As you may have saw in our Capital Budget post, we were asking residents to check in with the projects posted from 2015 to 2019 and update us on the status of those projects.
Here are the updates so far:
The Brittney Woods Playground
2017 Borrowed $50,000 (as part of a $7 million capital budget) to build a playground in Brittany Woods. Spent only $34,000. Received a county grant for $35,000. So they spent nothing. And did not use the $35,000 grant money to pay back part of the initial $50,000. Two side notes: 1 The Mayor and Council advertised that they spent $100,000 on this park. 2. Swamp Park was built that same year. Go ahead and guess how much that project cost? TOTAL BORROWING: $50,000 AMOUNT SPENT: ZERO DEBT TO PAY BACK: $50,000 this amount is part of the 1.8 million increase in the debt service payments that increased our taxes.
The Playgrounds
In 2019, Gloucester Township borrowed $130,000 (as part of another $7 million capital budget) to build a tot lot in Woodshire. According to Tom Cardis(Township Administrator), the residents of Woodshire didn’t want the playground, and they signed a petition saying this. The money was then shifted to another playground. This one would be in the Clementona section of Erial. Then Council decided to use the money to fix up two other playgrounds (Woods Edge and Laurel Hill) and not proceed with the Erial playground promised to the residents. As of the moment neither of those parks have been fixed. The Township will be receiving $25,000 grants from the County for both parksTHIS PROJECT:Total Borrowing: $130,000Amount Spent: $0Debt to Pay Back: $130,000TOTAL SAGA BORROWING: $180,000Amount Spent: $0Debt to Pay Back: $180,000AMOUNT RECEIVED IN GRANTS AND NOT PAID BACK: $84,000
