CAPE%AY s COUNTY 4 ^L '/^ tralii "N S* > —f

Vol. 21 No. 4 198* Swwvi Corp. All righn rn*rv*d January 23, 1985 " E

Dorii Ward WRAP UP — The county United Way. which needs money, also could use some red paint to bring its progress thermometer in front of the Chamber of Commerce building on the parkway up to date. Officials, who have scheduled the annual meeting and campaign wrap-up at the Port-a-Call in Ocean City Feb. 6. say they anticipate collecting "over $100,000." That would be 67 percent of the goal, or about the same as last year. News— DigeSt Topfstories On Ice VILLAS — Bitterly cold weather (and a maximum temperature of 60 degrees inside Township Hall ) caused Lower Township's council to cancel its Monday night meetings. A work session has been rescheduled for next Monday at 7 p.m., with the regular meeting following an hour later. Council will hold a budget session next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Surcharge Reprieve AVALON — Proposed doubling of a sewer surcharge for business establishments is expected to be postponed for the first quarter of 1985. An amendment to the Dec. 27 ordinance that raised sewage rates and the surchage will be considered at borough council's work session 10 a.m. tomorrow. Protests came from merchants led by Philip A. Matalucci III, manager of the Princeton Grill. He charged the ordinance "was done over the holidays when the business people were not aware." The amendment will permit "further adjustments" after council can compare first quarter projected income with the water-sewer budget of $1.7 million, according to Andrew J. Bednarek, borough business administrator. Needed: Long Table COURT HOUSE - Drs. Daniel Wilner and Marvin Podolnick, partners in a medical group that handles radiology on a contractual basis for Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital, charged in a letter to contract committee chairman Thomas Brodessor that they were being "held up" by "unthinkable, unethical and illegal" actions of hospital president William Waldron. He told the Herald(Page 22 Please)

County Budget up 16.6%

By JOE ZELMK COURT HOUSE — The county 's proposed 1985 budget is up almost $6 million, from $35.7 million to $41.6 million. That's more than double last year's increase. The proposed budget is hiked 16.6 percent. That's almost double last year's ■ increase. ' The county's property tax rate will increase nine-tenths of one cent per $100 of assessed valuation. That compares to last year's half-cent tax decrease. The tax rate goes from 40.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to 41.6 cents, a 2 percent hike. How is it possible for the county to increase expenditures by 16.6 percent, but the tax rate .by only 2 percent? With two bonuses: « A RECORD '84 surplus of $6.4 million (compared to last year's record surplus of $5.3 million). Of that, about 70 percent will

be used in the '85 budget and about 30 percent carried over as "a cushion for debt service," according to Freeholder William E. Sturm Jr., director of revenue and finance. • Second, a $552-million. or 9 percent, increase in county ratables. going from $6 billion to $6.6 billion. Thus, a 2 percent tax rate hike&iill really bring in a 11.8 percent increase IrFlocal tax money, from $24.6 million to $27.5 million. For a person with a home assessed at $100,000, the county tax bill will increase by $9. from $407 to $416. THE PROPOSED budget was slated to be introduced yesterday, too late for the Herald-Lantern deadline. A public hearing has been scheduled for 4 p.m. Feb. 26, with adoption immediately following. Between now and then, the freeholders will have caucus meetings at 4 p.m. Feb. 7, at 7 p.m. Feb. 14, at 4 p.m. Feb. 21, and a ^ 1

regular meeting at 8 p.m. Feb. 14. Sturm said an estimated 65 percent of the county budget covers "mandated items, such as judicial, health, welfare, education. "Lord knows it's high enough." he said, "but that's what will be required to run county government this year It's a growing county." THE THREE LARGEST percentage increases come in debt service, up 49 percent; capital improvements, up 26 percent. and general government, up 24.5 percent. Debt service will climb from $2.1 million to $3.1 million; capital improvements from $1.9 million to $2.4 million, and general government from $6.6 million to $8.2 * million. That $1.6 million hike is the budget's single biggest increase. General government includes the board (Page 22 Please)

;o JUL wr iht h jiBF lAoud. to k q 3q\uc ipcrn Dons Ward

IT'S PURE — It may pay to recycle in Middle Township, but not to drink from your well if you live on Atlantic or Pacific avenues in Court House. Some of the wells are contaminated and the township is supplying wafer to 19 homes. This lTVgallon container is being taken to the Mt. Olive Baptist Church by. left to right. Ken Brown. David Webb. Jim Collins and Albert Mabry.

Water in 5 Weeks?

COURT HOUSE — "Get the damn thing going," said Sam DeVico, former Middle Township mayor. He, and most of a crowd of 75 persons at a Middle Township Health Board meeting last week, were urging speedy extension of

public water Jines to end the threat from contaminated private wells. "~^*What they got was a promise of another meeting at 8 p.m. Feb. 7 and a goal of completion by the end of next month. Money is the problem. The township remains uncertain of what the project will cost, and who will pay for it. NEW JERSEY WATER CO.. whose lines surround the affected area, is soliciting bids from its contractors and will have them by next week. "I have to have the dollars and cents before I know which way we'll finance the project," explained Township Committee member James Alexis, who has been devoting full time to the problem. He said the committee will determine that at its woric session of Feb. 6 or meeting of Feb. 7 and, after the first reading of either an ordinance or bond anticipation note, the water company will move ahead. Water Company officials have already < said they can start three weeks after they > have the goahead and complete in about a ' week. THE TOWNSHIP is focusing, Alexis 1 said, on Pacific Avenue from Route 9 east I to the parkway, Valley Road off of Pacific. J a paper street called Third Avenue that connects Pacific to Atlantic, and a 256-foot I i

Hacienda Seeks to Expand

Bv JOHN DONOHUE X COURT HOUSE — For the third time in a year. Hacienda Campground in Dias Creek, Middle Township, has asked the state for a CAFRA permit to expand the number of campsites. A decision is due by Saturday on an application, rejected in April and January, that seeks to put 150 campsites on 37 acres along Delsea Drive. The tract is designated a farmland conservation area, A Money Market interest rates are easier to get. Page 34. Chesapeake s salt water license: what impact? Lou Rodia, Page 20. DEP finetunes surface water quality standards; Page 42.

however, where development is restricted. James Pearson, Hacienda owner, curi rently operates 200 campsites on 84 acres 5 there, but says they're not enough to turn a - profit, and he claims, the other 37 acres - are not good farmland anyway. "We just can't make any money with this thing," Pearson said at a recent hearing conducted by Steven Epstein, of the » New Jersey Department of Environmental > Protection (DEP) Division of Coastal Resources (DCR). OF THE 156 CAMPSITES proposed, 50 would be tent sites and 100 would be for recreational vehi ;les. The latter would have hookups for water, sewer and electricity. There would also be a new office building, swimming pool, basketball court, • two tennis courts, a bath house and a septic sewage disposal system. ADDITIONAL SEPTIC systems would (Page 22 Please)

6 of ®14 Sewerage Foes Vie By JOE ZELMK COURT HOUSE - Nothing hit the fan Monday night as only six of 14 candidates for the five-member Middle Township Sewerage Commission gave their views at a Chamber of Commerce-sponsored public meeting . The election will be held Saturday from r to 9 p.m. at the Court House Firehall There seemed to be unanimity, if not equal weight, given to the goals of conservation and the health and welfare of the community There were harsh words only for the county Municipal Utilities Authority < MUA > and the present sewerage commission. Leroy Westcott. the only incumbent seeking reelection. was not present. Dr John Napoleon said the public "got what we paid for" from the commission The jobs pay nothing. WHEN CANDIDATE Albert C Karaso Jr said he had been unable to find a signed contract obligating the local sewage district to feed into the MUA system, others joined in the "hope" that the district could stay independent. When candidate Napoleon charged that Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital, where he is on staff, is putting 40 percent of the sewage into the system and not paying its "fair share," Karaso suggested it would be easy to put a flow meter on its line and make sure it does. All also seemed to agree that the current plant is "deplorable," that it is going to cost money to get the system in shape, and that users will have to pay for it with higher rates. Everyone also hoped for federal or state grants or loans, but no one was positive any were available. And each pledged there would be regular. (Page 16 Please) Conrad Cartoons In Herald-Lantern The editorial cartoons of Paul Conrad, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for the Los Angeles Times, appear in the HeraldLantern beginning this week ! page 38 ) . He has been chief editorial cartoonist at the Times since 1964 and also has received national awards for excellence from Delta Chi. Conrad's own favorite distinction is that he made Richard Nixon's "Enemies List" 1973.