UPDATE: Township Would Love to See More Aid

The state released information Thursday on how much state aid municipalities are receiving through the 2012 state budget—and for many towns, including Bridgewater, the state aid is remaining flat.

The township will be receiving $5,904,261 for its total calendar year 2012 and fiscal year 2013 state aid.

This is the exact same amount of money Bridgewater received last year.

Township administrator James Naples said the situation of state aid is a bit of a misnomer because it is really money the municipalities are entitled to anyway, but the state takes its share first.

"We would like to see the whole amount we are entitled to so we could provide real property tax relief," he said. "We would like to see more money in the same vein as the ."

Naples said the township has made some cuts in its budget for 2012, but nothing major.

"The council will do its due diligence," he said.

The budget, Naples said, has to include some extra funds because of emergency appropriations after the October snowstorm and Irene, as will as additional land use litigation, "which really impacted us."

Fortunately, Naples said, with the mild winter thus far, the township has been able to lower its snow budget for this year.

"So far this year we are doing great with the snow budget," he said. "Last year's storm had a real impact so we had to make emergency changes which we have to pay for in this year's budget."

Naples said they are expecting to introduce a budget at the March 5 council meeting.