By John Tredrea, Special Writer
WEST AMWELL — The 2012 West Amwell Township budget of $3,253,201 was adopted by the Township Committee June 6, Clerk Lora Olsen said.
The spending plan was introduced by the Township Committee on April 25.
The adopted budget is up slightly, $73,581, from last year’s budget of $3,179,620.
It will bring a municipal tax rate of 26 cents per $100 of assessed property value, township Chief Financial Officer Tom Carro said.
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 noted, to a 14 percent township-wide 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.”
A house assessed at $392,000 this year, the average assessment, will pay $1,019 in municipal taxes under the adopted budget. 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 the budget, Mr. Carro said. The only cost increases are due to health care, pension benefits and other costs fixed by contractual agreements, he said.

