What You Missed from This Week's Council Meeting

For those who couldn’t make it to this week’s township council meeting, there were a few interesting items that didn’t make it into a full story, but were nonetheless noteworthy. Here are a few leftover tidbits from the meeting:

• Township manager Scott Carew said taxes went up for nearly 42 percent of the properties in town as a result of the latest reassessment, with 12.5 percent of the increases being $250 or less. Fifty-eight percent of properties experienced a tax decrease, and 12.3 percent of those went down $250 or less. , when the last revaluation was performed. Some residents have complained that their taxes went up despite a decrease in their property value. Carew explained why: "If you decreased in value, but not as much as the actual town decreased in value, your taxes will go up." Appraisal Systems Inc. (ASI), which performed the reassessment (as well as the 2008 revaluation), is currently meeting with property owners who have questions about their new assessments at the Lenola Fire Hall. To schedule an appointment, contact ASI directly at 201-493-8530 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

• Township council approved two change orders for the field improvement project at Wesley Bishop North: $5,104.56 for work PSE&G has to do, and $16,325 to install fixed football goalposts. Carew said the goalposts were initially built into the project, but were removed by Alaimo—the township engineers—when town council decided to scale back the project in late 2011. "Unfortunately, one of the things that we cut was the goalposts," said Carew, who called it an "oversight" on his and the township's part. The overall project cost is approximately $1.35 million.

• Council once again pledged its support for Perkins Center for the Arts' application for a historic preservation grant. The grant will allow the center to create a long-term preservation plan for the historic structure at the intersection of Camden Avenue and Kings Highway. Perkins treasurer Paul Canton said the organization has already submitted an application to the state Historic Preservation Trust for $45,000. Assuming the application is approved, the grant requires a 3-to-1 match, meaning the township would have to put up $15,000, presumably from the Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund. Deputy Mayor Chris Chiacchio called it a "textbook historic preservation" project. 

Council will hold its next regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11, in the IT room at Moorestown High School.