MANSFIELD: Tax rate will reflect newly assessed property values

By David Kilby, Special Writer
   MANSFIELD — As budget season approaches, Mansfield Township is working on its financial plan for 2013 to accommodate newly assessed property values acquired from its recently completed township-wide reassessment.
   The reassessment started approximately a year ago, said Mayor Arthur Puglia on Feb. 13, and the newly assessed property values are in effect for the 2013 budget year.
   Based on those values, the new ratable base for the township is $950,023,617, a decrease of 29 percent from last year’s $1,329,827,396, said Joe Monzo, Mansfield chief financial officer.
   In 2012, the average residential property in Mansfield was assessed at $339,068, and this year the average assessment is $237,644. Mr. Monzo estimates that the township may have to increase taxes at least 15 cents per $100 of assessed value in order to achieve the necessary revenue for 2013.
   In 2012, the average home was taxed at 28.75 cents per $100 of assessed value for a total of $975 for municipal taxes for the year. This year, Mr. Monzo is predicting the tax rate to be 43 cents for an average household cost of $1,022.
   The township ended the year with approximately $1.442 million of surplus, $1.150 million of which can be used in the 2013 budget, Mr. Monzo said.
   ”The 2012 budget year was not an especially good one from a financial standpoint,” he said, adding that the overall tax collection rate for the year was 97.42 percent due to $340,000 worth of tax appeals. This is down more than one percent from 2011, when the rate was 98.81 percent, he added.
   This decrease caused the township to fall $253,000 short of budgeted revenue projections. Also, whereas court fines generated an additional $40,000 more than budgeted due to Springfield merging its court with Mansfield last March, there is still a deficit due to interest on unpaid taxes and investments falling short of expectations by $118,000, Mr. Monzo explained.
   ”We’ve cut and cut and we’re down to the bare minimum in a lot of things,” Mayor Puglia said. “We’ve reassessed (property values), and this has brought us into the real world of housing prices. We were last reassessed in 2006-07, when the market was at its highest.”
   He said a number of properties have dropped about 30 percent in value since then. “It takes x amount of money to run government, but the property values will be in line. The amount that people pay will probably go up a little bit, but their values will be correct, or pretty close to what they should be.”
   Mr. Monzo said the requested spending plan for 2013 is $103,000 less than last year, but there’s also a $64,000 planned increase in debt service. Planned capital purchases for the year include a trash truck and a fire truck, and there is about $1.5 million in the budget for capital improvements.
   The township must introduce its budget by resolution before March 15, Mr. Monzo said, so the official introduction may take place at either the Feb. 27 or March 13 Township Committee meeting, depending on when the governing body is ready.