BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer
MONROE — The municipal budget may be going up $4 million, but residents will enjoy a tax decrease of one cent per $100 of assessed valuation this year.
The 2005 budget of $32 million includes a tax levy of $17.4 million, according to Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton.
Hamilton said the township gained about $245 million in new taxpaying ratables last year, most of which were residential developments, which gave the township a larger tax base over which to spread the tax levy.
Mayor Richard Pucci said the township is experiencing a period of growth that has helped to stabilize municipal taxes.
“The one thing we know in Monroe Township is that, like most communities, you’re kind of on your own, and I think the challenge in Monroe has always been, as we go through our growth process, to try to balance the need for services and all the growth that occurs with that, with the ability of our taxpayers to pay,” Pucci said.
The new municipal tax rate of 56 cents per $100 of assessed valuation means that the owner of a property assessed at the borough average of $160,000 will pay $16 less in property taxes this year. The municipal tax is separate from the school tax rate. Both are components of a homeowner’s overall property tax bill.
“And I don’t think we’re going to hear of any communities throughout the state of New Jersey who are going to have decreases in their municipal tax rate, or for that matter any counties that are going to have decreases,” Pucci said.
The township will receive $3.1 million in state aid for this budget.
Hamilton said municipal expenses increased by almost 14 percent, with funding included for the expansion of the township’s library, the construction of a new stand-alone senior center, and the expansion of the recreation center.
“So, obviously these are things that you do when you have strong income coming in,” Hamilton said. “You’re setting the stage for when that growth stops.”
The township also budgeted for the addition of 16 new full-time positions.
Hamilton said the municipality received a federal grant to help start a busing service for senior citizens in the community. Three of the new hirings will be full-time bus drivers for that program.
“It’s really a shuttle bus service,” Hamilton said. “We’re working on the routes now as the buses are being built, [and] hope to kick this off around May 1st June 1st at the latest. And essentially what we’re doing is we’re providing shuttle buses for our seniors and residents to go to Freehold Raceway Mall and downtown Princeton.”
When a town is experiencing such growth, Hamilton said, additional services must be made available to reflect that growth.
Because of all the added residential communities, the township police department will be expanding as well.
Hamilton said one additional police officer will be hired in July, and a second in October.
Also, a new 911 dispatcher and two more emergency medical technicians will be hired.
“This is a big bite of the apple, so this should pretty much set us up for at least the next two years,” Hamilton said.
Pucci said the township’s property taxes are among the lowest in the county. He said 607 homes were bought in 2004, half of which were part of retirement communities. Homes in those communities, he said, have no effect on school taxes since they do not bring in schoolchildren. They do, however, have a positive effect on property taxes by providing more homeowners to share that portion of the tax levy.
He also said that residents of nearby towns that are similar in size to Monroe will be paying about 25 percent more in property taxes than residents of the township.
“So I think when it comes to being a good watchdog, as far as this council is concerned, on budgets and the need for services that the administration is proposing, that we pride ourselves on the fact that I think we’re doing both in this budget,” Pucci said.
“We’re certainly in a climate where we have an obligation to the taxpayer more than ever to do the best we can with our tax dollars,” he added.