Jean Mikle

@jeanmikle

TOMS RIVER -- Unexpected savings in health care costs, liability insurance and worker's compensation costs allowed Township Council members to support a budget amendment Tuesday that eliminates a proposed tax increase.

If the council adopts the amended $124.5 million budget on April 25, the municipal purposes tax rate would remain stable -- at 63.3 cents per $100 of assessed property value.

"I'm optimistic we can live with that number," Councilman George E. Wittmann Jr., who chairs the council's Finance Committee, said of the zero tax increase budget. "Fortunately, some things broke in our favor ... (but) this is a very austere budget. We're really going to have to watch our numbers going forward."

The budget introduced last month would have raised the municipal purposes tax rate by about 8/10ths of one cent. This is the first year since superstorm Sandy struck that Toms River will not be receiving additional state aid to help balance its budget.

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Toms River, which had more Sandy damage than any other town in the state, has received more than $35 million in federal funding to help pay for essential services, like salaries for police and building department employees.

Council members agreed to use $400,000 in savings from employee health insurance costs, and $200,000 each in savings from worker's compensation and liability insurance to produce a spending plan with no tax increase.

Asked by the council to produce a budget that eliminated the tax increase, Administrator Paul J. Shives and Chief Financial Officer Christine Manolio presented the council with a total of $950,000 in savings from various accounts.

Last week, Ward 1 Councilwoman Maria Maruca, who is facing two challengers in the Republican primary in June, said she could not support the budget if the tax increase remained.

"I think we still need to take another look at this budget," Maruca said Tuesday.

Maruca will face Justin Lamb and Chris Grimes in the GOP primary. Lamb has said the "property tax burden for all of us living in Ward 1 will be the main theme of my candidacy."

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Council members Kevin M. Geoghegan, Jeff Carr and Al Manforti are also seeking re-election in November. All seven council members are Republicans.

The council agreed Tuesday to use the savings to cut the tax increase, but they also sounded a note of caution about future spending.

Many waterfront areas of Toms River are still struggling to recover 4 1/2 years after Sandy struck. Toms River lost nearly $2.5 billion in ratables, with about 10,000 homes suffering at least some damage.

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Nearly 3,800 houses here were substantially damaged, which means the amount of damage equaled more than 50 percent of the home's pre-Sandy value.

Shives said Toms River's ratable base is still down about $600 million from pre-storm levels.That equates to $4.8 million in lost tax revenue.

Toms River, which had more Sandy damage than any other town in the state, has received more than $35 million in federal funding to help pay for essential services, like salaries for police and building department employees.

Councilman Brian Kubiel said the township should consider an overall hiring freeze, except for necessary seasonal employees.

"We all have some concerns going forward," Council President Al Manforti said. But Manforti and other council members expressed confidence that ratables will keep returning as rebuilding continues.

"I can't complain about the taxes here," Camelot Drive resident Carol Benson said, while offering criticism of a proposed school tax increase by the Toms River Regional Board of Education. "I don't have a problem with the township at all."

Here are some more facts about the amended township budget:

The amount to be raised by taxation is $81,559,694. That's up 1.5 percent from 2016.

The township is using $16.9 million in surplus funds to help stabilize taxes. That's up from $12.4 million in 2016, a 36 percent increase.

The budget provides funding to maintain the police department at 160 officers. Fifty-eight officers have retired in the past 6 1/2 years.

Of the nearly 3,800 homes that were substantially damaged by Sandy, 626 have not yet been rebuilt. That's about $250 million in missing ratables just from those homes, Shives said.

Jean Mikle: (732) 643-4050, jmikle@gannettnj.com