Leon Costello, the city's auditor, tells Council that the 2018 budget keeps local taxes stable.
By Donald Wittkowski
City Council on Tuesday introduced a 2018 municipal budget that keeps local taxes the same and also awarded a construction contract that will bring the first public bocce ball court to Sea Isle City after residents clamored for one.
The budget totals $24.7 million, up slightly from last year’s $24 million spending plan. However, taxes will remain the same.
“This budget has no tax increase,” said Leon Costello, a partner with Ford-Scott & Associates LLC, the city’s auditor, told Council in brief public remarks.
The average homeowner with a house assessed at $645,000 will pay $4,481 in total annual property taxes, according to Paula Doll, the city’s chief financial officer.
Meanwhile, water and sewer rates will remain the same for the fifth year in a row under the city’s new $10.4 million utilities budget. The utilities budget is separate from the municipal spending plan. The typical utility bill for homeowners is $1,220 per year, Doll said.
Council has scheduled a public hearing and final vote on the municipal budget for March 27. The governing body will scrutinize the spending plan over the next few weeks for possible revisions, Council President Mary Tighe said.
Leon Costello, the city's auditor, tells Council that the 2018 budget keeps local taxes stable.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio, while previewing the budget during his State of the City address on Feb. 13, said the spending plan reflects the city’s strong financial footing. He noted that the city began the year with a nearly $5 million budget surplus, representing a $1 million increase over 2017.
Most of the 2018 budget will be funded by $17.7 million in tax revenue. The city will also tap $3 million in surplus revenue as a major funding source. Beach tag sales will contribute nearly $1.3 million in revenue.
In other business Tuesday, Council awarded a $23,500 construction contract for a bocce ball court at the city’s Dealy Field recreation complex.
Dealy Field will be the home for Sea Isle's first permanent bocce ball court open to the public. (Photo courtesy Sea Isle City)
In another vote Tuesday, Council rescinded a $133,850 contract awarded Feb. 13 to Transformation Enterprises Inc., of Egg Harbor Township, to tear down three dilapidated trailer-like modular units that once served as an expansion at the former Sea Isle City Public School.
City Business Administrator George Savastano explained that Transformation Enterprises failed to disclose information that was required about a subcontractor. That represented a “technical defect,” prompting Council to rescind the contract.
The contract will now be rebid, which will delay the demolition project. Previously, the work had been scheduled to be finished by May 16.
Demolition of the weather-beaten trailers is the first step in the city’s plan to convert the old school into a community recreation center.
Among the options, the city will consider whether the existing school should be turned into a recreation center or whether an entirely new building should be constructed, including the possibility of adding an indoor community pool.
The modular units were added to the back of the school in the 1980s when more space was needed to accommodate what was then Sea Isle’s growing student population. When the school closed down in 2012 due, ironically, to declining student enrollment, the trailers became an eyesore.
The three old trailers behind the school have become blighted over the years.
