Trenton withholds $20 million in municipal aid

Scrambling to close a growing state budget gap, New Jersey yesterday canceled December's $20 million aid payment to municipalities.

The Consolidated Municipal Property Tax Relief Act money, known as CMPTRA aid, was withheld "as the governor, treasurer, and the executive branch agencies develop a plan for maintaining the constitutionally required balance in the state budget," municipal comptrollers were told in a letter from the state.

The hardest-hit towns in South Jersey, based on percentage of annual aid, are New Hanover, Camden, Chesilhurst, Wrightstown, Lindenwold, Audubon Park, and Mount Holly. Payments due them ranged from a few thousand dollars to more than $2 million, according to data released by the state League of Municipalities.

"A cut at the height of the economic recession, forcing service reductions and higher property taxes, is unconscionable," said William Dressel, the league's executive director.

Local budgets were balanced using the state aid numbers approved last summer by the Legislature and governor, Dressel said. Municipalities depend on the promised revenue to cover salaries and contracts.

"This establishes a dangerous precedent," said Dressel, whose organization is considering a lawsuit. "What's next? Will they ask for money back?"

Towns were told to await guidance from the Department of Community Affairs, said Dan Keashen, communications director for Cherry Hill, which expected about $174,000 in aid.

"We have no idea what that means," he said. "We're going to start planning for the worst" - a permanent cut.

"If this is, indeed, a cut, it will be poorly timed," Keashen said. "It goes along with what the governor has done over the past two years, which is trying to balance the state budget on the back of municipal budgets."

The governor's office did not return a call for comment last night.