For the owner of a property assessed at $229,000, the borough average, this means a municipal tax of $1,465.
By John Tredrea
The average Pennington homeowner will pay an additional $160 in municipal taxes this year after Borough Council adopted a $2.653,852 budget on Monday.
The budget, which is up $96,836 over the 2003 budget, will bring a municipal tax rate increase of 7 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
For the owner of a property assessed at $229,000, the borough average, this means a municipal tax of $1,465.
Borough Treasurer Betty Sterling said Tuesday that David Garber, Rebecca Palder, Ken Baker, Nancy Ross and Weed Tucker voted in favor of adopting the budget. Councilman Jim Lytle abstained.
Ms. Sterling said Mr. Lytle decided to abstain after arriving at the meeting late, causing him to miss the discussion of the budget that preceded the adoption vote.
This year’s Pennington tax increase is the biggest in years. The rate was 57 cents last year and the year before. It was 56 cents the three years prior to that, 52 cents in 1998 and 47 cents in 1997.
In a written statement, Councilman E. Weed Tucker, who chairs council’s Finance Committee, which also includes Ms. Ross and Mr. Garber, said:
"Some factors that have resulted in this year’s (tax) increase include salary increases and related benefits, contractual agreements and deferred charges including costs for a new tax map ($60,000, prorated over five years) and an updated Master Plan ($10,000, prorated over five years), increased engineering costs for present and future road and sidewalk work, escalating group insurance costs, tipping fees (for disposing of trash) and legal fees. Our auditor recommended that we budget $45,000 for the pension reserve, which adds 2 cents to this year’s rate but gives us 4 cents more flexibility next year. With an eye to the future as well as the present, we feel this is the fiscally responsible approach."
The tax map is needed for a tax revaluation the borough has been ordered to do by the county. Hopewell Township (see related account this week), West Windsor and Washington Township are the other three Mercer municipalities ordered to do a tax revaluation.