipal budget, he said., “We stayed true to our principle of fiscal restraint by staying below 2005 appropriation and spending levels, reducing our budget by over $500,000 and only taking about one-third of the allowable property tax increase based on the state’s 2-percent cap law,” Mayor Trzaska said.
