By Jennifer Bradley, Packet Media Group
BORDENTOWN TOWNSHIP — Mayor Karl Feltes expects residents will be hit with a large projected difference between August and November tax bills.
"I think it is very important for the committee and the township to educate our residents on the estimated tax bills going out and how those calculations were conducted,” said Mayor Feltes during the June 11 Township Committee meeting.
A reassessment in Bordentown was conducted in 2009 and began to take effect in the last year or two. After this reassessment, just about everyone’s assessed value was lowered, said Mayor Feltes.
”What generally happens when this occurs is an adjustment of the tax rate and your tax bills are reflected accordingly,” he said.
According to Mayor Feltes, since the state and county have not certified the tax rates for the 2012 year, all that Bordentown Township can do by state law is take the taxes that were changed in 2011 and multiply that number by 105 to come up with an estimated bill. The estimated bills will then be issued to the taxpayers in Bordentown Township reflecting this process.
”The issue that we need to bring to everyone’s attention is that although the assessments were lowered, the number that had to be used was the prior tax rate,” said Mayor Feltes.
Due to this process, residents’ tax bills in August will be lower, he said.
”My fear, especially with senior citizens on a fixed income, is that people will look at the August bill and think it reflects the dollars that they are going to pay quarterly,” he said.
According to Mayor Feltes, based on projections, the November bill may be at least 80 percent higher than the August bill to make up for the shortfall. The bills will then begin to level out.
Mayor Feltes gave an example to provide clarification and said he may be billed $1,500 in August, but then he may be billed $2,300 in November to make up the difference.
”People forget that it will balance out,” he said.
Since the process is confusing, the mayor plans to develop a letter to send out to residents further explaining the situation. He also aims to put information up on the township’s website for residents to reference.

