Southampton Township tables 2020 budget adoption, adopts amendment after public hearing

The Southampton Township Committee on April 21 opened a public hearing on the 2020 municipal budget, tabled formal adoption of the original budget and approved an amendment after public comment.

Mayor Michael Mikulski opened the hearing and invited public comment. Resident Evie Doherty of 56 Stratford Road urged the committee to pursue cost-saving measures and to waive late fees on payments coming due. "I do not think that solar fields are good for the community, and [they are] deadly when put on the landfill," Doherty said, and she also asked that township tennis courts be reopened given the low number of COVID-19 cases in Burlington County.

Committeeman Ronald Heston moved to table Resolution 2020-53, which would have authorized adoption of the 2020 budget; Committeewoman Elizabeth Rossell seconded the motion. At roll call the motion to table carried with Heston, Deputy Mayor William Raftery, Rossell, Committeeman James F. Young, Sr., and Mayor Mikulski voting in the affirmative. Later in the meeting Deputy Mayor Raftery moved and Rossell seconded Resolution 2020-54, an amendment to the 2020 budget. That motion passed unanimously on roll call.

The committee did not specify in the public minutes the dollar amounts or line-item changes in the adopted amendment. The record notes only that an amendment was approved and that the original adoption motion was tabled; detailed budget figures were "not specified" in the meeting text and would be available in the township's budget documents or a subsequent published amendment.

The committee held an executive session later in the meeting under Resolution 2020-57. The public meeting adjourned at 6:37 p.m.

Next steps: the minutes record the budget amendment as adopted; the committee did not record further action on a final, full adoption of the original budget during the public session.