The Trenton Times published the following article on April 3, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

Trenton council OKs $200M budget with 6-cent tax rate hike

By Erin Duffy/The Times of Trenton 
on April 03, 2013 at 7:30 AM, updated April 03, 2013 at 7:31 AM

TRENTON — City council approved the city’s $199.7 million budget last night with little fanfare, a departure from last year’s battle over spending cuts and mayor’s aide salaries.

Council unanimously adopted the fiscal year 2013 spending plan in a 5-0 vote, setting the city’s tax levy at $74.3 million, a 1.8 percent jump, and the municipal tax rate at $3.75 per $100 assessed value, an increase of 6 cents over last year’s tax rate.

This year’s budget is $14.1 million more than last year’s $185.6 million budget, owing mainly to an increase in grant funding and the city’s receipt of $25.4 million in transitional aid from the state, an increase over last year’s $22 million award. The extra aid is actually intended to make up for $6.7 million in payments in lieu of taxes the city lost this year from a state Economic Development Authority agreement for a cluster of downtown buildings.

While the budget was adopted late this year — the city’s current fiscal year ends June 30 — the delay can largely be chalked up to the late announcement of the state’s transitional aid awards, which were expected to be announced in October or November.

Then, city business administrator Sam Hutchinson predicted the city’s budget would be adopted by December, reversing the recent trend of budgets adopted in March and April with only months left in the budget year.

The state Department of Community Affairs, which administers the transitional aid program, said the aid announcements were pushed back because staffers were swamped with helping municipalities manage budgets and clean-ups in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Budget officer Elana Chan told council members two weeks ago they had to pass the budget by tomorrow or May tax bills wouldn’t be printed in time.

The new tax rate, and its increase, will show up in its entirety in the May tax bill. The 6-cent increase equates to a $45 increase in the municipal property tax to $2,813 for a house assessed at $75,000; and a $60 increase to $3,750 for a house assessed at $100,000. City officials, while saying no tax increases are palatable, told council some tax increase is necessary if the city is to keep applying for the transitional aid program.

Hutchinson has touted the city’s work restraining growth in the tax rate, which at one point was anticipated to jump 19 cents to cover a $7 million budget deficit.

“Council has worked with us and consistently urged us, ‘Take it down, take it down,’” Hutchinson said two weeks ago.

Changes in this year’s budget over last year’s include a $1.3 million increase in health benefit costs; $600,000 in pending reimbursement for Hurricane Sandy damage; a $1.3 million settlement over the canceled municipal courthouse project; and a net decrease of $2.2 million in salary costs due to employee vacancies.