HELMETTA — Municipal taxes would increase $32 on the average borough home, based on a 2012 budget introduced by the Borough Council.
The budget comes in at just under $2.2 million, an increase of nearly $84,000 from the prior year. The tax levy of $1.2 million is up $35,700.
Driving the budget increase are a 20 percent rise in pension costs, which will total approximately $91,000 this year, and a 10 percent hike in insurance costs, which come in at $142,000, according to figures provided by borough Chief Financial Officer Lori Russo. She said legal expenses also played a role in the increase, as the borough’s employment contracts have expired and require negotiations.
The budget is boosted by the operation of the Helmetta Regional Animal Shelter, Main Street, now in its first full year after opening last spring. The shelter provides animal control and/or impoundment services for approximately 10 area towns through shared-services agreements. Russo said the borough recently signed new agreements to provide animal control and impoundment services for Cranbury, and impoundmentonly services for South Brunswick. Meanwhile, it lost revenue when Jamesburg, which used Helmetta animal control last year, returned to an in-house service in January.
The shelter, which Russo said has two full-time and two part-time employees, brought in $90,000 over eight months last year, and is anticipated to draw $122,000 this year. Revenues and appropriations for the shelter and animal control services are anticipated to be equal this year.
While the former Helme Snuff Mill is likely to be a future revenue source for the borough, it is not a factor in this budget. The current proposal has developer Kaplan at Helmetta LLC building 200 residences there and paying the municipality at least $275,000 a year through a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program. However, Planning Board hearings on the building plan are on hold, complicated by a lawsuit from Spotswood, which shares a school district with Helmetta.
The borough conducted a town-wide revaluation last year, and the proposed budget has the new tax rate at 63.5 cents per $100 of assessed value. With the average home now valued at $206,441 — down from $272,639 before the revaluation — the proposed budget would increase the municipal portion of the tax bill by $32.22.
Mayor Nancy Martin said officials are doing their best to keep municipal taxes down.
“The Borough Council and all employees of the borough work together in an attempt to keep the municipal taxes as stable as possible,” she said. “We did a reassessment in the borough in 2012 in an attempt to have no tax appeals, which are financially devastating to municipalities.
“We are looking at a minimal increase in the budget relating to increases in areas we have no control,” she said. “We are moving the borough forward with the investment of the regional shelter and, hopefully soon, the redevelopment of the mill property.”