Dover Town Council Approves 2026 Budget Introduction

The tax increase is linked to the skyrocketing costs of employee insurance.  Next meeting to be held June 9.

Mayor James P. Dodd introduced Dover’s 2026 budget Tuesday evening, which would raise taxes by $17.74 per month or $213 per year, based on an average home assessed at $240,000. He said that cuts had to be made in some departments to offset a 41 percent increase in health benefits, which rose from $3.3 million last year to $4.7 million. Dodd said town residents would have seen a tax reduction

this year if the insurance hike were lower.

Mayor Dodd thanked Dover Auditor John Mooney and Chief Financial Officer Ed Ramirez for their “tireless efforts” to trim $1.45 million from the previous Friday until they presented it to him Tuesday morning. The council meeting agenda on the town’s website didn’t list the budget introduction item, but it was on the printed agenda at the meeting. That sparked debate among some council members and the mayor.

Council members Daniella Mendez, Judy Rugg and Sandra Wittner all pushed back on the legislation, which was not included in the agenda for the meeting. They raised concerns about being asked to vote on the municipal budget when the text of the legislation was not made available to them until two hours before the meeting.

“We did not know [the budget] was going to be on the agenda this evening until a couple of hours ago,”Rugg said. 

Mendez, Wittner, and Almada expressed concerns about having time to review the budget before the meeting, which prevented them from asking informed questions that arise from a timely review.

“My concern is that I haven’t had any opportunity [to review the budget] besides listening to [Mooney], so I am not even fully focused to look at this [legislation] and ask questions,” Wittner said. She then listed several line items in the proposal, including a $160,000 reduction to engineering services, an increase in planning and economic development of $15,000, and a reduction of $200,000 to salaries in health and welfare services, which would need to be clarified before the next hearing.

“That’s why this is called the ‘Mayor’s budget,’” Mayor Dodd countered. “This is the start of the review process. We have until the June 9 council meeting to ask questions and address any issues that might come up.” Mooney and Ramirez added that they would make themselves available to address anything the council members wanted to discuss. Mooney explained that officials from Trenton will review the budget and that, provided no substantial amendments are needed to the legislation, the council and members of the public will be able to debate the merits of the proposed budget at the June meeting. Mooney added that any substantial changes affecting more than 10 percent of the total budget would be voted on after the budget is adopted.

Ultimately, the resolution to introduce the budget was passed by a 5-3 margin. Council

members Christopher Almada, Mendez, and Rugg voted against the legislation, while Council members Wittner, Geovani Estacio, Arturo Santana, Marcos Tapia, and Mayor Dodd voted in Favor. Council member Veronica Velez (D, Third Ward) did not attend the meeting.

The introductory budget is expected to be posted on the Dover website soon, giving residents the opportunity to review and prepare for the June 9 meeting.