Proposed aid cuts will affect Brunswicks
BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - Township officials in North and South Brunswick are hopeful that Gov. Jon Corzine's cuts in state aid will be reduced.

Officials fear Corzine's initial plan to reduce the state's budget to about $33 billion, about $500 million under the current plan, would lead to drastic cuts in state aid to the townships in the state.

In South Brunswick, there will be a reduction in state aid of about $421,000.

Mayor Frank Gambatese said that at a meeting with the governor on March 13, Corzine said the cuts could possibly be spread out.

"He indicated that there was a possibility to do this over a couple years rather than one year," Gambatese said. "That would put it at about $221,000 this year."

Taxes could be raised, however, if aid is cut by the full $421,000.

"If we have to come up with $421,000, we would probably have to consider raising [taxes] a penny," Gambatese said.

For now, the council is searching for anything that might be cut. Gambatese said there are four or five areas that are being targeted as possibilities.

If the aid cut is reduced for this year, the mayor said taxes might not have to be increased. But, if the aid is not spread out over a couple years, taxes would probably have to go up.

"We can't cut $400,000, that's impossible," Gambatese said.

At the meeting, according to Gambatese, all the mayors and business administrators present were "imploring the governor to bring down the impact [of the cuts] especially to small municipalities."

Gambatese added that the town just received a $47,000 grant from the Department of Transportation.

"These things all help," he said. "We already paid it. They're refunding us and it goes into our surplus."

However, the town is already using $9.25 of its $9.83 million surplus for this year's budget.

In North Brunswick, $6.1 million of state aid will be reduced to $5.7 million, which translates into $463,000, or about two tax points.

"It's a double whammy, because we have additional services we are required to do now by the state - most notably apartment waste pickup, which was ordered by the Supreme Court," Mayor Francis "Mac" Womack said.

He also noted the budget cap imposed upon municipalities that only allows increases up to 2.5 percent in most cases.

"We have some severe restrictions in what we can do in our budget," he said.

North Brunswick will begin evaluating its budget next month, at which point Business Administrator Robert Lombard will meet with each department director. Those administrators have already been advised to find significant savings in their departments. Womack said there could possibly be reductions in services, but Lombard said it is "too premature" to know exactly what those would be.

"We're trying not to have a knee-jerk reaction that all the cuts are bad [but instead] go forward with a strong, hard look at our spending," Womack said.

Another impact on North Brunswick will be its expected reduction in debt service over the next few years.

Womack said that several administrations in town have tried to "hold steadfast to a responsible financial plan that would bring about significant tax relief in or around 2012."

"To the extent the rules, requirements and regulations fromthe state deprive us of the ability to stay on that track, it's a bad thing," he said.

He said he is worried North Brunswick will be "penalized" for its fiscal responsibility.

"We are finding ways to bring things under control here in North Brunswick but with that said. . .the biggest concern I have is that we need to make sure that everybody, the state and the municipalities, do their part and the state does not take the easy way out," by forcing cuts at the local level withoutmaking significant changes at the state level, Womack said.

- Jennifer Amato contributed to this story