Preliminary Town Budget Hangs on State Aid

The preliminary 2010 budget asks Cranford to raise more money than last year, and that's in the unlikely event that the town receives the same amount of state aid.

Commissioner Mark Dugan released the town's proposed budget numbers at a meeting Tuesday night. Town officials will meet to work on the budget next Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the municipal building.

Cranford's proposed 2010 budget total consists of $33,094,887 in departmental requests. The preliminary budget requires the town to raise $23,034,887 after deducting surplus, delinquent taxes, local revenue fees, and state aid from the total.

But officials expect that number to increase.

"The largest question mark is the state aid," said Dugan, who factored $3,646,000, the state aid Cranford received last year, into the preliminary budget. "It's very unlikely we'll receive that much."

Dugan does not expect to know how much state aid Cranford will receive until after March, and possibly not until June. The budget cannot be completed until then.

"We have our work cut out for us this year," he said.

The proposed budget has Cranford residents seeing an increase of 8.38 percent in taxes, a number that must be cut to fall within the state's levy cap.

Cranford had to raise $21,253,804 last year. That's $1,781,083 less than what the 2010 preliminary budget calls for.

Township officials considered cutting municipal personnel in an attempt to trim the 2009 budget. Workers, especially those from the public works, fire and police departments, attended meetings to try to convince officials to seek other budget-cutting means. Town officials decided instead to replace the proposed layoffs with furloughs, contract concessions and department budget cuts, according to media reports.

The town has a long way to go before finalizing the 2010 budget, and officials have yet to decide for or against similar budget-trimming methods.

Dugan said that the preliminary budget is just that, the first step in many discussions. It is in no way final.

Mayor Mark Smith did not comment on the budget at the meeting, saying instead that there will be plenty of opportunities for him to discuss the issue in the coming months.