Message from Mayor Josh Losardo | March 25, 2022
No Municipal Tax Increase This Year
Last week, the Township Council introduced the 2022 Municipal Budget. This proposed spending plan budget continues to build upon one of the most significant goals of the governing body: to improve municipal services, while ensuring that the town runs as cost efficiently as possible.
So, yes, we want to add more programs and services. But we do not want taxpayers to fund it.
This budget strikes the tight balance. I am pleased to say there will be no increase in your municipal taxes. Yet we are still able to hire more staff for the Scotch Plains Police Department, Fire Department and Department of Public Works. Yet we are able to maintain more roads, purchase traffic calming devices and invest in our municipal parks at a level unlike any in recent memory.
In this budget, we are creating mechanisms to improve the collection of leaves and branches, as well as snow removal. The Township Council wants faster collections and cleaner streets when the work is done. We are investing in our DPW, providing more staff and the equipment the department needs to meet our higher expectations.
In the future, if the budget should allow, we will want to hire even more staff or work more cooperatively with neighboring towns, as Scotch Plains works towards creating the best public works department in New Jersey.
This budget also supports our Recreation Commission with new playground improvements at Greenside Park, resurfacing of the tennis courts at Green Forest and improved irrigation controls at Shady Rest which, by the way, is having its most profitable year in its history. Since 2018, Shady Rest Golf Course has netted the town $162,192.
We also support the Recreation Commission’s proposal to install lighting at Brookside Park so that sports practices and games may occur in the early evening hours. These improvements compliment the new playground at Kramer Manor (completed last Spring), turf at Southside (completed last fall) and resurfacing of basketball courts at Jerseyland and Farley parks (completed last summer).
We are also planning for the future of Scotch Plains with money set aside for the relocation of our emergency services operations to Plainfield Avenue, a location more centrally located than existing headquarters. We are also preparing for the construction of a new town library with ample space for community programming. With efficiency in mind, we plan to relocate all the functions available in Town Hall today to the top floor of the new library structure.
We will continue investing and improving Scotch Plains, while stabilizing your municipal taxes. This proposed budget is evidence of that.
