Borough delays budget adoption

SUSSEX - Sussex Borough’s municipal budget has been put on the back burner until the borough determines whether it’s going to receive extraordinary aid from the state. The borough’s tentative 2009 budget stands at $1.38 million, according to Chief Financial Officer Grant Rome, who presented the proposed budget at the May 5 Sussex Borough Council meeting. The 2009 budget is $437,000 smaller than the $1.82 million budget in 2008. However, Sussex had received a $600,000 small cities grant last year, which reflected the difference, said Rome. Under New Jersey law, municipalities are supposed to approve their annual operating budgets by no later than March 30. However, the state’s Division of Local Government Services can extend the deadline. And since the borough has applied for extraordinary aid, it can’t enact a budget “until after those numbers come out,” said Sussex Borough Clerk Catherine Gleason. Under the tentative budget, the amount of money to be raised through taxes would rise 32.28 percent, from $600,454 last year to $794,260 in 2009, said Rome. That would represent a $278 increase for the average homeowner with an assessed property value of $115,260. But both Sussex Borough Council President Bruce LaBar and Sussex Borough Mayor Christian Parrott have said that if the state’s extraordinary aid does not come through, the council will make extensive budget cuts. Rome said the borough expects to hear from the state about the extraordinary aid by the second week of July.