WEST AMWELL: Township proposes $3.2 million budget

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
   WEST AMWELL — A proposed township budget of $3,253,201 was introduced by the Township Committee on April 25.
   The budget is expected to be scheduled for a public hearing and adoption vote at the committee’s May 23 meeting.
   The proposed spending plan is up slightly, $73,581, from last year’s budget of $3,179,620.
   If adopted next month, this year’s budget will bring a municipal tax rate of 26 cents per $100 of assessed property value, said township Chief Financial Officer Tom Carro. That’s an increase of 4 cents over last year’s tax rate.
   That the tax rate is increasing 4 cents while the budget’s bottom line is seeing a minimal increase is due, Mr. Carro said, to a 14 percent townshipwide drop in residential property assessments.
   ”The average assessed value of a township home in 2011 was $456,000,” Mr. Carro said. “It’s $392,000 this year.”
   The owner of a house assessed at $392,000 this year, the average assessment, will pay $1,019 in municipal taxes is the proposed budget is adopted. The owner of a house assessed at $456,000 last year, the average assessment in 2011, paid $16 less, or $1,003.
   There are no significant changes in staffing or services in this year’s budget, Mr. Carro said. The only cost increases are due to health care, pension benefits and other costs fixed by contractual agreements, he said.