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Council members press for budget details after sharp increases in water and sewer health-insurance lines
Summary
Council members raised concerns on May 6 about large year-over-year increases in health-insurance budget lines for the township’s water and sewer utilities and requested detailed salary and vacancy pages before voting on the full municipal budget.
Several township council members told Mayor Barbario and the business administrator during the May 6 agenda meeting that they want more granular budget detail before they will vote on the municipal budget scheduled for final adoption on May 20.
Council members flagged a large increase in the sewer utility health-insurance budget, which one council member said rose from $2.7 million in 2024 to $4.2 million in 2025 for roughly the same headcount. The council member said the water and sewer utilities together account for about $6.7 million of an overall $13 million health-insurance line, representing about half of the town’s total despite utilities comprising roughly 20% of employees. The member asked whether the increases reflect reallocation or an accounting change and requested a meeting with the business administrator to review the numbers.
Another council member requested department-level salary pages, vacancy lists, and details on promotions and raises. The business administrator and mayor said staff would meet with council members and make the departmental budget materials available online; the business administrator reminded members the council’s public budget presentation from April is available on the township website. The mayor and business administrator did not provide a department-by-department salary breakdown during the meeting; they said officials would schedule follow-up meetings and provide requested documentation.
Council members said they would not vote on the budget until they had received the requested financial transparency. The vote on the final 2025 budget was scheduled for the council’s May 20 meeting.
