Thursday, September 27, 2012
Hillsborough pays less per resident than nearby towns of similar size, results showed.
- GOVERNMENT
- Mike Deak
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Thursday, September 27, 2012
Hillsborough has passed its annual fiscal physical. Not only has an audit and the state found the township in good financial shape, its per capita spending is the lowest of neighboring municipalities of similar size. That news was given at Tuesday’s Township Committee meeting as the governing body accepted the annual audit with two minor recommendations and received word that Hillsborough’s fiscal procedures and policies meet the state’s “best practices” standard. That qualifies the municipality to receive 100 percent of the eligible state aid. The audit, prepared by independent auditors, recommended only that the township make sure deposits are made within 48 hours of receiving funds and that outstanding open purchase orders should be …
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Backroom deals and uninformed voting continue to rule in June.
The end of June is the worst time in Trenton. It is rivaled only by the end of a legislative session in January, though the shenanigans that happen in the lame duck session generally don’t involve the spending of billions of the people’s tax dollars. The games that began last week in the State House, and will continue this week, are textbook displays of political partisanship, backroom deals and poor public policy making, not to mention a disregard for people. Take, for instance, last Monday’s Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee hearing. The committee set a start time of 9:30 a.m. and the room was packed as there were 21 bills on the agenda. Some of those bills were very controversial, and others in various stages of un-readiness: …
Friday, February 24, 2012
Hillsborough Township will receive the same amount in state aid in 2012 as it did in 2011.
Hillsborough Township’s municipal aid remains flat for the second year in a row, though costs for insurance and other factors will likely rise in 2012. “It doesn’t exasperate the situation for developing our budget,” Mayor Carl Suraci said. “It’s obviously still a challenge because that part of our revenue remains flat.” According to figures released from the state on Thursday, Hillsborough will receive $3,265,664 in municipal aid in 2012, the same amount it received in 2011. Though the township’s Finance Committee has not met to discuss its budget, the concern is costs that continue to rise each year—particularly insurance increases, contractual salary obligations, and pension payments that may be beyond the 2 percent tax levy cap. “Other…
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Hillsborough Municipal Complex
379 S Branch Rd, Hillsborough, NJ
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Monday, June 27, 2011
The state's fiscal mess is mostly not their fault.
Over the last few weeks, the battle over New Jersey public employee pensions and health benefits has been fierce. Last week, the workers wound up the losers. The issues often are portrayed as simple ones—the unions are bullies who strong-armed state or local employers to get cushy perks for their members, or the governor and Legislature are the bullies stealing hard won benefits and collective bargaining rights from poor workers. It’s actually much more complicated than that. Way back 20 or 30 years ago, there was pretty much no doubt that New Jersey’s public workers on a whole were low-paid compared with people in the private sector. If you went to work in a public job, it was for the benefits, particularly for a good pension. Then came …
The Stig
3:10 pm on Monday, June 25, 2012
The governor and legislature should be be ashamed of themselves. This budget is a train wreck. The anticipated revenue figures that the governor proposed, and the legislature has accepted, are a joke. The idea that we are going to borrow even more money for the transportation "trust" fund, without voter approval, is a continuing disaster. And the proposed tax cuts by both sides are idiotic, based… more ›