The Bloomfield Township Council introduced the 2021 budget at its July 26 meeting.
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Bloomfield Township Council unanimously introduced the 2021 municipal budget at its July 26 meeting. The budget is a total of $95,652,790.32, with a tax increase of $19 per year for the average homeowner. This represents a tax increase of approximately 0.47 percent.
“The biggest priority was to help the township residents by keeping the tax increase as minimal as possible without cutting any services,” Comptroller Carmine Sarno said in an email to The Independent Press on Aug. 10. “The most significant appropriations increase in this year’s budget is attributable to pension costs, an increase of approximately $1.2 million.”
The Bloomfield Police Department is the largest line item in the budget; salaries and wages for the department will cost $17,400,000. Other expenses in the department total $415,000. The communication center’s budget is $1,190,000, with $1,160,000 of that total earmarked for salaries. Emergency management services will cost $19,100 in 2021.
The Bloomfield Fire Department’s total budget will be $10,100,000. Of that total, $9,850,000 is for employee salaries and $250,000 is for other expenses. The community ambulance will cost $49,000 to run.
The Health Department budget is a total of $2,524,600; it is broken down by division. The health division budget is $2,018,500, including salaries for employees. The human services division budget is $311,500. Animal control, which is run under the health department, has a budget of $100,000. A cancer screening program run by the health department has a $9,300 budget; the environmental protection program will get $20,300; and case manager services at Heritage Village will have a $15,000 budget for salaries. The last item in the health department budget is rodent control, which will cost $50,000.
The recreation department’s budget increased from $820,500 in 2020 to $831,000 this year. Employee salaries will cost the town $530,000, and other expenses will be $59,000. Senior citizen transportation will cost $192,000. Public events and celebrations are also included, with $50,000 set aside in the budget for big public events, such as fireworks and festivals.
The Bloomfield Public Library’s budget also increased to $1,750,217 in 2021 from $1,662,025.87 in 2020.
The main project that the capital budget is accounting for are roadway improvements in town.
“Repaving is an important priority in 2021, therefore roadway improvement authorization of $4.2 million is the most notable capital project for this year,” Sarno said.
The bulk of the revenue the town will anticipate in 2021 comes from municipal taxes; the expected amount is $62,211,908. Bloomfield will receive $6,375,132 in state aid funding.
The 0.47-percent increase in taxes is only on the municipal portion. The lion’s share of property taxes go to the school district, and that tax levy is set by the Board of Education. The remainder of property taxes, usually the smallest portion, goes to the county.
A public hearing on the Bloomfield municipal 2021 budget is planned for the Aug. 16 meeting, during which time it will be voted on for final passage.
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