Plan calls for 2-cent tax rate cut
ROBBINSVILLE Township Council members were all smiles Thursday night when they received Mayor Dave Fried’s 2013-14 municipal budget plan.
The proposed spending plan totals $21.9 million for the fiscal year, but calls for a 2-cent cut in the municipal tax rate. It’s the first municipal rate cut since 2007, Mayor Fried said Thursday night.
”It’s always a positive when you can deliver a tax cut to residents,” Mayor Fried said, introducing the budget plan. Council members received budget binders from Township Business Administrator Joy Tozzi.
The proposed tax cut, which would mean owners of homes assessed at $381,000 would pay $1,981 in municipal taxes, a $76 reduction, comes after the administration was able to help complete a deal that will locate an Amazon.com warehouse in the township.
The online retailer plans to open a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in 2014 off Old York Road that will provide hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue for the town, county and school district.
In November the Township Council approved a 20-year Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement worth $22 million with KTR. At the time, KTR was under contract to purchase the property from Matrix 7A Urban Renewal, which already had existing township approvals to build a 1-million-square-foot “spec” warehouse.
Because the 22-acre farmland will be converted to commercial property, the township was able to get $650,000 in rollback taxes. Under state law, once farmland converts to commercial property, the township can collect three years’ worth of taxes based on what the land would have been assessed at had it always been a commercial property.
In addition to the rollback taxes, the mayor pointed to the township’s plan to reduce debt by making an $809,000 payment on the Kushner tract, the township-owned 40-acre open space area off Route 33.
The strategy, the mayor said, is to reduce debt to help stabilize the municipal tax rate.
Council President Ron Witt praised the administration’s efforts in bringing Amazon to Robbinsville, and being able to reduce the municipal tax rate.

