During an extended conference meeting of the Livingston Township Council on Monday, June 24, members discussed the annual municipal budget, which is expected to be introduced at a meeting next month.
Budget specifics were not disclosed during the meeting; rather the Council had an informal conversation about it and asked township manager Barry Lewis and CFO Ann Cucci questions about certain details.
Lewis noted that the goals of the budget remained the same as it does each year: for the town to provide the same or better services; limit tax increases (and try to be below the cap); fund for debt services and capital improvements; and fund recurring services.
“I thinkwe are comfortable knowing we will deliver all the same services,” Lewis said.
He noted that pension and medical costs are going up, but the town remains “in a strong place” to fund it. When Lewis started as town manager in 2018, he noted that Livingston had about $3 million in reserves, which is now up to $ 11.6 million.
Other highlights of the discussion included:
• The budget will account for increases in Department of Public Works employee salaries. The township needed to have more competitive rates to hire workers.
• The Police Department will soon be back to full staffing after recent retirements, but it should not significantly affect the budget, as the new hires will have lower salaries than the retirees.
• The township is beginning its two-year phasing-in of additional firefighter benefits for volunteers. Based on attendance and other related factors, the benefits are hoped to incentivize members to stay with the department and get others to join. The hope is to put off having to fund a paid fire department for as long as possible.
• Even with grants and successful lawsuits that will net the township millions of dollars, there will still be significant payments in coming years for PFAS water remediation, potentially a million dollars per year for the next few decades.
The budget is expected to be finalized in the next few weeks, in time to be introduced and have its first reading during the Thursday, July 18 meeting. Should it be introduced then, it could be passed as soon as the subsequent meeting on Monday, July 29. If it is not introduced at the next meeting, it will have to wait until August to be passed. Officials mentioned at Monday’s meeting that the town was close to receiving fines for the budget being introduced so late in the year.
