Pennington officials anticipate 9-cent tax rate increase

Hike would bring the municipal tax rate to 72 cents per $100 this year, according to Councilman Weed Tucker.

By John Tredrea
   A draft $2,959,000 Pennington budget for 2005 would bring a municipal tax rate increase of 9 cents per $100 of assessed property value if adopted by the Borough Council.
   Councilman Weed Tucker said Tuesday that the 9-cent tax rate hike would bring the municipal rate to 72 cents this year.
   Mr. Tucker said the dollar amount of the budget may be changed slightly before it is officially introduced by council, which is expected to occur May 2. If the budget is introduced then, a public hearing and adoption vote by council could be held during the next regularly scheduled meeting on June 6.
   The draft budget for 2005 is up $181,000 over the $2,778,000 figure for 2004. For the owner of a home assessed at $231,200, a 72-cent tax rate would bring an estimated municipal property tax of $1,665 for 2005, up an estimated $208 from 2004.
   Mr. Tucker said that, during its budget work sessions over the past few months, council trimmed the tax increase from 12.6 cents to the current 9 cents. "Prior to last year, we only raised taxes 1 or 2 cents for a number or years," he said. "It wasn’t enough to build sufficient surplus."
   No layoffs of municipal personnel are called for in the draft budget, Mr. Tucker said.
   Among the proposed expenditures are leasing a new police car – $9,000 a year for three years, with the borough having the option of buying the car in the fourth year for $1.
   Also proposed is $108,000 for public works vehicles, some of which may be purchased secondhand, including a heavy-duty dump truck, a medium-size dump truck with snowplow and an SUV-type vehicle.
   Also proposed in the budget is hiring a new public works employee. Since that individual would be on the payroll only about half of this year, $15,000 has been allotted in the draft budget for that purpose, Mr. Tucker said. It would be about double that amount next year, when the new hire would work the full 12 months, he said.
   Another $5,000 would pay for extra summer help for Public Works, for grass cutting and other tasks.