New deadline set for Cranbury property taxes

Cranbury residents have until the end of the month to pay their property taxes.

By:Amanda Bok
   Cranbury residents have until the end of the month to pay their property taxes.
   That’s because tax bills were mailed out late this year.
   The township’s overall base tax rate of $3.24 per $100 of assessed valuation was not officially certified by the county until mid-July, said township Tax Collector Kim O’Shea. The deadline for certifying tax rates was May 25.
Tax bills were mailed Wednesday. They are normally mailed in early to mid- July.
   Residents who fail to pay by Aug. 27 will have to pay 8 percent interest per day on the first $1,500 in delinquent taxes and 18 percent interest per day on the remainder of the bill. Interest payments will be retroactive to Aug. 1. The statutory deadline for payments is Aug. 1.
   Irving Verosloff, tax administrator for the Middlesex County Board of Taxation, said the delay is not uncommon and that the certification would be "rare to come out early."
   "It’s a long, drawn-out process fine-tuning the county budget," said Mr. Verosloff.
   Mr. Verosloff said two reasons for the delay are the wait for municipal budget numbers to be submitted and the wait for a Trenton-based computer server to sort and print the Aggregate of Ratables information necessary to make the certification. The Aggregate of Ratables is the total county tax base, equalized to account for differences in assessments. This allows the county to assess municipalities for their share of the county budget.
   "When the server gives us that information, we can proceed," Mr. Verosloff said. "It’s serving 21 counties so it takes a while."
   At the township tax rate, the owner of a home assessed at $250,000 — the township average — will pay $8,100 this year.
   Of the $3.24 per $100 tax rate, 64.6 cents goes to the municipal government, 58 cents goes to the county, $1.967 goes to the school district, 1.6 cents goes to the county open space fund and 3.1 cents goes to the municipal open space fund.
Staff Writer Brian Shappell contributed to this report.