Muni Budget Passes With Average $58 Tax Increase

The Township Committee at its workshop session Wednesday unanimously adopted the 2012 municipal budget which will raise taxes an average of $58 annually.

The committee voted 4-0 to adopt the budget, Mayor Jeffrey Foster said Thursday. Committeeman Clinton Hoffman was absent.

It was the second time a vote for the budget was slated. The committee postponed the budget at its last meeting on April 11 because two members were absent. A minimum of four of the five committee members are required to adopt a budget.

The local tax bill will cost homeowners an average of nearly $58 more in 2012 under the Township Committee’s spending plan.

The $34,828,782.70 budget is $128,459.61 less than last year’s $34,957,242.31 spending plan, a decrease of about .37 percent. 

The 2012 budget is supported by a $25,118,751.23 tax levy, up from last year’s $24,657,924 tax burden, an increase of $460,826.82 or about 1.87 percent.

The new tax rate of 67.3 cents for each $100 of property value is 1.9 cents higher than the 2011 rate of 65.4 for each $100, an increase of 2.91 percent.

On a home assessed at $304,000 – the township average – the municipal tax bill will be about $2,045.92 under the proposed spending plan. That’s an increase of $57.76 from last year’s $1,988.16 bill.

The municipal tax bill is only one portion of the overall tax burden, which also includes school district, county and fire district taxes.

Township committee members were quick to point out that the size and cost of municipal government has shrunk under the proposed spending plan.

“We have contained the employee cost,’’ Committeeman Clinton Hoffman has said. “Salary and wages have gone down.’’