Salaries, utilities blamed for hike
By: Vanessa S. Holt
BORDENTOWN CITY The City Commission unanimously approved the $3.7 million 2003 budget on Monday night, raising the tax rate by 9.8 cents.
The new tax rate will be $1.05 per $100 of assessed property value and a resident with property assessed at the citywide average of $101,000 will pay an additional $99 for a total of $1,060 in local purpose taxes.
Mayor Bill Collom has said the main reasons for the increase in taxes were rising salary, utility and insurance costs.
The amount to be raised through taxation has increased from $1.749 million in 2002 to $1.942 million this year, he said. The city is receiving about the same amount in state aid, $541,000.
The general fund for the 2003 budget is actually less than that for 2002. The total operating budget this year is down $500,000 from last year’s $4.2 million budget.
The difference was due to a $800,000 state Department of Community Affairs grant the city received for work on Clare Estate, a former convent on Crosswicks Street that has been converted into senior independent living housing.
Without that grant, the budget last year would have been closer to $3.4 million, so the amount in this year’s general fund is actually an increase, Mayor Collom recently said.

