How much of Harrison’s 2025 municipal budget has been spent was discussed by the township and Administrator Dennis Chambers at the committee’s July 21 meeting.
According to Chambers, 53% of the money from the budget was spent as of July 1, the year’s halfway point. That is just over $7 million of the budget’s $14,590,331 total. In previous years at the same point in time, the amount spent was about 46% or 47% of the total financial plan, he added.
“We have to be cognizant of our spending,” Chambers noted. “It has never been this way before. Obviously, nobody is spending more than they’re allotted in their budget, but some things do go up.”
Included in cost increases is the price of energy; gas prices have gone up and down. Most of the budget spending is for public works and the police.
“It’s not largely over,” Chambers explained, “but we won’t want to be at a point at the end of the year where we’re over 100%. We have mechanisms to deal with that as long as it’s not a large overage.”
An investigation done after the meeting revealed that the reason for the 53% spent is due to the township having already paid their joint insurance fund for the year and already paid for the township’s retirement benefits for the third quarter.
“We’re actually 1% better than where we usually are at this point,” said Mayor Adam Wingate.
The 2025 budget is lower than last year’s, in order to provide as much tax relief as possible to residents. That was highlighted by an $11 decrease in this year’s combined rate for property taxes.
“We knew we did a tight budget this year,” Chambers said. “Probably one of the tightest we did in a while. We … the residents’ concerns and passed that along. They didn’t have a tax increase; actually they had a tax decrease.
“It’s just one of the things we have to manage now because we are – and have been for several years now – on such a razor-thin budget.”
A freeze will be implemented if spending is too high. In that case, township purchases will have to be approved by Chambers himself, but should have no impact on the community.
“Again, it’s not that everyone is going buck wild spending money they don’t have,” he pointed out. “It’s just that the budget lines are so tight right now and things that are out of our control have gone up.”
The next Harrison Township Committee meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 4, at the Harrison Township Municipal Building. More information about the money spent will be discussed at this meeting.
