News

By Dan Moffett

    A strong economic tailwind is assisting Manalapan commissioners as they begin a series of budget workshops.
    Property values in the town continue to climb — up 9.9 percent over last year, nearly 3 percent above the Palm Beach County average.
    When it comes to tax bases, Manalapan is tiny but mighty: the 327 parcels in the town have a taxable value of $1.1 billion, with an average market price of $4.2 million that leads the county, according to the Property Appraiser’s Office.
    Even more favorable, only 41 percent of the households have homestead exemptions, a relatively low percentage that keeps more taxable dollars in play.
    Against this backdrop, a 15 percent increase in health insurance premiums for employees, a $45,000 hike in legal fees to negotiate a new police contract, or $6,700 for a new all-terrain vehicle seems like pocket change.
    Those are some of the new expenses in Town Manager Linda Stumpf’s proposed general fund budget, a $4.1 million draft that is about $88,000 lower than last year’s.
    Stumpf bases the 2016-17 budget on a tax rate of $2.85 per $1,000 of taxable value, which is 5.9 percent lower than last year’s $3.03 rate that ranked among the county’s lowest.
    With a flush budget, commissioners are considering rewarding some of their most loyal employees with a longevity recognition program. The town would give workers cash bonuses when they reach milestones of service — five, 10, 15, 20 years.
    The town has four employees with more than 10 years on the job and three with more than 21 years, Stumpf said.
    “Now that the economy has turned around, I think it’s the right thing to do to acknowledge them,” Stumpf said. Commissioners agreed, and said they would work on the details at their July 19 budget workshop.