BRICK – The governing body approved a $126.2 million municipal budget during a recent Township Council meeting following a public hearing for the spending plan, when only a handful of residents asked questions or made comments.
However, the vote was split between party lines with the four Democrats voting in favor of the spending plan while the three Republicans voted against it.
The municipal budget shows an increase of 2.8 percent over last year’s $122.7 million budget. The increase is the result of rising costs across the board, with the most significant increases being fuel and health care costs, said Mayor Lisa Crate.
The municipal tax rate will rise from 81.2 cents to 84.5 cents per $100 of assessed property value. For the average home in Brick, the increase is about $98 a year.
Republicans Lisa Reina and Gregory Cohen were critical of some $16 million in surplus being used for the spending plan, leaving a balance of $2.9 million in the account. Reina said it was the highest amount of surplus used in 15 years, leaving 2.34 percent of the budget for emergencies.
In New Jersey, municipal surplus functions as a financial cushion to fund emergencies and as a reserve for unexpected and unbudgeted financial shortfalls. A healthy surplus impacts a township’s credit rating, which can trigger a downgrade in Brick’s bond rating, Reina said.
Council Vice President Derrick Ambrosino, a Democrat, said the township has a track record of over 14 years of continually improving its financial standing, and said that this budget continues that progress.
He called the 2026 budget “appropriate and necessary,” to ensure consistency of serving the community even in the face of “extraordinary cost increases.”
Ambrosino said all township departments are more costly this year as compared to last year, including supplies for the Department of Public Works, Police, Parks, EMTs, the cost of gas and other energy costs.
He said that voting against the budget is voting against funding the most important elements of Brick, including the Police Department, Emergency Services, improvements to roads, parks, the collection of trash and recycling and preserving open space.
Reina took exception to Ambrosino’s comments. “Once again, we disagree, and once again, Derrick, you’re calling me, you’re calling Greg, out,” she said. “It feels like each time there’s a disagreement in the perspective that there’s a public scolding for having a dissenting opinion.”
She said disagreeing with the budget is not the same as opposing essential services.
Cohen said his no vote for the budget isn’t against the Police Department, EMTs or Public Works. “We are in an economy, right now…and [Brick residents] cannot afford to have everything go up.”
During Public Comment on the budget, resident Joe Lamb said on the subject of bond ratings, credit agencies look at the debt a municipality has taken on.
“Over the course of many years with this administration and the prior administration…they’ve cut the debt drastically. That’s a real positive sign for a credit agency,” he said.
Lamb said Ocean County has raised taxes 9.3 percent this year. “So the same people who are screaming about [Brick’s 2.8 percent increase] are not screaming about 9.3 percent…When you want to put things in perspective, let’s put it all in perspective.”
Resident Cathy Lindenbaum asked if the administration has a plan to replenish the surplus funds.
Business Administrator Joanne Bergin said the township has “a couple of things in play that we hope will come to fruition in the coming year,” including closing on the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes, a long-term tax exemption law to create financial incentives to a redeveloper, who would pay an annual fee) for the sportsdome, currently under construction on Route 70, which would bring in some new revenue once they get their Certificate of Occupancy, and the potential sale of township-owned property off Route 70 to Bancroft Neuro Health.
The budget passed by one vote.
The post $126.2M Brick Township Budget Approved appeared first on Jersey Shore Online.
