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Budget calls for $307 increase on average home
(by Kevin Glynn - March 12, 2008)
The 2008 municipal budget for Hillsdale, introduced on Tuesday, March 11, calls for a $307 increase on the average assessed home of $579,000 in the borough.
The budget was introduced so the borough could apply for extraordinary aid and is being classified by officials as a “work in progress.”
In all, the budget calls for $12,102,968 in spending, $7,681,029 to be raised through taxation.
“Unfortunately, this budget represents a sizeable increase,” Councilman and Finance Chair Max Arnowitz said Tuesday night. Arnowitz said that revenue increased and the borough’s “controllable expenses” stayed flat or decreased, but an increase in state mandated costs and coupled with a decrease in state aid left the finance committee with too much ground to make up.
“When you add all that together,” Arnowitz said, “the town had to adsorb a half a million dollars.”
While county and board of education budgets are not yet available, Arnowitz is estimating a total tax increase of $712 this year.
“Is that acceptable to me?” Arnowitz asked. “No. Is there anything I can do about it? No.”
Mayor John Sapanara said the borough was looking at a shortfall in revenue and an increase in expenses from the very beginning. The only way to make up the deficit is to cut services and personnel or increase taxes.
“We are going to continue to work on this,” the mayor promised.
The public hearing for the budget is scheduled for April 8. However, Borough Administrator Harold Karns said that since the borough is going to apply for extraordinary aid, the council will not be able to adopt the budget before it hears back from the state.
“You’re not allowed to adopt until they make their decision,” Karns said, adding that they might not hear from the state until July.
For complete coverage on the Hillsdale budget, read Community Life on
March 19.
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