Town Budget With No Tax Hike Up for Adoption

The 2013 Municipal Budget will come before the Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Council for adoption on Tuesday night.

The council will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at town hall.

The  would result in a zero percent tax increase for residents.

"While there were many challenges, particularly on the appropriations side, there were also many improvements on the revenue side," said Mayor James Barberio at a March meeting. "I believe that this budget will allow us to maintain our commitment to Parsippany residents and businesses with the same level of services."

The $62 million 2013 municipal budget was introduced during a May meeting with council members Paul Carifi Jr. and Jonathan Nelson voting against the measure.

Mayor James Barberio called on the councilmen to change their votes when the measure comes up for a final vote.

Barberio charged that council members Carifi and Nelson's no votes were votes "against tax relief for our residents who see other taxes and costs rise every day" and were "particularly cruel to ... residents who are struggling to make ends meet in this challenging economy."

Carifi responded by saying that his no vote, as he explained before the public, had to do with the mayor's handling of raises for township workers.

“The mayor has distorted the real budget story and fails to tell Parsippany residents the underhanded maneuvers he pulled to hand out exorbitant raises for a chosen few while Parsippany residents are struggling to make ends meet and retain their jobs,” he said. “Mayor Barberio tried to sneak in huge merit raises, in addition to annual pay raises, without discussing it with the township council members during prior budget meetings. This is a violation of the public trust.”

The proposed budget gives 2 percent raises to white-collar workers and merit raises to some municipal workers.

The key aspects of the budget proposal, according to Mayor Barberio include:

• a 4.8 percent revenue increase of $881,000
• a 0.9 percent decrease in the tax levy
• a zero percent tax rate increase "for the municipal budget, including the library"
• 2 percent salary increase for municipal white collar workers, which represent more than half of the town's workforce
• "merit increases for a few employees who have gone above and beyond, have had significant accomplishments or achievements or have taken on additional responsibilities due to the reduced workforce"
• five replacement police officers to maintain the "level of staffing required to adequately protect our residents and businesses"
• appropriations budget "largely stabilized" with increases offset by savings
• largest chunk of budget goes to personnel, particularly for police and sanitation workers
• personnel costs overall increased by about 3 percent
• other large increases include emergencies such as Superstorm Sandy, retirement payouts, debt service, police pension contributions, "legal fees in anticipation of pending litigation," disposal and yard waste (nearly doubled), replenishment of leaf bag supply, and reinstatement of the township's Fall Festival, "which many residents have called for"