The Point Pleasant Council terminated the employment of former borough administrator David Maffei and removed him from the position, though he will remain as borough clerk. Mayor Robert Sabosik said the borough and Maffei decided to part ways regarding the administrator role and the town wishes him the best. Frank Pannucci Jr. was then appointed as acting borough administrator.
1. BY JESSICA FASANO
THE OCEAN STAR
POINT PLEASANT — At its meeting last
Thursday, the Point Pleasant Council passed
two resolutions terminating the employ-
ment of former borough administrator
David Maffei, and removing him from the
position.
Mr. Maffei will remain in his role as bor-
ough clerk.
According to Mayor Robert Sabosik, the
borough and Mr. Maffei have decided to part
ways in regard to the administrator position,
and the town wishes him all the best.
“I personally have the utmost respect for
Dave Maffei. He is a wonderful individual,”
SPRING INTO YOUR HOME PROJECTS
Special supplement inside this issue
BAY HEAD S LAVALLETTE S MANTOLOKING S POINT PLEASANT S POINT PLEASANT BEACH
75 CENTSFRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015
Budget feeling
Sandy’s wrath
Maffei ousted
as admin, is
still clerk
Another $100K for boro hall
Boro teachers
under contract
“Our expenditures are well under control.
Unfortunately, our revenues are a problem
because of the lack of new homes.”
WALTERLACICEROMayor,BoroughofLavallette
BY PAIGE TAYLOR
THE OCEAN STAR
POINT PLEASANT BEACH — The lawsuit
Jenkinson’s Pavilion filed against the
Army Corps of Engineers, the New
Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection, and the borough, here, is
scheduled to be heard in United
States District Court on April 22.
The lawsuit is in relation to the
planned federal beach replenishment
project that will construct a continu-
ous dune system along the Ocean
County coastline.
Jenkinson’s Pavilion owns the
majority of the beach in town.
For the full story, see page 16.
JESSICA FASANO THE OCEAN STAR
Frank Pannucci Jr. was joined by his mother, Donna Pannucci [left], and sister,
Nicole Cogill, after the Point Pleasant Council appointed him as acting bor-
ough administrator at last week’s meeting.
MORGAN CAMPBELL THE OCEAN STAR
‘CURTAINS!’ COMES TO POINT PLEASANT
Point Pleasant High School senior Nicole Toms and junior Kevin Jasaitis
performed in the school’s musical, “Curtains!,” on Saturday night. For
the full story on the performance, see page 9.
BY PAIGE TAYLOR
THE OCEAN STAR
LAVALLETTE — At the Laval-
lette Council meeting on Mon-
day, the governing body intro-
duced the preliminary
municipal budget for 2015 — a
spending plan that officials
said was impacted by Hurri-
cane Sandy-related expenses.
Borough administrator
Christopher Parlow provided
some information on the
budget. The total 2015 prelimi-
nary budget is $9,154,165,
which is a $194,842 — or 2.17-
percent — increase over the
2014 budget, which totaled
SEE BUDGET PAGE 3
Frank Pannucci Jr. named
acting administrator
“I personally have the
utmost respect for Dave
Maffei. He is a wonderful
individual.”
BOBSABOSIK
Mayor,BoroughofPointPleasant
“To be part of this
team is an amazing
opportunity.”
FRANKPANNUCCIJR.
Acting Administrator
BoroughofPointPleasant
SEE ADMINISTRATOR PAGE 6
BY JESSICA FASANO
THE OCEAN STAR
POINT PLEASANT — On Mon-
day, March 23, the Point Pleas-
ant Board of Education [BOE]
approved a memorandum of
agreement between the BOE
and the Point Pleasant Educa-
tion Association [PPEA] re-
garding the contracts of dis-
trict employees.
The PPEA is a group that
represents the district’s teach-
ers, bus drivers, paraprofes-
sionals, secretaries, coaches
and advisors.
The approved resolution
states that “upon the recom-
mendation of the negotiations
committee for the Point Pleas-
ant BOE, the BOE approves
After mediation, 2.8
percent raises OK’d
across the board
SEE CONTRACT PAGE 6
Completion date
pushed back until
this August
BY PAIGE TAYLOR
THE OCEAN STAR
LAVALLETTE — The govern-
ing body, here, unanimously
approved a $100,000 change
order for the construction of
the new borough hall on
Monday, the third change or-
der the project has seen.
Mayor Walter LaCicero
opened Monday’s meeting
with an update on the new
borough hall. The project in
its entirety was originally RYAN MAYER THE OCEAN STAR
Though the completion of borough hall has been pushed back to August, the Post Office’s sec-
tion of the building is still expected to be ready by April 1.SEE BORO HALL PAGE 2
Jenk’s lawsuit
to be heard
next month
COURTESY OF LINDA BLUMENSTOCK
HONORING OUTSTANDING EDUCATORS
Point Pleasant Beach Public Education Foundation members Jody Sowell
[from left], Sherrie Chando and president Scott Kuzmic [right] presented
Donna Anderson-Landers, fourth-grade teacher, with a grant from the foun-
dation for poetry books. For the full story on that grant, and others award-
ed this year, see page 17.
Tax increase due to
storm repayments
2. PIRATES YOUTH FOOTBALL AND
PAINT PARTY
Date: Tuesday, March 31
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: River Rock Restaurant,
1600 Route 70, Brick
Cost: $45 per person
Contact: Joanne at 732-793-2557
or donationsoflove@gmail.com
Donations of Love will receive $15 from
each ticket purchased. The canvas,
paints & brushes are all provided to you
for the price of admission. Attendees
must be 18 or older. There will be a
50/50 raffle. River Rock has 1/2 price
burgers on Tuesdays. Drinks and food
will be available for purchase during
paint party.
DONATIONS OF LOVE SUPER 50/50
RAFFLE
Date: Drawing on Friday, May 22
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: 1606 Grand Central Ave.
Cost: $100 per ticket donation
Contact: 732-793-2557 or dona-
tionsoflove@gmail.com
Raffle tickets are on sale now. There are
200 tickets being sold with a potential
grand prize of $10,000. Make checks
payable to Donations of Love, 1606
Grand Central Ave. #4, Lavallette, NJ
08735. Include a self addressed
stamped envelope for your ticket to be
returned to you.
COURT ST. BONAVENTURE MEET-
INGS
Date: third Wednesday each
month
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: St. Pio Parish Center,
Lavallette
AEROBICS
Date: Mondays, Wednesdays &
Fridays
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Union Church, 25
Philadelphia Ave.
Cost: $3
TAI-CHI
Date: Tuesdays
Time: 10 a.m.
Location: Lavallette First Aid
Building, 1207 Bay Blvd.
Cost: $3
ZUMBA
Date: Mondays & Thursdays
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Monday at Lavallette
School, 105 Brooklyn Ave.;
Thursday at Union Church, 25
Philadelphia Ave.
Cost: $3
YOGA
Date: Tuesdays & Thursdays
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Union Church, 25
Philadelphia Ave.
Cost: $3
POINT PLEASANT YOUTH
BASEBALL, SOFTBALL
REGISTRATION OPEN
Contact: Register online
www.pointbaseball.com
Baseball is open to player from Point
Pleasant Borough, Point Pleasant Beach,
Bay Head and Mantoloking. Softball is
open to Point Pleasant Borough, Point
Pleasant Beach, Bay Head, Mantoloking,
Brielle, Manasquan and Brick Township.
Buddy Ball offered for players with spe-
cial needs ages 5 to 21.
TOP SOCCER PROGRAM
Cost: $10
Contact: Point Pleasant Soccer
Club, www.pointpleasantsc.org
TOPSoccer is run through the Point
Pleasant Soccer Club [PPSC]. The pro-
gram provides an opportunity for play-
ers with special needs ages five through
25 to experience the game of soccer
through motor skills, soccer drills and
scrimmages. Registration for the
TOPSoccer program is still open at
www.pointpleasantsoccer.org. All play-
ers will need to register either via the
PPSC website or by mailing in a form.
Registration for this program will not
close out. The $10 player fee is to cover
New Jersey Youth Soccer insurance and
program expenses.
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PAGE 2 THE OCEAN STAR FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015 LAVALLETTE
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slated for completion in
the spring, but has been
pushed back to August.
The original borough
hall was damaged beyond
repair during Hurricane
Sandy in 2012.
The mayor said the con-
struction work is, however,
on track for the U.S. Post
Office to move in to its
leased space in the munici-
pal complex next month. In
order to get the Post Office
into the new municipal
building, 1,000 square feet
of the space must be avail-
able for them to rent by
April.
“We had a meeting today
with the contractor and we
will be delivering the Post
Office portion [of the
building] to the United
States Post Office on April
1,” the mayor said.
The borough is expect-
ing revenue from construc-
tion permits and renting
space in the new municipal
complex to the Lavallette
branch of the U.S. Post
Office [USPS] to help
cover the cost of the
undertaking.
The balance of the build-
ing is expected to be com-
pleted in August.
The construction is
about four months behind,
the mayor said, but “two
months of that probably
can be attributed to the
weather.”
“Nonetheless, things are
progressing,” Mayor
LaCicero said.
The council also dis-
cussed an additional, third
change order for the proj-
ect, which was on the agen-
da at Monday’s meeting.
The mayor said it was dis-
cussed with the contractor
on Monday, as well.
The original contract
amount totaled $4,646,960,
which increased to
$4,730,895 due to $83,935 in
initial change orders added
to the project. In
December, Mayor LaCicero
said the most recent
request was for a $40,000
change order due to speci-
fications to the dome-like
structure on the building.
On Monday, the mayor
said, “Typically on a proj-
ect this size you see about
5-percent change orders
[increase in the contract
price] and we’re at 5.7 right
now … but we do expect
some change orders in our
favor through the end of
the project.”
He said he was shocked
that 5 percent is typical,
and he wished he had
known that before going
into the project.
“People in the field said,
‘5 percent, that’s nothing’
— well, it’s something to
us,” he said, adding that the
change orders needed for
the project have amounted
to around $200,000 thus
far.
The adjusted contract
price, with the addition of
the third change order, is
$4,914,925.
The change order was
passed via resolution at the
meeting and read, “autho-
rizing the execution of a
change order to the con-
tract with Wallace
Brothers, Inc. increasing
the adjusted contract price
by $106,550.”
It was passed unani-
mously by those in atten-
dance. Councilwoman
Joanne Filippone was not
in attendance.
The mayor said this
change order has to do
with electrical items as
well as “conduits for the
camera system we’re going
to install outside, conduits
to install the computer
interface [and] fire
alarms.”
Borough administrator
Christopher Parlow said,
“The subcode official sug-
gested there be some addi-
tional fire alarms be
installed.”
Also on the change
order, officials said, was
exterior lighting for the
building.
Councilman James
Borowski said he had an
issue with the change
orders, even though they
will be performed regard-
less.
“You’re paying these pro-
fessionals top dollar, who
know these jobs, who
should know what these
contingencies are going to
be — and they don’t build
them into the plan, and
we’re left holding the bag,”
he said. “It’s the most frus-
trating thing I face as a tax-
payer and a member of this
governing body.”
Mayor LaCicero said he
asked the architect on the
project to bring any further
changes to his attention
moving forward, so the
mayor may present them to
the council.
The new building, once
completed, will house the
town’s administrative
offices, council chambers,
municipal court, construc-
tion and zoning depart-
ment and beach badge
office, as well as the police
department headquarters,
which was also displaced
during Hurricane Sandy.
Paige Taylor covers Lavallette for
The Ocean Star. She can be reached
at ptaylor@theoceanstar.com or
732-899-7606 Ext 14.
LAVALLETTE
EVENTSTo submit a calendar listing
or Lavallette story, email
ptaylor@theoceanstar.com
RYAN MAYER THE OCEAN STAR
A SPECIAL GUEST FROM THE PAST
Renee Goodwin, a friend of the First Lady of the World, Eleanor Roosevelt, gave an educational
performance on Mrs. Roosevelt’s life to guests at Upper Shores Library on Wednesday, March 18.
BORO HALL
FROM PAGE 1
Change order for boro hall OK’d at meeting
3. WWW.STARNEWSGROUP.COM FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015 THE OCEAN STAR PAGE 3LAVALLETTE
THE OCEAN STAR
Free tree seedlings will be
available to Lavallette resi-
dents starting April 3, as part
of the New Jersey Tree Re-
covery Campaign.
This program helps com-
munities replace trees dam-
aged or destroyed by Super-
storm Sandy.
From 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
starting on April 3 and until
supplies last, residents will
be able to pick up tree
seedlings at the Lavallette Re-
cycling Center, located at 125
Washington Ave.
Seedlings, available on a
first come, first served basis,
also come with instructions
on how to store, care for, and
plant them.
The guides help residents
choose the right place on a
property to plant a tree while
keeping in mind the tree’s
full-grown size in the future.
Residents should plant the
seedlings within two days af-
ter pick-up in order to pre-
vent the roots from drying
out.
The goal of the Tree Re-
covery Campaign is to dis-
tribute over 500,000 tree
seedlings to New Jersey resi-
dents over the course of the
next five years
It is a joint effort between
the Borough of Lavallette,
New Jersey State Forestry
Services, New Jersey Soil
Conservation Districts, Sus-
tainable Jersey, Arbor Day
Foundation, Brothers Inter-
national, BJ’s Wholesale
Club, Wyndham Vacation Re-
sorts and FedEx.
When properly planted
and maintained, trees can be
assets to a community. They
improve the visual appeal of
a neighborhood or business
district, increase property
values, reduce home cooling
costs, remove air pollutants
and provide wildlife habitat,
among many other benefits.
Tree campaign to
provide seedlings
$8,959,323.
The council discussed a
few appropriation increases
in the spending plan.
Beach and boardwalk
salaries went up 8.74 percent
as there will be an additional
week added to the 2015 sum-
mer season. General liability
insurance is up 18.47 percent
because the borough is
adding flood insurance to its
facilities. Zoning and code
enforcement salaries are up
126 percent because grant
money had been funding
them for the past several
years. The mayor said the
borough has applied for
grants that could fund the
zoning and code salaries,
however.
“It’s not a pretty picture,”
Mayor Walter LaCicero said
of the budget, as the time has
come to “pay back funds
from Hurricane Sandy.”
“We got notice from the
department of community
affairs [DCA] that we need-
ed to start paying back our
10-percent share of the
Sandy emergency bonds this
year and have them paid off
within the next three years,”
he said.
Included in the 2015 budg-
et is not only the normal per-
centage increase but also the
funding of the borough’s 10-
percent share of monies
from the Federal Emergency
Management Agency
[FEMA].
According to Mr. Parlow,
the FEMA reimbursement is
normally 75 percent, but in
the case of Hurricane Sandy
it was upped to 90 percent.
“At some point we were
going to need to pay our 10-
percent share,” the mayor
said. “We were hoping to
long-term bond the remain-
der of the costs versus raise
taxes,” however such may
not be the case this year.
Mr. Parlow said the time
has come to respond to the
cost of Hurricane Sandy.
“New boardwalk, new
roads, $9 million in Ash Britt
debris removal … it’d be an
impossibility for me to say
that Sandy was not going to
cost anything,” he said.
Mr. Parlow added
Lavallette is hoping to stay
ahead of this by getting the
town restored and have the
assessed values increase
over time.
Mayor LaCicero said the
budget is up $194,842, of
which $156,000 is FEMA
“payback.”
“Without that we would
have been up $38,000, which
is virtually a flat budget,” he
said.
“Our expenditures are
well under control,” the
mayor also said.
“Unfortunately, our revenues
are a problem because of the
lack of new homes. They’re
coming, but they’re not here
yet; beach revenue is still
down a little bit, [and] police
revenue.”
The mayor said there is a
“2.9-percent increase for the
FEMA reimbursement on
top of our 2.7, [totaling a]
5.15-percentage increase.”
Mayor LaCicero said, “I’m
fairly optimistic for what our
long-term financial position
looks like. Once everything’s
built out again, we’re going
to have an abundance of
rateables.”
Following the meeting, Mr.
Parlow provided the follow-
ing figures for the 2015 pre-
liminary budget.
In total, $5,299,142 of the
proposed budget will be
raised through local taxation,
in comparison to the
$5,013,800 raised through tax-
es in 2014.
The proposed municipal
tax rate for 2015 per $100 of
assessed valuation is 28.6
cents, whereas last year it
was 27.2 cents.
The proposed 2015 budget
would create a 1.4-cent in-
crease in the municipal tax
rate per $100 of assessed val-
uation.
The average assessed val-
ue of a home in the borough,
according to Mr. Parlow, is
$679,000. If the budget is
adopted as-is that homeown-
er would see a $95 municipal
tax increase.
In sum, that average
homeowner would pay $1,941
in taxes for municipal pur-
poses if the proposed 2015
municipal budget is adopted
as-is.
These figures are for mu-
nicipal taxes only, and do not
include school or county tax-
es.
A total of $645,000 from
surplus is being applied to
the proposed 2015 budget,
which would leave $707,154
in the total surplus balance
and $414 in the cash surplus
balance.
The borough was awarded
$168,609 in state aid for both
2014 and 2015.
The public hearing and
vote for the adoption of the
budget is scheduled for May
4.
Paige Taylor covers Lavallette for The
Ocean Star. She can be reached at
ptaylor@theoceanstar.com or 732-
Council discusses increase in taxes to pay Sandy share
BUDGET
FROM PAGE 1
4. WWW.STARNEWSGROUP.COMPAGE 16 THE OCEAN STAR FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015 POINT PLEASANT BEACH
“Young Frankenstein.”
The high school principal
said she loves to send letters
out to the students regarding
their activities and added that
she always says it was the best
show ever.
“I thought it was truly, truly
the best show ever,” Ms. King
said. “I got lost in the show and
it was over too soon for me. I
loved it from start to finish.”
She said the night she went,
the performers received a
standing ovation and said the
role of Igor was perfect for
Chris Erbe.
She also congratulated the
cast, crew and director Emma
Fretz.
“If you didn’t have the op-
portunity to see it, you really
missed a terrific show,” Ms.
King said.
Ms. King acknowledged and
thanked the education founda-
tion for the grants the district
will be receiving — Project
Graduation, the Steered
Straight grant, Turn It In grant
and the Window Farm.
Ms. King also announced
the school finished their PAR-
CC [Partnership for Assess-
ment of Readiness for College
and Careers] testing and
makeups would be completed
by the end of the week.
She also congratulated
teacher of the year Leslie
Bridge.
Antrim Elementary School
principal Thomas O’Hara an-
nounced Michael Landers, a
sixth-grade science and social
studies teacher, was the
school’s teacher of the year.
Mr. O’Hara also said the
school is completely done
with PARCC testing.
He also congratulated Feli-
cia Galinas, the school’s
eighth-grade spelling bee
champion and the seventh-
graders, who received four
medals in the scholastic
olympics.
“We came home with four
medals — three gold and a
bronze, two in science, one in
math and one in music,” Mr.
O’Hara said.
Additionally, Mr. O’Hara
said the school’s spring carni-
val was a success and well at-
tended.
“The pie-throwing booth
was popular,” Mr. O’Hara said,
stating he had a turn having
pies thrown at him.
The school’s drama produc-
tion of “Alice in Wonderland”
began yesterday and will have
another performance tonight.
According to Mr. O’Hara,
over 75 students are involved
in the production and there
were two separate casts for the
performances.
He also congratulated the
junior and senior chorus, who
performed the National An-
them at a Philadelphia 76ers
game last week.
He joked that the 76ers may
ask them back because they
won, which they have not
been doing lately.
Lisa Taylor, the Lavallette
representative on the board,
noted the neighboring dis-
trict’s calendar will not match
up with Point Pleasant Beach’s
next school year. Ms. Taylor
said Lavallette will start school
on Sept. 2, while Point Pleasant
Beach will start on Sept. 9..
BOE
FROM PAGE 15
BY PAIGE TAYLOR
THE OCEAN STAR
POINT PLEASANT BEACH — The
lawsuit Jenkinson’s Pavilion
filed against the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers [ACE], the
New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection
[DEP] and the Borough of
Point Pleasant Beach is sched-
uled to be heard on April 22,
according to the attorney rep-
resenting the boardwalk busi-
ness in the matter.
The lawsuit, filed in United
States District Court in De-
cember, is in relation to the
planned federal beach replen-
ishment project that will con-
struct a continuous dune sys-
tem along the Ocean County
coastline.
John H. Buonocore, Jr., of
McKirdy & Riskin, P.A., of
Morristown, is representing
Jenkinson’s in the lawsuit.
Mr. Buonocore said the
lawsuit seeks two basic forms
of relief, including
“Declaratory judgment that
the USACOE has not mandat-
ed NJDEP to take private
property to create public
beaches beyond the area the
public already owns; and to
prevent the NJDEP and Point
Pleasant Beach from taking
private property without
complying with the require-
ments of the New Jersey
Eminent Domain Act.”
The federal beach replen-
ishment project, led by the
ACE, is planned to encompass
the area from the Manasquan
Inlet down to the Barnegat In-
let — running from Point
Pleasant Beach, to the north,
to Island Beach State Park, to
the south.
It will provide beach re-
plenishment in the form of a
berm and dune structure. In
addition to pumping sand
onto the beach to create
dunes, the Army Corps plans
to widen the beach, as well,
creating 200 feet of flat beach,
plus the slope between the
low- and high-tide marks.
The complaint was filed by
Jenkinson’s on Dec. 16 on the
premise that the ACE should
not require the acquisition of
rights to oceanfront landown-
ers’ property in order to com-
plete the project.
Jenkinson’s owns the major-
ity of the beach in Point Pleas-
ant Beach.
“NJDEP has told the public
that it was Army Corps of En-
gineers — not NJDEP — that
required the taking of private-
ly owned beachfronts along
the entire coast for ‘perpetual
public beach use’ in order for
the Corps to construct and
maintain the dune system,”
Mr. Buonocore said. “Jenkin-
son’s has requested a determi-
nation from the court that
NJDEP’s claims are inaccu-
rate.
“In fact, the dune system
can be constructed without
taking private property for
perpetual beach use in addi-
tion to the limited rights nec-
essary to build the dunes,” he
added.
Mr. Buonocore said
Jenkinson’s is already open to
the public.
“In fact, the entire New
Jersey shoreline is already
open to the public,” he said.
According to Mr.
Buonocore, the matter is
scheduled for a hearing on
April 22.
Bob Considine, a
spokesperson for the DEP,
said he could not comment on
the litigation as of press time.
A spokesperson from the
ACE’s Philadelphia District,
Steve Rochette, said, “We can-
not comment on the ongoing
litigation, but we are commit-
ted to providing the citizens
of Northern Ocean County
the authorized storm damage
reduction project that will
help protect life and property
against future storms once
construction is completed.”
“We will continue to coor-
dinate with the state of New
Jersey as they work through
the real estate acquisition
process,” Mr. Rochette added.
Hearing over replenishment slated
BY PAIGE TAYLOR
THE OCEAN STAR
POINT PLEASANT BEACH — At
this week’s council meeting,
here, the preliminary munici-
pal budget for 2015 was intro-
duced.
Borough administrator and
chief financial officer
Christine Riehl provided the
governing body with prelimi-
nary figures during the admin-
istrator’s report at the meet-
ing.
The 2015 proposed budget
is at $14,274,711, versus
$15,087,404 from last year.
In total, $7,791,939 of the
proposed budget will be
raised through local taxation if
it is approved, whereas last
year, $7,605,259 was raised
through local taxation.
At the meeting, Ms. Riehl
said there is an overall
increase in the amount to be
raised by taxation totalling
$186,679.60, “which is less
than a penny on the tax rate,
right around .7.”
She state further that “one
tax point [equates to] $195,000
in change,” adding that on an
average house assessed at
$455,000, the increase in taxa-
tion this year would be $19.27.
The proposed municipal tax
rate for 2015 per $100 of
assessed valuation is 40 cents
whereas the 2014 municipal
tax rate per $100 of assessed
valuation was 39.4 cents.
A homeowner with a home
assessed at the borough’s aver-
age would pay a total of $1,818
in municipal taxes if the pro-
posed 2015 municipal budget is
adopted as-is.
These figures are for
municipal taxes only, and do
not include county or school
taxes.
In total, $1,200,000 of the
surplus is being applied to the
2015 proposed budget, which
would leave $2,239,754 in the
surplus account.
Additionally, the borough
was awarded $571,362 in state
aid for 2015, which is the same
as 2014.
At the meeting, Mayor
Vincent Barrella said he
noticed water and sewer
expenses were about the same
as last year, and as of last year
there “were still things that
one could argue didn’t belong
in water and sewer.”
The water sewer budget for
2015, which is not included in
the $14,274,711 total municipal
budget, is $3,480,977. It was
$3,432,000 last year.
“Last year, certain items
were moved over and then
there was an appropriation
out of water and sewer surplus
to cover those expenses in the
budget,” he said.
Last year, there were long-
standing issues with the
water/sewer utility budget as a
combination of percentages of
salaries and wages, health
insurance and pension were
being charged to the utility
budget, that should be charged
to the current fund.
By law, some salaries and
wages, as well as benefits such
as health insurance and pen-
sions, can be placed into the
water/sewer utility budget
instead of the current fund.
Water/sewer is a self-liquidat-
ing utility, which means the
revenue it generates covers
the expenses it incurs. It is not
part of the current fund budg-
et that equates to tax increases
every year.
The employees who work
in the water/sewer depart-
ment, and their benefits and
pension, get charged to the
utility, as well as operating
expenses, payment for water
to Brick Township Municipal
Utilities Authority, Ocean
County Utilities Authority
charges, and debt service.
At this week’s meeting, the
mayor asked Ms. Riehl if there
was any correction of the
expenditures, “or are you
comfortable that the water
and sewer budget contains
only those expenses that are
applicable to the water and
sewer utility,” he asked Ms.
Riehl.
She said, “I don’t feel what’s
in the water and sewer budget
by way of expenditures is
excessive or obscene in any
way. We had went under the
premise of moving some of
the expenses along with the
surplus; this year the expenses
do remain the same, we do
have anticipated water and
sewer surplus [$75,000] in the
current budget.”
Last year, that number was
$100,000.
“The budget covers hun-
dreds, thousands of decisions,
and it was a good budget year
because we had a good rev-
enue year last year,”
Councilman William Mayer
said.
He said both parking and
tax collection rates were high.
He also said the borough’s
budget was “helped” by some
retirements and transfers,
including that of a Point
Pleasant Beach police officer
to the State Police Benevolent
Association.
Ms. Riehl said the borough
is also subject to the 2-percent
tax levy cap.
“This year we are coming in
under that by $238,000,” she
said, which can be used in
next year’s budget.
Councilman Tom Vogel
clarified that although the
budget was “procedurally”
introduced on Tuesday night,
it can be tweaked.
“There is wiggle room
here,” he said. “I think there
needs to be some continued
dialogue and feedback [among
council members and depart-
ments].”
Councilman Vogel also
asked that the budget be post-
ed on the borough’s website.
“The budget committee and
the administrator are doing a
great job,” he said, adding that
he would hope that communi-
cation on such matters contin-
ue among other council mem-
bers who are not members of
the committee.
“My belief is you’re doing
the hard work and making
decisions in the best interest
of the community,”
Councilman Vogel said,
adding that communication
helps the council to make
more informed decisions as
they are required to vote on
the budget.
Councilman Mayer agreed
that posting the budget is
important to coincide with the
motion to introduce.
During the next meeting,
April 21, the budget will be on
the agenda for public hearing
and adoption.
Mayor Barrella confirmed,
however, that public hearing
could take place without final
approval “if there’s an amend-
ment to what’s introduced.”
Point Beach council intro’s budget for 2015