The Stone Harbor Borough Council approved a new municipal budget for 2014 that totals $14 million and requires an eight tenths of a penny increase in the local municipal tax rate.  The budget was approved during a unanimous 6-0 vote by Council following a presentation at the Tuesday, April 1st Council meeting.

“The creation of the 2014 municipal budget for Stone Harbor required a year-long effort by every member of Council, various committees and our finance office to improve the delivery of services while keeping a tax increase to a minimum”, said Stone Harbor Mayor Suzanne Walters.  “This budget accomplishes that while maintaining a healthy surplus for the Borough”.

The budget establishes a municipal tax rate of 23.2 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.  The 2013 municipal tax rate was 22.4 cents which results in a 3.57% increase in the municipal tax rate.  The Borough maintains a ratable base of $4.41 billion and entered the budgetary year with a healthy $2.3 million in surplus.  $1.04 million of surplus funding is being used to support the 2014 municipal budget.  The Borough currently enjoys a very strong tax collection rate of 98.04%.

Like many other communities, Stone Harbor is allocating additional expenditures for group health insurance.  The Borough anticipates spending an additional $101,000 for insurance through the New Jersey State Health Benefits Plan which continues to provide the best value to the Borough.  A $51,000 increase in wages that reclassifies the position of Tourism Director to Administrative Assistant is included in the budget but is offset by a decrease in the Beach, Recreation and Tourism budget.

Stone Harbor will be saving over $217,000 courtesy of an innovative shared services agreement with neighboring Avalon for emergency dispatch services.  There is an overall decrease in the Utility Budget of $98,732 due to a reduction in the appropriation to the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority of $100,000; this represents the third consecutive year that operating expenses have significantly decreased in the Utility Budget.

View the complete budget presentation here:  Borough of Stone HarborBudget Presentation 2014