Cut and run?
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Sun
3/27/2010

In the wake of Gov. Christie and the state drastically slashing aid to school districts last Wednesday, municipalities throughout New Jersey faced their own cut just the next day. Municipalities throughout the state saw their state aid totals decreased across the board from last year’s rate late Thursday afternoon.

Cherry Hill – which crafts its budget under a fiscal year format – stands to lose about $2.3 million in state aid for the next fiscal year. Last year the township received a little more than $11 million in state aid.

The township lost about 21 percent of its aid from last year, township representatives said, which was expected.

“In light of the severe cuts to state aid coming out of Trenton today, I’m hopeful the cuts are not made without providing towns a strong portfolio of resources to implement greater cost savings and more efficient operations,” Mayor Bernie Platt said. “On Tuesday morning I sat down with DCA Commissioner Lori Grifa, mayors from around the region and the League of Municipalities for a thoughtful dialogue about the governor’s proposed budget. With that said, Cherry Hill knows that sacrifices have to be made at all levels of government during this fiscal crisis.”

Platt continued and said in order for the municipalities to be able to deal with Christie’s cuts, the governor would have to make good on the promises he made during his campaign.

These obligations include changes to binding arbitration, collective bargaining reforms, affordable housing changes, augmenting the pension system and introducing premium sharing into health-care costs, Platt said.

“Furthermore, Cherry Hill has been a model of efficiency, and has retained the lowest municipal tax rate in the county for the last 20 years because we have been aggressive at finding cost savings and have brought our work force down to its lowest level in a decade,” he said. “If Trenton does not deliver the tools that are needed to blunt the cuts from Christie’s ax, I will continue to seek more internal savings by preparing for furloughs, salary give-backs, reopening union contracts, and possibly cutting more staff to preserve our core services.”

Christie is also proposing a constitutional amendment that would impose a 2.5 percent cap on the amount a municipality could raise its local property tax levy each year. Local governments could only exceed the 2.5 percent cap through a referendum.