MONEY , from Page 1 N . J .) announced in a release that the state of New Jersey will be receiving $ 10.189 billion as a part of that act .
Of those funds , Hammonton will receive $ 1,368,767.64 . However , Mayor Stephen Di- Donato told The Gazette that “ it hasn ’ t come in yet .” Robert Scharle , Hammonton ’ s
Chief Financial Officer , explained
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further .
“ We ’ re going to have to work through the state to draw down those moneys , but we ’ re still waiting for guidance on how to do that . I don ’ t know why ... I ’ ve had numerous emails to the state asking them for guidance with what they call a local finance notice . Evidently , they haven ’ t come out with anything yet . On April 28 , I checked with the director and she
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got back to me and said , ‘ the official rules aren ’ t enacted from the federal government until May 11 .’ I said OK , fine . I ’ ll wait for then . Here we are three weeks later and I still don ’ t have anything ,” Scharle said .
Frank Zuber , the town ’ s business administrator , confirmed Scharle ’ s statement .
“ We do not know . Hopefully , before July , but I don ’ t know the exact date ,” Zuber said .
Scharle said that , while the start date of the availability of the funds remains unknown , there is a deadline .
“ What ’ s available to us — and we haven ’ t gotten anything yet , because we have to go claim this — we have to go in by September 30 and claim the money that we utilize . We ’ re eligible to draw down half this year and half next year ,” Scharle said .
According to the release from March 11 , the direct , flexible funding “ can be used by state and local governments to pay COVIDrelated expenses ; cover lost revenues due to the pandemic to maintain critical services and avoid layoffs of essential workers ; provide additional assistance to residents and small businesses ; and invest in water , sewer and broadband infrastructure .” Scharle said that , absent guidance from the state , the town has
Wednesday , June 9 , 2021 • The Hammonton Gazette • Page 3
Town of Hammonton awaiting $ 1.3M in COVID-19 aid
conducted “ as much research as possible , and worked with our auditor , to find out what we ’ re allowed to use it for .”
“ There is one critical area that we ’ re using it for this year : loss of revenue . What happened was , last year our municipal court fines — and this was everybody , across the state — were down . Construction code fees were down . Water rent collections were down , because our governor put a moratorium on sending out delinquent notices for water . With all that , we lost revenue ,” Scharle said .
Zuber said that , while town officials were still waiting for specific guidance as to how precisely the funds can be spent , they do know that the town is “ allowed to use a portion of the money this year .”
“ In the budget itself , in the current fund and the utility fund , there ’ s revenue coming in from that for lost revenue from last year . There was a calculation that they gave us that we had to do ; that ’ s how that was determined ,” Zuber said .
According to Zuber , $ 231,289 will be used in the general fund , and $ 369,429 will be used in the utility fund , totaling $ 600,718 .
“ It ’ s a revenue line-item in the budget , so we don ’ t have to cut somewhere else on the expense side . It ’ s just money coming in on lost revenue from last year . It ’ s not for anything ; it ’ s just a revenue line to help us with our operating expenses this year ,” Zuber said .
One caveat of the funds , Scharle said , is that municipalities that receive the funds are not allowed to lower taxes .
“ That doesn ’ t mean that you can ’ t go to zero , but you ’ re not allowed to lower taxes — so we ’ re not lowering taxes , but we have a zero tax increase . If we had received that court money and the construction money , we would have had a zero tax increase anyway . That ’ s what this money ’ s for : to supplement what we lost . I agree with the aspect that you shouldn ’ t be able to lower taxes than what you had before . That ’ s not what it was for . It ’ s for loss of revenue and infrastructure ,” Scharle said .
Scharle reiterated that covering revenue losses was the town ’ s priority .
“ Right now , we ’ re focusing on loss of revenue , because we lost money in court , in construction code , in water rents and connection fees ... We ’ re not even using the infrastructure right now ; we ’ ll probably use that next year ,” Scharle said .
Under the current calculations , there will be $ 768,049.64 remaining for 2022 .
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