2008 budget: increases in some areas, cuts in others BY CHRIS GAETANO Staff Writer EDISON - The latest 2008 budget amendment to come from Edison Township, the first part of Mayor Jun Choi's three-year financial plan, is available to the public and contains several proposed reforms. The proposed spending plan, which the mayor is urging the Township Council to pass, would set the fiscal year 2008 budget at $115,425,700, which represents a 9.8 percent increase over the last one. The average Edison homeowner would need to pay $158 more per year on their property tax bill. Choi had previously characterized his spending plan as bitter medicine required to dig the township out of a hole caused by years of deficit spending by previous administrations. The mayor hopes that with the plan stretching over three years, it will achieve some measure of property tax stabilization within the township. The hope is that the changes in the budget this year will result in lowering the tax levy to 4.5 percent next year and 4.3 percent the year after that. The line-item details of the budget itself, released to the public about two weeks ago, is a dense document, weighing in at about 170 pages. It shows 33 employees who retired, were let go, or resigned. Three were in the health department, three were in senior services, three were in police, one was in emergency dispatch and one was in fire, and 22 were in the library, though township Communications Director Jerry Barca said that many of those listed on that part of the budget are either temporary or parttime employees. The budget includes a potential new position within the mayor's office, the director of economic development, who would be paid $47,000. Barca said that this position would be "highly qualified" and work full time on attracting "smart, clean companies to bring in new ratables and work to retain existing businesses in Edison." Also included in the budget is a $57,593 salary increase for Township Attorney Jeffrey Lehrer.According to Barca, the township attorney's other expenses were reduced by about that same amount and that, with this pay increase, Lehrer would now be paid the same level as other department heads. Lehrer heads the law department in the township. Barca further said that this will save the township money in the long run, because the attorney will not be able to bill by the hour "on certain complex legal matters." The engineering department's professional services budget represented the largest and only increase in its expense request, going from $233,661 to $405,000. Barca said this represents a large increase in new expenses such as a survey of the Dismal Swamp, landfill design services, redesign of tax maps as required by the state, fees from the state Department of Environmental Protection, and the design of the quiet zone, among other things. The township will also be contracting $10,000 to put the township in line with current storm-water regulations. The budget amendment will go through a public hearing process before being voted on by the Township Council. Council President Robert Diehl said that the budget would be publicly discussed during the next regular council meeting on Feb. 13.