Update; Middletown Day 183 Without A Budget: Budget Meeting Scheduled

I have just received word that Middletown's current budget fiasco may soon be over.

The Township Clerk has sent out a notice via email that The Township Committee will be holding a public hearing and vote on the Calender Year Budget for 2009 on Monday July 13th. The meeting will be in the court room and will begin at 7pm.

One of the more interesting pieces of information that I have heard concerning the budget today is that former Township CFO Bob Roth, who was brought in by the township to look over the budget mess left behind by Richard Wright has been that Roth has been digging through old bond issues looking for left over monies.

One such bond was issued in 2006, it provided a reserve for possible tax appeals. It has been languishing all these years unused or forgotten about.

Bob Roth was Township CFO for nearly 20 years before Richard Wright took over last year, it had been said about Roth that he was the most logical person to have look at the township's books during this time of budgetary crisis because he would know "Where the bodies were buried".

Well evidently he found at least 1 skeleton during his digging, the bond from 2006 that he uncovered is worth about $600,000 and when it is added the $85,000 worth of budget cuts that Wright identified earlier this year, you now have about $720,000 to go towards the $2.4 million budget shortfall.

This one shot windfall still leaves a gaping hole to of $1.68 million to plug and means that Middletown will still be looking at a tax increase of over 6% to close it.

Layoffs and furloughs may be looming as I stated in a earlier post.

Keep in mind that the Republican majority in Middletown have acted as though they were unconscious of current economic realities that effect our state and country and that Committeeman Pat Short began to demand budget action back in January.