Possible cuts lead to crunch
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Sun
4/4/2008

With potential of $1 million in state aid cuts from township budget, mayor, Council prepared to listen to residents

Township Council President Steve Polansky levied harsh comments against legislators in regard to potential state aid funding cuts the township faces this year.

Polansky said the township struggles each year to provide its high level of services to residents because of the rising pension costs dictated by the state and cuts in state funding.

Polansky said the state has proposed to cut $1 million in funding for the next fiscal year.

“Instead of the state giving us tax relief, we’re in the situation where the state is trying to solve its bills on the backs of the municipalities,” Polansky said. “Over the past three years, we’ve been assessed almost $4 million in rising pension costs.”

Because of the rising costs and reductions in state funding, Polansky said the township will begin to gauge the opinions of its residents as to what services in are working in the township and what services can be reduced.

For example, the township is considering eliminating its twice a week trash pickup service in the summer, he said. The township has been polling residents on its Web site, www.cherryhill-nj.com, to determine if the service is worthwhile to continue.

If residents determine that the service is unnecessary, Polansky said a new RecycleBank program might replace the second trash pickup. RecycleBank provides each home with a special 96-gallon recycle container that is able to monitor exactly how much each home recycles each week by scanning a barcode when recycling is collected.

The amount recycled by each individual home is translated into RecycleBank Reward Points. The points can then be redeemed for coupons that residents can use to shop at hundreds of participating stores.

The decisions won’t be easy to make, Polansky said, but the township Council is prepared to listen to what its residents have to say.

“We are prepared to make these difficult decisions with our community and the people it will affect,” Polansky said. “We need to determine what services our residents would pay for and what they feel aren’t worth the cost in the township.”

Mayor Bernie Platt also issued a statement and urged residents to call their state legislators’ offices to restore Cherry Hill’s lost funding. The cut in funding, Platt said, is no more than Gov. Corzine passing the buck from Trenton down to the residents of New Jersey.

“A cut of this magnitude obviously creates a severe hardship for our government, as it hampers our efforts to continuously provide the service everyone relies on. Worse still, this cut is one more in a painful line of cuts we’ve received from Trenton since 2005, which total about $3 million in lost revenue,” Platt said.

“Add all this to the $4 million Cherry Hill must now cough up in state-mandated pension payments, and we are all being faced with a bitter pill to swallow.”

In other township news:

The Council unanimously passed several bond ordinances appropriating funds for the general improvement of the township’s infrastructure.

The first, appropriating $863,850 and issuing an $822,850 bond ordinance, was issued for sanitary sewer improvements and equipment purchases. The bond will fund the maintenance efforts of the public works department for the extensive sanitary pipe system throughout the township.

The second, appropriating $1.4 million and issuing a $1.37 million bond ordinance, was issued for equipment and vehicle purchases for several different departments.

Also included are capital expenditures for police department equipment, information technology equipment and various improvements to parks and recreation sites and buildings.

A third bond ordinance was also issued for the township’s road programs and for the ancillary work related to the road’s program.

This includes road improvements, sidewalk/handicap accessible upgrades and drainage projects.