Special Budget Meeting

Commissioner Jeff Kasko, the borough director of financing, will hold a special public meeting at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the to discuss Haddonfield's proposed $15.23 million budget.

This meeting is in addition to a public budget hearing next Tuesday in which a vote is scheduled. The meeting tonight is not an official commissioner's meeting and no vote on the budget will be held.

Borough commissioners introduced a budget last month that will increase the local tax rate by just over 6 percent.

The increase will boost the average amount paid for local services by taxpayers to $2,304 yearly. That's a $134 hike for the owner of a home assessed at $491,359, the borough average.

The tax hike is largely fueled by a nearly $500,000 increase in the reserve for uncollected taxes. The reserve is a state requirement. The increase 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 $10,576,000, up from $9,992,651.

Kasko said debt service, capital improvements, increases in medical costs for employees and a decrease in ratables, the value of real estate in Haddonfield, also contributed to the tax hike.

Two other commissioners earlier this month said the rising amount of uncollected taxes appears to be a sign of the times.