Red Bank’s property tax won’t rise as much as expected this year.

Councilman Mike DuPont, chair of the council’s finance committee, says a penny has been trimmed from the increase anticipated as recently as two weeks ago.

That means the owner of a residential property assessed at the borough-average $401,000 will pay 1.4 cents more per $100 of value than last year, or a full-year increase of $56.50, DuPont said following the formal introduction of the $20.8 million spending plan Wednesday night.

The budget, which calls for raising $12 million from borough property owners, is $209,000 lighter than expected last month, said Chief Financial Officer Colleen Lapp. The biggest individual component of the drop came on an audit of payments for health insurance, which yielded $32,000 after some borough employees were found to have been billed for the wrong plans and other clerical errors.

A line item for arborist’s services was reduced from $27,000 to $5,000 after more funding became available under a shared services agreement with neighboring towns, she said. Red Bank will now hire an arborist on an as-needed hourly basis, DuPont said.

A public hearing and final vote on the budget are scheduled for May 23.

Meantime, DuPont said borough officials are still receiving and reviewing private-sector proposals to take over the town’s health insurance plan. A 22-percent increase in costs handed down earlier this year by the multi-town Health Insurance Fund, which Red Bank helped found, has officials considering a departure from the plan, DuPont said.

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s streets are about to be abloom in yellow, and not solely from the spring return of the forsythia.

The town is giving away more than 2,200 bright yellow recycling bins to borough residents in an effort to create some identifiable uniformity to the re-use effort.

Town officials began giving the 20-gallon, lidded barrels out to senior citizen residents several weeks ago, and have now widened the availability to all residents, Maria Rotolo of the public utilities office tells redbankgreen.

To obtain one, residents have to call the department at 732-530-2773 or visit the office, on Chestnut Street opposite the armory ice rink. Residents have the option of picking up the barrels or having them delivered. The town will also remove any old containers that residents had been using for recycling, Rotolo said.

The barrels come at no direct cost to residents. A $17,925 grant from the Monmouth County Solid Waste Advisory Council covered the cost of the first 1,500 barrels, and the public utilities department pulled $8,800 from its budget to pay for an additional 726, said director Gary Watson.

While the total 2,226 barrels is fewer than the 3,000 single-family households in town, “not everybody wants one,” Rotolo said. “We’ve had people tell us they don’t want one, for whatever reason.”

Red Bank uses single-stream collection of recyclables, in which paper, plastic, glass and aluminum is picked up together and sorted afterward. Here’s some info on that: Red Bank Single Stream

Fair Haven Fields, opposite Rumson’s Meadowridge Park on Ridge Road, would be maintained by Rumson under the deal.  (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Three years after the wheels came off a politically charged plan to merge the police forces of three area towns, two of them have found another, less contentious route into shared services.

Fair Haven and Rumson have agreed to provide key maintenance services to one another in what they’re billing as a “groundbreaking” deal announced Wednesday morning.

Under terms of the deal, Rumson will dump its residential brush at Fair Haven’s processing center and get engineering services for small jobs from Fair Haven’s in-house engineering office.

Fair Haven, meanwhile, will no longer maintain its own parks and other borough-owned properties, handing off that responsibility to its neighbor to the east, Rumson Mayor John Ekdahl tells redbankgreen.

Rumson will also provide street-sweeping and storm sewer catch-basin cleaning services to Fair Haven under the deal.

“The big pickup for us is brush,” said Ekdahl. He said borough DPW trucks made some 500 trips to a farm in Tinton Falls last year to dispose of residential brush, with each round-trip taking about an hour and a half, consuming gallons of gas and putting wear-and-tear on costly vehicles.

Under the agreement, “we cut that trip down to seven minutes,” he said. “For us, that’s the sweet spot of this deal.”

The number of trips typically number between 350 and 400, but was boosted by the cleanup after Tropical Storm Irene last August, he said.

Though Fair Haven will wind down its DPW operations, no jobs will be lost as a result of the deal in either town, Ekdahl said.

The pact, billed as an expansion of an agreement under which the two towns shared building inspection services, arose from regular discussions between their business administrators – Theresa Casagrande in Fair Haven and Tom Rogers in Rumson – Ekdahl said.

Official discussions began about six weeks ago, when Mike Halfacre was still Fair Haven’s mayor, and continued “without interruption,” Ekdahl said, after Ben Lucarelli replaced Halfacre, who resigned to take a job in the Christie Administration.

Lucarelli could not be reached for immediate comment, but in the press release called the deal “a wonderful opportunity that will benefit the residents of both of our communities.”

Rumson will also have access to the services of Fair Haven Engineer Rich Gardella for projects such as upgrades on the Rumson DPW facility. Rumson will continue to retain T&M Associates of Middletown as the consultant to its council and planning and zoning boards, Ekdahl said.

Ekdahl said the savings to taxpayers under the agreement, which is expected to begin early next month, “will be hard to quantify until we’ve had about a year of experience.”

He said Fair Haven would be able to avoid the purchase of a street sweeper, which costs about $500,000, and that savings on gasoline, labor and other costs associated with Rumson’s brush removal would be significant.

Here’s the press release issued by the two towns: Press Release – Interlocal Agreement

Here’s the Fair Haven resolution: FH Resolution

And here’s Rumson’s: Rumson Resolution

“There’s no money for business interruption,” says Red Bank Marina owner Steve Remaley, below, who also stands to lose land on both sides of the bridge. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Steve Remaley is about to get it from all sides.

As Monmouth County nears its long-overdue replacement of Hubbard’s Bridge between Red Bank and Middletown starting early next year, the owner of Red Bank Marina is facing:

• the loss of a large parcel of land, opposite his shop on West Front Street, where many of his customers park their vehicles and boat trailers

• the loss of a strip of land on the marina’s main property for the creation of a new pedestrian and bike path to Shrewsbury Avenue

• up to two years of diminished business, including a stretch of at least three months during which bridge traffic will be shut down entirely.

And that’s the best-case scenario.

“I have no idea what I’m in for,” Remaley tells redbankgreen, leaning on a boat being readied for spring and summer use. “This could be the best thing to ever happen to me, or the worst.”

A 2008 plan showing the new bridge, in red. (Click to enlarge)

The new, permanent bridge is expected to cost $12 million and will replace the “temporary” steel span in place since 2004. But unlike the straight path followed by the existing bridge, the replacement will take an arcing sweep toward the north, anchoring at the same points on either side of the Navesink River where it becomes the Swimming River.

The new alignment improves sightlines and safety for motorists, said county Engineer Joe Ettore. It also, coincidentally, allows for construction of most of the new structure without impacting traffic, except for the anticipated three to four months that will be needed to tie the bridge into the landing points, Ettore has said at two presentations on the project.

But it also means that Remaley will lose some 17,000 square feet of land, 12,000 of it underwater, on the north side of West Front Street. What’s not taken by the bridge will, along with a house acquired by the county at Rector Place and West Front, be deeded over to Red Bank for recreational use.

Remaley, who bought the marina in 2007 after years of running one in Oceanport, uses the parcel for boat storage, but the riparian rights he has there allow for the potential expansion of his operation, including the installation of a dock. In compensation, he’s getting a small amount of land on the south side.

“It’s not a fair exchange,” he said. “Everything I can do on this piece of property I can do over there. I can’t stop them from putting in a bridge, but marina properties are very valuable,” and he’s concerned he won’t get a fair price for the balance.

Remaley is also concerned, he said, about the sidewalk that will be built on the southern edge of the bridge. The county plans to acquire a strip of his property adjoining the New Jersey Transit railroad for the construction of a path to connect the bridge to Shrewsbury Avenue, south of the railroad grade crossing.

The existing bridge has a sidewalk only on the north side, and Remaley questions the logic of building one on the new structure, noting that the western terminus of it, near Chris’ Landing, does not meet a sidewalk, so pedestrians will be forced to cross to the north side anyway.

But Ettore said the new sidewalk, in addition to giving Middletown residents more direct access to the Red Bank train station, enhances safety for the marina’s customers.

Without the sidewalk on the south side of the bridge, “there’s no convenient place for someone to get access to the marina” from the northern side, said Ettore. “This way, there is complete access, safe access.”

Ettore said the southern sidewalk, estimated to cost about $750,000, “absolutely has a major functional purpose, which is to avoid a mid-block crossing, where there’s limited sight distance. And quite frankly, the old bifurcation of the marina property, almost necessitated that marina patrons who chose to park on the north side would have to cross mid-block.”

Remayel is worried, though, that the additional sidewalk there will now be more people crabbing from the bridge, and leaving trash behind. And while the bridge is under construction, he’s hoping that the boating channel to the broader Navesink remains open, or his business will suffer yet more.

“There’s no money for business interruption” in the sums that the county is offering in ongoing negotiations, he said.

Despite his many worries, though, Remayel said he’s not dead-set against the bridge.

“Maybe I won’t be affected that much,” he said, acknowledging the county’s goal of limiting the traffic shutdown to winter months, when his business is slow anyway.

And the new bridge will mean no more of the constant clanking of metal parts on the existing structure, he said.

“I’ll be glad because it won’t be so noisy,” he said.

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s long-awaited plan to extend streetscape touches down a neglected stretch of Monmouth Street includes a mid-block crossing at the County Basie Theatre, officials say.

Depending on the cost, the project might also include a reworking of the landscaping across the street from the theater, on borough hall property, into an outdoor seating area for theater patrons and others, they said.

Part of the borough’s annual road program, the Monmouth Street upgrade calls for a repaving of the street from Maple Avenue to the train station and the installation of flourishes that mimic those east of Maple, town Engineer Christine Ballard, of T&M Associates, tells redbankgreen.

They include sidewalks with brick shoulders, decorative LED lamps and trash-and-recycling receptacles, Ballard said, noting that the eastern stretch features only trash, not recycling bins.

The mid-block crossing, a sparingly used feature, will be done in red pavers, creating a kind of red-carpet effect, Ballard said. The aim, she said, is to improve safety for pedestrians, particularly when hundreds of them converge upon or leave the theater in a span of a few minutes before and after a show.

Theater officials said Tuesday they weren’t aware the crossing was in the plans, and were pleased to learn about it from redbankgreen.

“That’s great news,” said theater CEO Numa Saisselin. “It’s something we have talked about and asked for. The customers will love it.”

Town officials had to obtain approval from the state Department of Transportation for the feature because the $1.7 million road program is partially funded by the agency, Ballard said.

The Monmouth Street work, part of an effort to revitalize a business corridor long in decline, is expected to cost about $600,000 Ballard said.

Other elements of the road plan include repaving Peters Place and the installation of a pedestrian-activated, high-visibility beacon at the busy intersection with Maple Avenue.

The cost of an E-shaped seating area on the borough hall side of Monmouth, opposite the theater, would be borne by Red Bank RiverCenter, if it gets built at all. Specs for the proposal were included as an alternate plan in the requests for bids that were made available to contractors, but executive director Nancy Adams tells redbankgreen she’s not sure the money will be there, now that RiverCenter is helping carry the cost of defending a lawsuit brought last week by New Jersey Natural Gas.

Bids for the streetscape project are due Wednesday. A contract could be awarded as soon as the next meeting of the mayor and council, on March 28, Ballard said.

The council approved the road plan with little discussion at its March 14 session, and no mention of the mid-block crossing. A few minutes later, resident and board of education member Marjorie Lowe, who works part-time at the Clearview Cinemas on White Street, asked the council to sacrifice a parking space opposite the movie theater for the creation of a mid-block crosswalk.

Mayor Pasquale Menna told her that mid-block crosswalks were not permitted.

Ballard tells redbankgreen that crossing at that location would require an analysis that might not pass muster with the DOT because of the number of driveways emptying onto White Street in close proximity to it.

The spending plan includes debt service on the estimated $1 million cost of a replacing 25-year-old Ladder 91, above. 

By JOHN T. WARD

Still a work in progress, the 2012 Red Bank budget calls for a $94 tax increase on property assessed at the borough-average $401,393, officials said Wednesday night.

The figure  reflects a 4.5-percent increase in the municipal rate, to 53.2 cents per $100 of assessed value, from 50.9 in 2011, said Chief Financial Officer Colleen Lapp.

Driving the increase is an unexpected $464,000 spike in insurance costs, “the majority of it health insurance;” tax-appeal refunds, which in the first two months of the year have already rung up to $135,000; and a contractual $118,000 increase in pay for police, said Lapp.

Councilman Mike DuPont, who heads the governing body’s finance committee, which is responsible for crafting the budget, said he’s cautiously optimistic the $20.77 million spending plan, up from $20.15 million, can be trimmed before it is due to be approved on April 25.

The fattest target for trimming, he said, is health insurance, which accounted for more than half of the overall 4.5-percent increase. “We received an increase of almost 22 percent without justification,” DuPont said.

In recent years, borough employees have absorbed higher deductibles, utilization claims have been down, and the borough has gotten refunds from the plan, he said, which makes this year’s increase “disturbing,” he said.

DuPont said he is scheduled to attend a meeting this week with administrators of a joint municipal health insurance fund in which Red Bank is a member.

“I’m saying this is not fair, and we’re not going to pay it,” he said.

The budget benefitted from a couple of turnarounds, as pension costs declined $76,000, and $170,000 that had been set aside for snow removal at the end of last year turned out not to be needed. A year ago, the town was socked with a $540,000 bill for snow removal following the paralyzing blizzard of December 26 and 27, 2010. “We got a late Christmas present this year,” DuPont said.

Debt service costs for the year are “virtually flat” with last year’s level, despite the final approval, also on Wednesday night, of a $1.1 million bond to cover the cost of replacing the volunteer fire department’s sole aerial-ladder truck.

Ladder 91, housed at the Navesink Hook & Ladder station on Mechanic Street, experienced a parts failure during testing last fall, and replacement parts are no longer available. The vehicle, built in 1987, is also now out of compliance with federal safety standards, officials said.

The preliminary budget increase complies with state caps on both spending and levies, Lapp said.

A public presentation on the elements of the spending plan will be held before the April 25 adoption hearing, but not date has yet been set, DuPont said.

A referendum question on whether to float a $750,000 bond toward the anticipated $1 million cost of the building expansion was approved by a vote of 628 to 420, the Press reports.

From the Press:

Little Silver is among about 26 percent of school districts in the state that do not offer a full-day kindergarten. School officials had posted a question-and-answers note on the website about the rationale, the plan and the cost of adding full-day kindergarten.

“I have a three-year-old and don’t understand why there isn’t full-time kindergarten,” said Kristen Baeri, who said while she conceded it is expensive to live in the borough, added the tax impact “wasn’t a concern.”

Anthony Fillippelli called full-day kindergarten “a good thing for the community,” adding that his son is attending a private school to take advantage of a full-day program.

“Property taxes are not an issue. It costs for (his son) to go to a private school,” he said.

One selling point that officials used was that the school district is in the unique position of retiring old debt in 2013 and 2014, which will drive down the increase in local school taxes, if voters approve the question and the district takes out a 15-year loan.

By JOHN T. WARD

Already handicapped by the failure of its aerial ladder truck, Red Bank’s volunteer fire department is now facing an interim during which it will also be without its sole tower truck, redbankgreen has learned.

The 11-year-old tower – a vehicle with an 93-foot extendable platform from which firefighters can train water onto a fire from overhead – is due for maintenance that could take it out of service for a week or more, says borough Administrator and Fire Marshal Stanley Sickels.

The outage means that the borough would have to rely on mutual aid from Middletown in the event of a hard-to-reach fire, with possibly delayed response times, for both tower and ladder service, said Sickels.

“And in a fire, ever second counts,” Sickels said.

Middletown’s ladder truck couldn’t enter or leave the Hook & Ladder house without use of the parking area across the street. (Click to enlarge)

Both the ladder and the tower are housed at the Navesink Hook & Ladder house on Mechanic Street.

The 100-foot ladder, built in 1987, experienced a cable failure during routine testing in October. Replacement parts are no longer available,  officials said, and a custom repair would cost more than the truck itself is worth. The vehicle is also no longer compliant with OSHA and firefighting safety standards, they said.

The borough council last month introduced a $1.1 million bonding ordinance to pay for a new ladder truck. The existing one remains useful as a carrier of firefighters and equipment, including a 50-foot ground ladder that takes six firefighters to raise, fire department officials said.

With the ladder on limited duty, officials have tried, without success, to get their hands on a suitable replacement for the tower when it goes in for service to P&L Emergency Services in Wall Township.

A surplus truck that’s bound for sale by Middletown Fire Company No. 1 was tried out for fit two weeks ago. But firefighters found they could not get the large vehicle into and out of the house without using the small parking area of the proposed Char restaurant on the opposite side of Mechanic street.

“I know it took us quite a few tries to get it in there,” said John Drucker, president of the Middletown house and a Red Bank fire inspector.

The truck’s 48-foot length, with a large bucket protruding off the back end, made it an iffy proposition for navigating borough streets, Sickels said.

The town has also reached out to New York City in search of spare trucks, without success, he said.

Sickels said he’s been talking to P&L about getting in replacement parts for the tower before it goes in for service “so its not just sitting there. But you never know what they might find when they get it up on the lift.”

Fire Chief Josh Sanders couldn’t be reached for comment.

The $14.93 million budget approved at a Tuesday afternoon session of the governing body marks a $67,486 decline in overall spending, Press reporter Larry Higgs writes.

From the Press:

The budget, which was approved unanimously by all six council members Tuesday afternoon and comes with a tax rate of 33.2 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, is a slight increase from the 2011 rate of 33.17 cents per $100. That rate doesn’t include school, regional school or county taxes.

Under the 2012 rate, the owner of the average home assessed at $1 million would pay an annual municipal tax of $3,320, an increase of $3 over the 2011 tax of $3,317. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. April 3 in the Charles Callman courtroom.

What’s behind the two-tenths of a cent increase is a balancing act between covering increased expenses, such as a $93,000 hike in health benefits, revenues that dipped by $23,000 and increases by the Two River Regional Water Reclamation Authority to process the borough’s sewage. Despite that, officials delivered the second budget in a row that’s dropped spending, Borough Administrator Thomas Rogers said. And part of the tax rate increase was to provide more money for the statutorily mandated reserve for uncollected taxes, he said.

Part of it is momentum from past years of bringing in the borough budget at the governor’s two percent spending cap, said Mayor John Ekdahl. That includes having settled contracts with employee unions for 2012 and 2013.

The owner of a home assessed at a borough-average $500,000 will see a $35 increase for the local portion of the overall levy, excluding school, Monmouth County and Open Spaces taxes, the Press reports.

From the Press’s Larry Higgs:

The Borough Council voted 5 to 0 Monday night to approve the $9.852 million budget which represents a 2.5 percent decrease. said Councilman Donald S. Galente. The 2011 budget was $10.104 million.

The estimated municipal tax rate is 51.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, a fractional increase from the 2011 rate of 51.1 cents per $100. That rate does not include local school, regional high school or county taxes.

“The average home (with an assessment of) $500,000 will see an increase of $35 a year (in the municipal portion of the tax bill),” said Mayor Robert C. Neff Jr.

Increases in some accounts were offset in the budget overall by cuts in personal through replacing some full time workers who retired with part-timers or with workers who are receiving lower salaries than some who left after many years of service, Galente said.