Times
1995
21
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THE MANCHESTER
B R ATI N LE G
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MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS, INC.
2016
YEARS
Vol. 22 - No. 1
Your FREE Weekly Hometown Newspaper | Serving Lakehurst, Whiting and all of Manchester
Budget Increase To Pay For Paving, Capital Improvements
“Pay As We Go” Approach To Tackling Projects
By Jennifer Peacock MANCHESTER – The proposed township budget will use surplus to keep the tax rate relatively flat, though the overall budget is growing by more than $1 million in contracted salaries and benefits, and adds capital projects. Officials said the proposed mu n icipal t a x r ate wou ld equate to $6 more annually to the average taxpayer. Manchester Township CFO Diane Lapp, along with Mayor Kenneth Palmer, spoke briefly about the proposed 2016 budget before Council and audience. A budget presentation is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 9. “This is our first budget to incorporate our ‘Pay as We Go’ approach for capital needs,” the mayor said. “While the budget is increasing slightly, we are allotting $400,000 to go toward paving and other capital needs.” Mayor Palmer said the proposed $33.124 million budget is also more, due to unavoidable expenses, but that in spite of those numbers the municipal tax rate will go from $0.652 to $0.654
“This is our first budget to incorporate our ‘Pay as We Go’ approach for capital needs. While the budget is increasing slightly, we are allotting $400,000 to go toward paving and other capital needs.” –Mayor Kenneth Palmer
–Photo by Jennifer Peacock The Manchester Township Council will hold its annual budget presentation meeting 6 p.m. May 9 at the Municipal Building. per $100 of assessed valuation. “Considering our state-required payments for pensions and other state mandated payments have increased approximately a million dollars, we are extremely proud that we are holding the
line on the municipal portion of our residents’ tax bills,” Palmer told The Manchester Times. Lapp and Palmer said the township did dip into its surplus this year to keep the tax rate flat. The average homeowner will
see an increase of $6 in their annual municipal tax rate, based on the township average of $157,000. That homeowner paid $1023.64 last year, and will pay $1026.62 this year. (Budget - See Page 4)
With Jail Population Declining, County Begins Adapting To New Incarceration Policy
By Daniel Nee OCEAN COUNTY – County Assignment Judge Marlene Lynch Ford said the state’s new bail reform law, currently being piloted in three counties, will be New Jersey’s iteration of a trend that is the first real change to the bail system in American criminal courts in the nation’s history. For the county government, which funds the salaries of corrections officers and administers the jail facility off Hooper Avenue in Toms River, there is the potential for both cost savings and cost increases under the reforms, which will go into effect for the entire state next year.
“Under the current system where monetary bail is imposed, you have the nonsensical result that people who have the ability to post bond and are a danger to the community are released, while those who do not pose a danger to society and are poor, are held,” Ford told the county’s freeholder board at a recent work session meeting. The reform law, passed by voter referendum in 2014, changes bail from a purely monetary-based system to one where criminal suspects will be assessed as to their risk to society if released pending trial. Low-risk offenders may be released without having to post monetary bond, and high-risk offenders may be remanded (Policy - See Page 7)
Inside This Week’s Edition Business Directory ................24-25 Classifieds...........................23 Community News..................10-15 Dr. Izzy’s Sound News................18 Fun Page ....................................26 Health ...................................18-19 Inside The Law ...........................21 Letters to the Editor........................8 Wolfgang...................................31 WWW.MICROMEDIAPUBS.COM
April 23, 2016
$1.6M For Land To Buffer Jet Noise From Joint-Base Neighbors
By Daniel Nee OCEAN COUNTY – The County will be the recipient of $1.6 million in federal funds through a reimbursement program designed to encourage land preservation near military installations. Freeholder John C. Bartlett said, overall, the effort by the board has focused on purchasing property within the five-mile buffer of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to protect it from encroachment as well as residents’ complaints over jet noise. “The Joint Base needs to be protected and this Board of Freeholders continues to do all it can to assure it is not threatened by any future actions from the Base Realignment and Closure Commission which could result in a base closure,” said Freeholder Director Jack Kelly said. “I appreciate the work of our Natural Lands Trust Committee under the leadership of Freeholder Bartlett in preserving land that benefits the environment (Joint-Base - See Page 7)
Manchester Checks Out Energy Aggregation
By Jennifer Peacock MANCHESTER – The Township is in the market for better electricity prices for residents. The Township Council heard testimony from Robert Chilton of Gable Associates and decided to move forward with a deal that joins Stafford, Lacey and Manchester townships in an energy aggregation agreement, with Stafford as lead agency on the deal. The energy aggregation agreement will allow electric customers to save 10 percent or better on their electric bills through a (Energy - See Page 4)
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