Commissioners Honor 57 Borough Women, but Don't Introduce Budget

The Haddonfield on Tuesday approved three resolutions, including a storm-water management measure on second reading, but did not introduce the new borough budget.

A borough official said the budget was still not completed and will likely be introduced at the commissioner's next regular meeting on March 27. The deadline for introducing calendar-year budgets was March 9 or the next scheduled meeting after that date, according to the New Jersey League of Municipalities. Local officials said the state grants some leeway for budget introductions and that the borough will still be in compliance.

Officials are considering a 6.79 percent tax-rate increase for the new budget, according to public documents. Property owners with a home valued at the borough average of $491,359 will pay $2,318, up from $2,171, a $147 increase, if the proposed budget is approved.

The tax hike is largely fueled by a nearly $500,000 increase in the reserve for uncollected taxes, a state requirement. The tax hike will still keep Haddonfield under a state-mandated 2-percent cap on increases on the amount raised by taxes, or the tax levy. The projected levy will be $10,639,666, up from $9,992,651. The projected tax rate will be 47¢ per $100 of assessed property value, up from 44¢.

Haddonfield’s average property tax of $12,088.88 is nearly twice the state average at $7,776, according to the state Department of Community Affairs. Haddonfield has the second highest average property tax bill in Camden County. It trails Tavistock, an exclusive enclave at the tip of Haddonfield, enclosed mostly in an exclusive golf course. Haddonfield's property tax bills are 27 percent higher than Voorhees, $8,777.41, third in the county.

Tuesday's meeting also included a packed house of nearly 150 people who turned out largely for an hour-and-a-half hour ceremony to honor 57 local women as part of a Women's History Month commemoration.

Honorees included Judge Linda Baxter, a longtime borough resident who presided over the sensational trial of Rabbi Fred Neulander, who was convicted of hiring a hitman to murder his wife in their Cherry Hill home.

Other women honored were:

Margaret Loudin Kadar

Pam Polise

Nancy Olver

Taylor Ng

Nancy DeLaura

Alison Olver

Nancy Malone

Ginny Dengler

Patty Perkins

Catherine Senopoulos

Bonnie Dengler Walter

Sharon Dostmann

Rebecca Senopoulos

Patty Keegan Dengler

Janis Rice

Rosalind Senopoulos

Darcy Durham

Alison Pelose

Louise Williams Senopoulos

Emma Van Dervort

Leslie Rice

Rosalind Williams

Tara Van Dervort

Barbara Schroeter

Victoria Martinez

Aubrey Bryan

Gretchen Poliero

Kathy Lanciano Martinez

Holly Harrington

Sabine Mehnert

Erica Pascocello

Talia Dunyak

Amy Keys Shaw

Andrea Pascocello

Emma Sanger-Johnson

Ann R. Koelling

Amanda Rose Lanciano

Marci Foster

Shana Marshall

Natalie Lanciano

Bettina Halla

Anne K. Johnson

Jeanne Augugliaro

Joyce Howell

Barbara Lynn

Amy Frontino

Beth Kreps

Sharon McCullough

Catherine Smith

Joan McKenna

Melinda Champion

Betsy Lindenberg

Beth Pennente McBryan

Barbara Boyer