5.5% tax hike

[tax hike]

The Township Committee adopted a 2005 budget Monday that carries a 5.5 percent increase in municipal taxes.

The committee cited debt payments, police personnel changes, the cost of furnishing the new police station, professional services related to a re-examination of the Master Plan and the fulfillment of the third round of affordable housing obligations as reasons for the tax increase.
The $11.5 million spending plan sets the 2005 municipal tax rate at 77 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, an increase of 4 cents over the 2004 spending plan. The rates include a 3-cent open space tax.
Under the 2005 plan, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $225,000 will pay $1,732.50 in municipal taxes, up from $1,642.50 in 2004.
The proposed spending plan is about $300,000 smaller than the 2004 budget, primarily because of several one-time projects last year, like the acquisition of the Simonson, Barclay and Wright farmlands and bonding for the construction of the $3.2 million police station.

(more...)