County budget needs boro's $9M, quickly BY MICHAEL ACKER Staff Writer SAYREVILLE - The Borough Council will vote Saturday on allocating $9million to Middlesex County so that the county's 2008 budget can be adopted. Mayor Kennedy O'Brien and council members are at odds along party lines over the proposed bond ordinance, needed to pay back part of the $42 million loan the county gave Sayreville to condemn the National Lead property. Though Democrats expect a redeveloper to refund the borough themoney, the Republican mayor and the two GOP council members opposed the bond ordinancewhen itwas introduced last week, describing it as a risk to taxpayers in the event that negotiations fail with the borough's chosen National Lead redeveloper, O'Neill Properties, of King of Prussia, Pa. The developer is in talkswith the Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Agency (SERA) toward a sale price and redevelopment agreement for the 400-plus-acre National Lead site. National Lead Industries is also involved because it remains responsible for cleaning up the site's contamination. Meanwhile, the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders is looking to adopt a $397million budget, and FreeholderDirector DavidB.Crabiel said the county needs Sayreville to adopt its bond ordinance because the money is anticipated in the county budget. "They have to vote on this $9 million, to give us the $7 million we have in our budget beforewe can adopt," Crabiel said. "We do not adopt until they pass this ordinance." The freeholders are anticipating $7.2million in revenues in their budget, under the assumption that the deal with O'Neill and National Lead will be completed and the county will receive a payment on Sayreville's outstanding debt. The statutory deadline for the county to adopt its budget was Tuesday. Crabiel is anticipating that the borough will approve the bonds, and the stateDepartment of CommunityAffairswill then approve the county's budget quickly so the freeholders can adopt it. "We have been assured that there [are] four votes to adopt it down there in Sayreville," Crabiel said. "Once they do this on the 29th, we will adopt shortly thereafter." Crabiel was referring to the Borough Council's fourDemocrats, three ofwhomwere present at a March 17 meeting to introduce the bond ordinance. Council President Dennis Grobelny, who supported the measure, took issue with O'Brien's claimthat the borough attorney and bond counsel drafted the bond ordinance secretly. Grobelny said he hopes the Republicans see the matter differently at the next council meeting, set for Saturday at 11 a.m. "I am hoping that the other council members will do any research they have to on it and realize how important it is," he said. Grobelny noted that the council needs a solid majority, or at least four votes, to approve the bond ordinance. Since Democratic Councilman Stanley Drwal has been ill, Democrats are hoping that theywill getDrwal's or a Republicanmember's vote of approval on Saturday. A repeat of last week's 3-2 vote would not be enough to adopt the ordinance. O'Brien said he did notwant borough taxpayers to become liable for money associated with the National Lead redevelopment. He said SERA was created as an autonomous agency so that taxpayers would be protected, and he does not believe the council should have to bail out SERAon the loan because of the lack of a redevelopment agreement. O'Brien also argued that he was not informed of the ordinance until it came up for introduction last week. Grobelny disputed that point. "Nothing was done in secrecy," Grobelny said. "It was voted on by SERA in the open. We would never do anything about that in closed [session]." Grobelny said that if the various parties reach a redevelopment agreement for theNational Lead site in the near future, the borough will not have to issue bonds at all. If the ordinance is adopted, the county can adopt its ordinance, but the bonds do not have to be issued right away, he said. "Even if we approve the bond, we still do not have to issue a bond," he added. "We can pass the ordinance, but we do not have to act on it and sell the bonds. That is just a condition to help the state approve the county budget." Crabiel said that it is possible that the county will take over the project if Sayreville does not meet the April 17 deadline for payment on the loan. The county has granted the borough several extensions on the loan, and the freeholders hope the redevelopment agreement will be signed soon. "I have troublewith [granting] another extension," Crabiel said. "I'mnot saying itwon't happen, but we are very much against another extension.We are going to try to adhere to [the deadline] if we can." Grobelny said the council will do everything it can to ensure that the National Lead project moves forward, so that residents can see the contaminated site get cleaned up and redeveloped. "We certainly do not want to see [the county] take the deed to the property either," Grobelny said. "That is no help to us, but certainly, if any of us felt this was not going to come forward, the contracts and everything, we would not be proposing this either."