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Byram council previews 2025 budget with 3.51% tax-levy increase and fund-balance proposals
Summary
Township Manager Joseph Sabatini presented the draft 2025 budget showing a proposed property tax levy of $9,507,465 (a 3.51% or $332,671 increase), outlined capital needs including $636,423 to the Capital Improvement Fund, and recommended limited use of fund balance for one‑time items such as a new police building supplement and tanker repairs.
Township Manager Joseph Sabatini presented the Township of Byram’s preliminary 2025 budget at the Jan. 21 council meeting, saying the plan links policy priorities to funding and is posted on the municipal website for public review.
"The municipal budget is the Council's most important annual policy statement," Sabatini told the council as he walked through the budget workbook and the proposed capital improvement program. As presented, the plan shows property taxes totaling $9,507,465 — a 3.51% increase in the tax levy, or $332,671.
Sabatini identified the main cost drivers as insurance and operating-line increases: workers' compensation (+$2,395), general liability (+$9,070), a group health insurance increase of roughly $131,000 (about 9.57%), and a $12,000 rise in the annual garbage/recycling contract. He said salary and wages reflect contractual step and longevity obligations and that police salaries were being kept flat for 2025.
The draft Capital Improvement Fund appropriation is $636,423, including $100,000 for streets and roads supplement, $100,000 for DPW equipment, and $225,500 for street improvements. Sabatini also noted $570,000 of ARP funds remain unspent and that $550,000 of CIF is proposed toward a new police department building.
Sabatini cautioned the council about reliance on interest income to balance the budget. He said the 2024 actual interest collected was $801,868.26, while the 2025 projection used conservatively lower estimates and warned that a significant drop in interest rates "could make it extremely difficult to balance future budgets without raising taxes or cutting expenditures." He recommended budgeting only a portion of expected interest income and using fund balance primarily for one-time capital items.
Councilman Roseff pressed for clearer online reporting and further breakdowns: he asked that the interest-earned figures be updated on the website and requested that forecast figures and ratable treatments be circulated to council members. Mayor Rubenstein and other members signaled priorities including file scanning and roads; the mayor proposed moving roughly $250,000 of fund balance to capital to support tanker repairs and a scanning project.
The council set the formal budget introduction for March 4 and scheduled adoption for April 1. The council also introduced an ordinance to raise the municipal appropriation cap to 3.5% (N.J.S.A. 40A:4-45.14) and to bank the difference; that ordinance will be considered for final passage Feb. 4.
