Elizabeth budget draft removes $1.5 million for Beverly Road, delays street work
The proposal would defer $800,000 in street rehabilitation construction to fiscal 2028 and project a $157,095 surplus across all funds, while leaving the General Fund $93,417 short.
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Elizabeth staff’s proposed 2027 budget revision would remove $1.5 million for Beverly Road construction and defer $800,000 in street rehabilitation construction to fiscal 2028. The draft projects a $157,095 surplus across all funds but leaves a $93,417 General Fund deficit.
Staff presented the changes to the Board of Trustees on Oct. 27, but trustees did not vote on the budget at that meeting, according to the meeting recording.
The staff budget memo and comparison put the earlier all-funds draft at a $2.74 million deficit. In the revised draft, projected expenses fall by about $2.9 million, to roughly $12.04 million, while revenues remain about $12.20 million. The projected surplus across funds does not balance the General Fund, where proposed expenses exceed revenue by $93,417.
The draft would also eliminate $50,000 for a transportation-plan update, $50,000 for strategic initiatives and $25,000 for a Board trailer. It would increase Friday Market support from $10,000 to $20,000 and raise funding for supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system work from $60,000 to $128,000. Proposed engineering assessments and design work include $50,000 placeholders per project; staff said those amounts could change once scopes and proposals are available.
For staffing, the proposal replaces a planned 9% compensation increase with a 4% cost-of-living adjustment. Staff said individual salary adjustments could still be needed. The draft also proposes phasing police hiring, which staff estimated would save about $68,500.
Trustees discussed leaving the General Fund deficit in place while developing a method to allocate shared costs among funds. The mayor said she was comfortable with the deficit because the General Fund balance was projected to exceed $4 million at the start of 2027. Staff also suggested possible ways to reduce the gap, including shifting some audit, banking, insurance and legal costs to other funds and finding further savings; those options were not approved at the meeting.