Amended Borough Budget Before the Public Monday

A Point Pleasant borough budget that does not include layoffs, demotions or additional employee furloughs will likely be voted on Monday evening, bringing to a close a process that has lasted months and .

The Borough Council will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at Borough Hall for a special hearing on an amended version of the 2011 budget, after unanimously voting 5-0 Tuesday to revise a multitude of appropriations as well as the amount to be raised by taxation after .

Although the long-delayed municipal budget was up for a possible vote Tuesday, the acceptance of the fiscal amendments necessitates another public hearing, in which residents may ask questions or comment on the spending plan. The governing body can then hold a vote to adopt the budget.

If Borough Council votes to adopt the budget as amended, $12,458,569.21 will be raised via taxation to support an $18,411,903 spending plan. The tax rate will increase by 1.8 cents per $100 over the 2010 municipal budget, levying a tax increase of roughly $70 annually on the average homeowner, assessed at $383,000, said borough auditor Thomas Fallon.

"We really cut to the bone everywhere we possibly could," said Councilman Chris Leitner, chair of the Finance Committee.

Final adoption has been delayed while the governing body c and a disastrous audit of its 2010 books that found borough financial statements to be in "complete disarray." While dealing with the fallout of what was characterized as shoddy record-keeping on the part of the recently departed Chief Financial Office Judy Block (), council considered employee furloughs and layoffs as it worked to balance the 2011 books.

When , the 2011 municipal budget called for about $12.3 million to be raised in taxes, with an average corresponding $48 annual tax increase, to support a spending plan that called for the layoff of four police officers and the demotion of three others.

The initial budget also planned for borough employees to take 14 furlough days, down from earlier this spring. Employees have already taken four furlough days, but council members have said that they weren't comfortable with the austerity measures and continued to work to find ways to plug a budget deficit while staying within the state-mandated 2 percent tax levy cap. 

Councilmembers instead elected to apply to the budget and adjusted various line items while also boosting the amount to be raised in taxation, although the borough will stay well below the 2 percent cap. Line items for salaries and wages across borough departments were raised in Tuesday's amendment vote to account for the money that would have been saved by imposing furlough days.

Additionally, the Borough Council adopted a temporary budget Tuesday, a necessary move while final adoption of the 2011 spending plan is still pending.