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Resident presses council on OPRA access and sewer utility transfers
Summary
A resident who has published local budget data pressed the council for more open records and questioned whether sewer utility excesses have been shifted into the municipal budget over multiple years; the mayor and business administrator explained allocation practices and advised contacting the County Board of Taxation for technical tax-appeal allocation questions.
During the public comment period resident John Grease said he has compiled budget visualizations at strongerclark.com/data and asked why certain meeting minutes and records are not posted on the township website. He also said his OPRA research suggested the sewer utility had moved excess funds into the general budget—"about $700,000 over the last every year for the last 5 years" and "this current year, it was about 925,000," he said—and asked the council to explain.
Mayor Albanese and the business administrator responded that the township follows state audit requirements and that utility accounting includes allocated overhead (for functions such as IT, administration and benefits) applied by a reasonable method. The mayor recommended the resident contact the County tax administrator (Christopher Durie) or the County Board of Taxation for detailed questions about tax-appeal allocations. The mayor said he understood the desire for more online data but noted hosting and maintenance carry costs.
The exchange continued with other residents and council members debating transparency and the tone of public discourse. Another commenter, Glenn Fogarty, praised police efforts on Lake Avenue and criticized the OPRA requester in personal terms; council members repeatedly urged citizens to use official channels and publicize questions through the clerk or business administrator for follow-up.
