Council needs to be cost conscious

South Brunswick Township Manager Matt Watkins is going to unveil his budget to the Township Council on Tuesday (the manager writes the budget under this form of government, and the council reviews and revises it). Specifics on the spending plan will not be available until then, but we are hopeful that the manager will opt for the most conservative of budgets.

Our suggestion is to find a way to keep spending flat. Admittedly, that is not an easy task. But the township has been spending more than it has been taking in over the last few years, a trend that needs to be reversed if the council is to keep local taxes managable.

Just as importantly, the council needs to reduce its reliance on surplus — its savings. It is OK to use surplus as revenue in a budget, provided you know that you will be generating at least as much new surplus as you use over the coming year. The opposite has been the case in recent years, and it has resulted in several larger-than-desired tax increases.

Doing both of these things does not necessarily mean the township can avoid a tax increase — reducing surplus use will mean reduced revenue, which would have to be made up another revenue, most likely taxes — but it will help put in place a more solid budgetary foundation for the future.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet