Tentative Scotch Plains Budget of $13.4 Million Would Hike Property
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SCOTCH PLAINS PUJSLIC LIBRAJUt 1927 ^i3 A 'OTCH PLAiVi SCOTCH PLAIN TH—E Serving Scotch PlainsTIME and Fanwood Since 1959 — S nmwooD OUR 37th VEAR - ISSUE NO. 6 USPS «HMi I Clam tauft ftti M Scotck Nn NJ. Thursday, February 1,199* 232-4407 FIFTY CENTS SPENDING PLAN WOULD RISE $619.400 OR 4.8 PER CENT Tentative Scotch Plains Budget Of $13.4 Million Would Hike Property Taxes by One Point Water Company Hearing on Rate Increases Set for March 7; Township to Resubmit Plan to Affordable Housing Council By GLENN R. KAMJNSKY veloped. Sptcitlh Wrimn/br 7b Tmti uncollected taxes, Mr. Atkins ex- Scotch Plains is in the process of In an unrelated matter, Mr. Atkins plained. Budget hearings will be held resubmitting an application to the went on to criticize municipalities on Wednesday, February 14, and New Jersey Council on Affordable including Scotch Plains, who, while Thursday, February 22, at 7 p.m. in they pass resolutions against the pro- Housing for Substantive Certifica- the council chambers. posed Elizabethtown WaterCompany tion, Township Manager Thomas E. In other business, a meeting was rate hike, refuse to join a coalition of Atkinsannounced at Tuesday's Town- held at the municipal building on 10 communities which has been February I with Killam Engineering ship Council Conference meeting. formed to fight any rate hike. Other representatives and members of the Mr. Atkins explained the process towns in the coalition include South would mean, if approval was granted, township's professional staff. IN RECOGNITION...Chester Ring, Pait President of the Fanwood-Scotch Plain Rotary Club Brunswick and Readington. „,- _.. ..„—»u.»• IK w•uxiKKi-Auuii riaiwawnar; V.IHD,right,preSMtS• SCCOnd Scotch Plains would be immune from "Paul Harris Fellow" reciwnltlnn nin t« P»#»I- D««-~«- «~ •• ••**'• Elizabethtown has proposed to in- Killam plans to install flow meters "Paul Harris Fellow" recognition pin to Peter Peterson for special services. This award was presented as an acknowledg- Mount Laurel lawsuits from devel- ment of service for the financial support by Mr. Peterson to the Rotary International Foundation. Mr. Peterson, also a crease rates for company-owned fire at both the Raritan Road and Lam- opers concerning affordable housing Past President, is one of the 38 Harris Fellows In the club. The presentation of a Paul Harris Fellowship Is one of the most hydrants 29.6 per cent and is asking berts Mill Road pumping stations on , until the year 2002. The township significant types of recognition for good service by a member, a club spokesman said. Only a United number of Rotarians for residential rate hikes of 32.25 per or about Thursday, February 15. are given this award. The club meets each week on Wednesdays at the Park Place Restaurant in Scotch Plains. manager noted Scotch Plains still has cent. Killam hopes to complete their over 100 acres of land which is unde- Mr. Atkins stressed the "monumen- evaluation by the end of May of dur- tal" financial impact any increase in ing June. Much of their work will be water rates would have on the town- devoted to the analysis of the pump- New York City Police Detective Details Evidence ship. i ng stations at Raritan Road and Lam- the current monthly charge levied berts Mill Road. • by the Elizabethtown Water Com- This analysis, with the probable pany for fire hydrants is $23,290. adoption of a capital improvement Uncovered at Edward Leary's Scotch Plains Home This rate has been in effect since ordinance this year for pumping sta- February of last year. The total charge tion improvements and other pos- Testimony Focuses on Gloves Found Underneath Brooklyn Telephone Booth for 1996, including hydrants, will be sible sanitary sewer upgrades, is one $279,480. of the top municipal priorities in 1996, Manhattan prosecutors in the on- lice investigation. officials said. going trial of accused subway tion, he found wire, wire cutters, an responsible because he had been given The proposed rate increases will New Yoric Police Detective Daniel electronic tester, 9-volt battery con- firebomber and Scotch Plains resi- Walsh testified that upon the investi- unmonitored prescriptions of Prozac not go into effect unit approved by The municipality will sign a new dent Edward Leary this week focused nectors, light bulbs, a drill, drill bits, and other mind-altering drugs. The the state Board of Public Utilities. contract with Resolve, officials said. gation of Leary's 10-rootn house on a small glass jar half full of a black on the testimony by the victims of the Glenside Avenue, located across the defense has claimed Leary was under Mr. Atkins mentioned that a prelimi- A slight increase is proposed from and gray powder, pliers, tongs and an nary public hearing on the proposed December, 1994 blast and of the po- street from the Watchung Reserva- the care of a psychiatrist who did not $26 to $27 per employee. Scotch attache' case. monitor the medication he put his rate increase will be held on Thurs- Plains employs 120 people. Resolve The detective said he discovered patient under for depression. day, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the will assist any full-time township Municipal Building in Westfield. He six handwritten pages inside the During testimony last week, police employee with its counseling ser- urged all residents to attend. State Cuts School Aid attache* case describing an extortion officers described how they first en- vices. Resolve is a private, non-profit plan in which Leary refers to himself countered Leary 30 minutes after the Mr. Atkins then discussed the 1996 youth and family counseling agency. as the 'Terror Mad Bomber." . explosion in Brooklyn. An officer municipal budget. He reserved the The council is considering a draft Manhattan Assistant District At- said Leary asked him to get help right to make modifications in the ordinance amendment which would To District by $200,000 torney Peter Casolaro said Leary had while he called his wife from a pay spending plan he is recommending to permit garbage trucks to park for up developed a plot to bomb subway telephone. the council. to one hour on streets where such trains unless he received a payoff Last year's municipal budget, ex- Scotch Plains-Fanwood Receives Reduction of 6.06 Per Cent Police said Leary placed a pair of parking is not otherwise prohibited. from the New York Transit Authority. cluding reserve for uncollected taxes, Township Zoning Officer Robert Mr. Casolaro also charged that ski gloves, still wet and singed at the was $12,781,131. The Scotch Plains-Fanwood close the gap between the poorest tips, under the telephone booth in the La Costa said the need for the revi- Leary was responsible for the bomb- The proposed recommended bud- School District got the bad news from and wealthiest districts. Clark Street subway station of the sion became apparent when a resi- ing of a Harlem subway train which get for this, excluding reserve for Trenton last week that ii will receive This year those 30 districts, la- IRT No. 2 subway line in Brooklyn. dent engaged in the hauling of gar- occurred six days before the uncollected taxes, is $13,400,500. • a cut of almost $200,000, or 6.06 per beled as "special needs"districts, will PoMce, however, did not realize the bage was unable to park his truck on cent, in state aid from the previous firebombing on the No. 4 subway gloves were missing until an hour The projected increase is $619,369 Ramapo Way in front of his home receive $57.8 in increased aid. How- train. The Harlem blast injured two or 4.8 per cent. One tax point equals school year, the eighth largest of the ever, S per cent of those districts will later when two plainclothes officers when he stood for a brief period for 22 school district in Union County, teenagers while the other blast in- went back to the station to look for approximately $92,000. lunch each day. actually receive less funding this year. jured 48 passengers. Mr. Atkins explained the projected according to figures released by the State officials cut in half its overall them. The revised ordinance, he said, Under cross examination from budget increase, exclusive of the re- should accommodate this situation state Department of Education. The funding transitional aid. The gloves had initially been dis- district will receive about $3.1 mil- Leary's attorney, Ira London, Mr. covered by a peddler who said he had serve for uncollected taxes, is 6.7 tax without affecting the township's other Dr. Klagholz said the poorer dis- Casolaro said based on tests con- points prior to revenue examination. traffic ordinances. lion in aid. tricts are currently at 86 to 87 per cent retrieved them from a garbage bag he ducted on the evidence uncovered by had thrown them in after Leary left. Municipal auditors should have a Neighboring Westfield will receive of the 120 wealthiest districts. $2.6 million, a cut of some $270,000, authorities and on the bombs them- Much of the testimony on February 3 financial statement ready this week, The court has said the Newark- selves, they appear to have been used focused on whether the defendant the township manager said. The fi- DEADLINES HELP or 9.30 per cent, below what it got last based Education Law Center can year, the second largest in the county. to make the devices. had deliberately tried to hide evi- nancial statement will contain fund come back to court if they deem the balance, surplus, details. PAPERS SERVE YOU The Union County Vocational-Tech- Mr.