FROM REROSPECT(Brett Ainsworth)
March 17, 2006
Mark Swanson
In an evening more involved with honors and pageantry for Women’s History Month than business, the Haddonfield Borough Commission nonetheless passed a few items that are sure to come up again.
Primary among them was introduction of the budget for Partnership for Haddonfield, the borough’s business improvement district.
With the introduction, the commission has scheduled an April 11 public hearing on the BID budget of $358,046. It calls for no increase in the BID assessment of 25 cents per $100 of valuation for regular businesses and 12.5 cents per $100 properties with a residential component.
In a published statement, BID chairman Robert Kugler says the budget would rise from $304,847 in 2005 to $358,046, with no increase in assessment, mostly through the use of surplus from last year. About $250,000, 70% of the budget would be funded by assessments, while the rest of it would come from the surplus and various fundraising, like the annual Fine Arts and Crafts Festival in July.
Increases for 2006 include:
$28,000 for retail recruitment and retention programs, including incentive programs already in place to make it cheaper for new businesses to set up in Haddonfield. The BID expects to aggressively continue its pursuit of “fine dining restaurants” in 2006. Much of the surplus from 2005 was money earmarked for restaurant and retail incentive programs but not yet disbursed.
$7,150 more for marketing, in addition to $20,000 for targeted advertisements and promotions geared to the professional community. A large portion of the budget, $142,500, would go toward marketing.
$17,500 more for the BID’s Professional Committee, which will start a campaign to promote professional, not just retail services, in Haddonfield.
Costs of BID administration would decrease slightly, about $1,200. The retail coordinator, Lisa Hurd, would receive a 3% pay increase.
A public hearing on the BID budget is scheduled for the April 11 commission meeting to be held at 6 p.m., not 7:30 p.m., to accommodate a Haddonfield Planning Board meeting.
Also approved Tuesday night were:
the appointment of teens Kevin Buchheit, Keith Ferguson, Jacob Goldberg, Kevin McDonald and James Woods to the Explorer program of Haddon Fire Co. No. 1.
the appointment of Robert Fitzgerald to the Recreation Council, Beverly Lloyd-Aldeghi to the Shade Tree Commission and Anthony M. Herman to the Auxiliary Police.
the awarding of a bid for $86,420 for a two-year contract to supply asphalt street patching and miscellaneous concrete replacement to Ivymont Construction Company of Audubon.