Politics & Government

Collingswood Mayor Offers 2013 Budget Preview

The 2013 municipal budget will show $1.4 million in increased debt service, says Mayor James Maley, but those figures are attributable to the sale of borough-owned properties.

The next regular meeting of the Collingswood borough commissioners is slated for June 3, but the 2013 municipal budget won't be presented until a June 19 special meeting, Mayor James Maley announced at the commissioners reorganization meeting Tuesday.

Collingswood households can expect about a $56 average increase in what is anticipated to be a $16.1 million budget, Maley said, due in large part to rising healthcare costs, which he'd identified in his personal blog on the borough website.

The borough is switching its healthcare provider to the New Jersey state employees' public health plan, which should bring "substantial savings next year," Maley said. Until then, however, the commissioners approved a special, 30-day extension of those benefits with AmeriHealth for another two months. 

Find out what's happening in Collingswoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Maley also warned that the 2013 municipal budget—which covers the hires of four more firemen and two more police officers—will show a debt service increase of $1.4 million, which he said is related to the sale of the 'Old Zane School' (for $800,000) as well as a few of the borough-owned LumberYard units ($300,000-350,000).

“We’ve sold properties so we have more [one-time] revenue coming in,” Maley said. "That cash is coming into our budget, and that cash is going out on principal payment. Our regularly scheduled debt service is actually going down this year by $50,000."

Find out what's happening in Collingswoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The borough owns two more units that have yet to be sold, Maley said, and will sell off the three that it has leased at the property when those agreements expire at the end of the year. 

“We’re going the right way with this money," Maley said. "We’re paying down more debt. We’re coming out of all the clouds.”

Collingswood commissioners also authorized a formal request for proposal from financial services professionals at the meeting. The borough is seeking a financial advisor to assist in the restructuring of its debt.


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