Mayor ‘Delighted’ About Bridgewater’s Flat State Aid

Despite a tough year last year, and tough decisions made to maintain a budget for 2011, Mayor Patricia Flannery said Thursday she is pleased to find out that the township is receiving the same amount of municipal state aid as in 2010.

“On Tuesday morning before the governor’s speech, the Division of Community Affairs commissioner had a conference call and told us state aid would be flat this year,” she said. “At that point, I was delighted.”

Gov. Chris Christie gave his , and the breakdown of municipal state aid was released Wednesday evening.

In terms of the breakdown of state aid, the township is receiving $5,904,261 for 2011, the same as it received in 2010.

Bridgewater will be given $508,750 in consolidated municipal property tax relief aid (CMPTRA), and $5,391,429 in energy receipts tax distribution, as well as $4,062 through the garden state trust.

The energy tax receipts property tax is collected by the state, and distributed to individual municipalities each year.

According to Flannery, the amount of money a municipality is expected to receive through that tax increases each year, and this year was supposed to go up by $115,000 for Bridgewater. But for years now, the government has decreased the CMPTRA aid by the amount that the energy tax receipts have increased.

“The amount that our energy receipts tax is increased, they reduce our CMPTRA aid by that amount,” she said. “For years, each governor has opted not to pass that money on, so I’m disappointed.”

“This has been going on for years,” she added. “So I did not anticipate getting that money. This practice is not new to Gov. Christie, and mayors have been protesting for years to no avail.”

Flannery said the township has had to make many tough decisions throughout the past few months to accommodate the budget, even under the assumption of flat state aid. When she began putting the budget together in December, she said, there was already a significant shortfall to deal with.

“We laid off some additional employees and negotiated with the unions,” she said. “We got more than $300,000 in concessions, which allowed us to meet the budget.”

“After that type of cooperation from the unions, I was strong in my commitment to them to do everything in my power to avoid further layoffs,” she added.

The township has approved several changed contracts with the unions, including a new contract with the to allow for five furlough days and other concessions concerning uniform maintenance.

For the , five officers who were expected to be laid off will instead not receive a step-up in salary, and members of the Superior Officer's Association have agreed to furlough days.

Councilman Matthew Moench, who serves on the finance committee, said Bridgewater has been working to find ways of saving costs, sharing services and still providing the level of service that residents have come to expect, while keeping taxes low.

"Gov. Christie's decision to maintain municipal aid levels recognizes the hard work of towns like Bridgewater that have strived to provide cost-effective municipal services," he said.

And with the state aid remaining flat, Flannery said, that was a big help toward maintaining the budget.

“It all came down to what the state aid would be, and I was waiting day by day,” she said. “So I was really pleased.”

Flannery said she is about to submit her budget to the council, which will then be made public at either the March 3 or March 7 council meetings. She said it has been tough to maintain services and other aspects of the budget, but Bridgewater has made cuts and asked for givebacks to accommodate the township.

“I can’t say it’s been easy, but we’re going to make the budget work,” she said. “It’s been a very tough year, and last year was a tough year. We were hoping for the light at the end.”

“We’ve had to make cuts, cut operating costs and have a shortened staff,” she added. “And we’ve had and are asking for givebacks as well. We are approaching every way to get the extra dollars.”

Moench said he is hopeful that the township will not have to make additional cuts in the near future.

"The council has not yet received the mayor's proposed budget, but hopefully now that municipal aid levels stayed even, we will avoid any unnecessary cuts in service and begin to move forward in the new normal municipal governments now live," he said.