Budget amendment may cut $4M BY JAY BODAS Staff Writer EDISON - The Township Council is considering an amendment to the 2006-07 budget that may cut next year's tax increase by 5.5 cents. It will further discuss the amendment at a Nov. 30 special session. The amendment recommends a tax increase of 8 cents that would reduce by almost $4 million the $109.6 million budget that has been proposed by Mayor Jun Choi. Last week, the DCA (Department of Community Affairs) also announced that Edison Township would receive $700,000 in extraordinary aid, assuming a tax increase next year of 13.3 cents, according to Choi's spokesman, Jerry Barca. He said the DCA would decide the aid number when the final budget is sent. Issues that remain to be discussed on Thursday include whether to hire 12 additional EMTs (emergency medical technicians) to serve the township and whether to cut a grant-writer position from the budget. Choi has said that both positions would generate more revenue for the township. "A full-time grant writer we proposed was cut even though a grant writer would pay for himself or herself several times over and accelerate the pace of new revenues being generated," Choi said earlier in November. The hiring of 12 professional EMTs "also would generate a profit for our community, because for every call we respond to via a professional instead of a volunteer, we receive an insurance payment, which is a profit for our community," he had said at the time. At last week's meeting, council President Robert Diehl said he was in support of adding both positions to the budget. "I think a grant-writer is a wonderful idea," Diehl said. "It is a cash cow. The EMTs are a revenue generator. I think those are some of the things that belong in the budget." However, Councilman Salvatore Pizzi said it was not yet certain whether the 12 EMTs would create revenue for the township. "In order to recognize the income from the EMTs, [the mayor] would have to apply to the DCA to let them know the plan so they could look at it," Pizzi said after last week's meeting. "That didn't happen. The administration never applied to the DCA. We want the EMTs on, but we have to be responsible about it, too." Barca disputes that claim. "The budget that was submitted to the DCA has the 12 EMTs," Barca said. "The council was copied on the documentation sent to the DCA on Sept. 20 of this year that shows the EMTs in the budget. It is great the councilman wants the EMTs, and the DCA knows about them and has known about them." Another issue raised at the council meeting was whether more firefighters could be hired by the township under the amended budget since Fire Chief Norman Jensen believes the township should "maintain a minimum of 147 jobs." There are currently 138 active full-time firefighters in the Edison Fire Department, and two more are currently on terminal leave, according to township records. On Monday, Councilman Peter Barnes said that he had made his decision to vote for an 8-cent tax increase. "The mayor has been consistent in wanting a 13-cent tax increase, which is too high," Barnes said. "Historically, every mayor has always wanted a surplus, but Mayor Choi has wanted an extraordinarily high surplus, and the town can do better." Defending his proposed budget, Choi said that adopting it as-is would be the "first step toward stabilizing Edison's finances for years to come." "Unfortunately, some members of this council are ignoring the mandate of change the voters overwhelmingly supported during both the primary and general elections last year," he said. "These council members are thwarting the people's will by insisting on business as usual when it comes to Edison's budget."