Mannington Township Committee adopts emergency budget measures, approves tax refund for disabled veteran and sets developer fee schedules

Mannington Township Mayor Donald C. Asay and the Township Committee met March 6, 2025, and approved a series of routine but consequential measures to keep township operations funded while the 2025 budget is finalized.

The committee adopted an emergency temporary resolution under N.J.S.A. 40A:4-20 stating the township could not yet adopt the full 2025 budget and authorizing interim appropriations. The resolution noted that the total emergency temporary resolutions adopted in 2025, including this one, total $516,797.00 and approved $11,000 for interim legal operating expenses and defensive law suits; the committee said those amounts will be provided for in the 2025 budget when adopted.

In a separate action the committee approved a resolution cancelling portions of the 2025 tax levies for a total disabled veteran (Block 28, Lot 4 — Milford L. Ransome) after certification by the Tax Assessor and Tax Collector under N.J.S.A. 54:4-3.31. The resolution authorized a corrected refund to the owner of $1,156.81 to resolve an overpayment.

Committee members also passed, on first reading, Ordinance No. 25-01 to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and establish a cap bank for 2025 (public hearing scheduled April 3, 2025) and Ordinance No. 25-02 amending Chapter 10, "Animals," (public hearing also April 3, 2025). The committee adopted schedules A–E setting the rates to be charged to applicant/developer escrow accounts under the Municipal Land Use Law effective retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025; the adopted rates include $195 per hour for the township solicitor, $185 per hour for the planning board solicitor and $275 per hour for land-use litigation.

The committee also adopted a resolution certifying compliance with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's guidance on consideration of arrest and conviction records in employment decisions, as required by N.J.S.A. 40A:4-5 (P.L. 2017, c.183), and authorized the township solicitor and tax appeal counsel to file corrective tax appeals and represent the township before the Salem County Board of Taxation and the New Jersey Tax Court, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025.

On routine finance business the committee approved bills and handled a pair of motions related to payments to outside law firms (Weir Greenblatt Pierce LLC and Aimino Law, LLC): the committee first approved the bill list with an explicit exclusion of payment to those two firms, then separately approved payment to the two firms; votes were recorded in the minutes with Asay and Eber voting yes on the second payment and DiGregorio voting no.

Deputy Mayor Richard A. Eber Jr. gave the public-works report, noting that Fralinger's Engineering met March 4 to discuss Mannington Yorktown Road Phase III and that paving is expected in about two weeks. He said Bogey’s will return to complete a prior repair, the town-hall septic tank has been requested to be pumped, a large tree hanging over Compromise Road is being monitored for safety, and the OEM building water heater needs replacement.

Mayor Asay announced the appointment of Karl Morgan Jr. to a three-year term on the township's Agriculture Advisory Committee; the minutes record the announcement but do not show a roll-call motion or vote for that appointment. The meeting concluded with routine receipts and financial reports for February and adjourned at 6:34 p.m.

What happens next: Public hearings for Ordinance Nos. 25-01 and 25-02 are scheduled for April 3, 2025, at 5:30 p.m.; the township will incorporate the emergency temporary appropriations into the 2025 budget when that budget is presented and adopted.