Byram budget revisited

BYRAM — Byram Township Manager Joseph Sabatini pointed out several points of clarification to a budget article that The Township Journal ran in the March 22 edition. Sabatini said that Byram has needed to manage a $388,645 reduction in state aid since 2008, not a half-million, as reported by The Township Journal. Sabatini also pointed out that the township must manage two caps, the appropriations cap and levy cap. "Based on the cap calculations, the township is $119,199 under the levy cap and $431,230 under the appropriations cap," wrote Sabatini in an email. However, the property tax levy is over the 2.5 percent state-mandated cap at 3.1 percent. Byram was allowed to do this due to a higher-spending ordinance the council passed earlier this year which allowed them to go to a 3.5 percent increase. The ordinance, "1-2012 To Exceed the Municipal Budget Appropriation Limits and to Establish a Cap Bank," caused some residents of Byram to organize a petition to repeal it. The council has since rejected the petition on legal grounds. The petitioners have threatened to take the matter to court, as previously reported in The Township Journal.