FAIR HAVEN TAX UP, RUMSON’S DOWN AT R-FH

The high school’s budget will raise taxes in Fair Haven, but lower taxes in Rumson. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Rumson-Fair Haven Superintendent Pete Righi says he hasn’t seen a tax increase this small in about 15 years, and as a result, one of the two sending towns to the high school will see a drop in taxes.

The other will see an increase.

The school’s $16.3 million budget for 2011-’12, of which $15.1 million will be raised through local taxes, calls for an increase of $10.92 per every $100,000 of assessed property value in Fair Haven; in Rumson, the budget, if approved, would mean a drop of $1.41 per every $100,000, Business Administrator Frank Gripp said.

FAIR HAVEN BOE BARELY GETS WITHIN CAP

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

With the help of partially restored state aid, Fair Haven’s Board of Education is bringing its budget just within the two-percent cap for the 2011-’12 school year.

The $12.2 million plan $11.8 million of it to be raised through local taxes includes $184,807 in state aid, a $90,000 boost from the current school year’s aid, which was slashed significantly.

“We definitely had a lot of cuts on the table, so it was a very happy day when we found out we’d get some state aid back,” Superintendent Kathi Cronin said Monday night, when presenting an overview of the budget to the borough council.

M’TOWN BUDGET: 10 COPS COULD LOSE JOBS

The axe may fall if the PBA doesn’t make significant concessions, the township committee said. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Faced with the state’s new two-percent property tax cap and a drastic revenue shortfall, Middletown’s township committee has drafted what Mayor Tony Fiore calls a “doomsday scenario,” which includes laying off 10 police officers and effectively dismantling the town’s recreation department.

“It’s not news we like to share,” Fiore said of the plan, filed with the state Civil Service Commission on Friday, which anticipates the elimination of some 26 jobs.

Layoffs could take effect as soon as April, Fiore said, if the committee doesn’t get significant concessions from the library board and the handful of unions that represent township employees.

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FAIR HAVEN TAX UP, RUMSON’S DOWN AT R-FH

FAIR HAVEN BOE BARELY GETS WITHIN CAP

M’TOWN BUDGET: 10 COPS COULD LOSE JOBS