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Belleville holds public hearing on $84 million municipal budget as residents press questions
Summary
The Belleville council opened the public hearing on the 2024 municipal budget introduced March 26, 2024; residents questioned notice timing, council expenses, parking meter revenue and certain line items while officials and the CFO provided item-level explanations and details about the state review and amendment process.
The Belleville Municipal Council opened the public hearing on the 2024 municipal budget, which was introduced March 26, 2024, and discussed funding sources, revenue assumptions and line-item details.
Clerk and finance staff summarized that the budget had been advertised per the Sunshine Law and the hearing was the public comment opportunity required by law. A resident asked why the full agenda had not been posted earlier in the week; officials said the legal notice requirement had been met through newspaper publication and website posting.
Residents raised multiple questions about specific line items. Vincent Fran Antony challenged the scale of the budget and asked for line-item explanations, including parking meter revenue (last year roughly $45,000; the budget projects substantially higher figures), interest on investments, the municipal appropriation cap and the accounting treatment of shared-service payments with the board of education.
Township officials and the CFO answered: parking revenue projections reflect changed meter usage and new enforcement/collections; interest income results from consolidated deposits under a preferred bank rate; certain large increases reflect capital projects financed with bonds or reimbursed by grants (stadium/Green Acres grants were cited); and the appropriation-cap increase is a multi-year budgeting tool that can be amended. Officials noted that grant-funded items show as spending because grants are one-time or restricted revenues and cannot be used to supplant normal operating costs.
Council adopted a procedural resolution (Resolution 14922-2024) to read the budget by title and to hold the hearing; the roll call for that resolution recorded councilmembers Cerelli, Depena, Riano, Notari and Mayor Melham voting yes. After public comment and answers from staff, the council closed the hearing by roll call; officials said Trenton (state review) may return comments and any necessary amendments will require additional public notice and a subsequent vote.
No final adoption vote on the budget occurred at the hearing; councilmembers explained the state review and amendment process to the audience and provided a calculation that the tax impact on an average assessed property would be approximately $98 (as stated during the meeting).
