E (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
The move came three weeks after the Red Bank Borough Board of Education passed a budget that raises by 9.5 percent the portion that goes to support the Red Bank Primary School and Middle School.
Both the schools and borough administration cited the main driving factor behind the spending increases: skyrocketing costs for employee health insurance. (See previous redbankgreen coverage below.)
RED BANK: “CRAZY” HEALTH COSTS DRIVE 8 PERCENT BORO TAX HIKE PLAN
Chief Financial Officer Thomas Seaman presented the $31.5 million spending plan, which raises $16.5 million from local taxpayers to support police, public works, recreation and other services. Seaman (picture below) said this year’s budget set aside $200,000 less in surplus to help reduce overall spending. Pending final budget approval of the county portion of the bill, the owner of a house assessed at the borough average of $650,000, will pay roughly $11,700 in property taxes.
About one quarter of that goes to support the municipal government.
No members of the public spoke either against or in favor of the budget before the vote. One resident Charles Janjigian, questioned how the borough was going to continue to afford its long roster of capital projects.
In other action, the council:
• Heard a budget presentation from Red Bank RiverCenter Executive Director Mairin Bennet on the agency’s proposed $580,000 budget. The budget remains “flat” from the previous year, Bennet said. The agency is charged with promoting and improving the downtown business district. It is funded in part by an assessment on properties within the district along with grants, sponsorships and fundraising.
Deputy Mayor Kate Triggiano expressed disappointment that the RiverCenter board of directors had decided to reduce the annual allotment for public murals from $20,000 in the 2025 budget to $5,000.
“Murals are one of the things that people are appreciating a lot from RiverCenter,” Triggiano said. “It would be great if we could get it back on track.”
The fund was used to help pay for two prominent murals in town, one of jazz great William “Count” Basie across the street from the Count Basie Center for the Arts.
Bennett said the agency would continue to seek private funding to make up for the cut.
• Approved the introduction of an ordinance issuing $600,000 in bonds for the reconstruction and repaving of all or portions of Bridge Avenue, Chestnut Street, Carmen Place and Clifford Place. An additional $398,000 in state grant money will be used for the project.
•Approved introduction of an ordinance that would allow the issuance of $450,000 for improvements and upgrades to the basketball courts and baseball fields at Count Basie Park. 
Lead water line replacement on the west side of Red Bank in 2024.
•Approved introduction of an ordinance allowing the issuance of $1.3 million in bonds for the borough’s lead water line replacement project. The money will be paired with an additional $1 million grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• Approved introduction of an ordinance that would allow the issuance of $1.9 million in bonds for repairs and improvements at the Tower Hill and Chestnut Street water treatment plants.
90 Bank Street amid the cleanup of the property in December, 2025.
•Passed a resolution approving the placement of a lien on a property at 90 Bank Street, where borough contractors spent three days last December clearing an unlicensed junkyard. The cost of the cleanup and the lien was listed on the resolution as $54,405.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331.
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