EATONTOWN — The Borough Council has decided to postpone adoption of the proposed municipal budget, pending the outcome of tax appeals.
The proposed budget for 2014 comes in at $23.35 million, representing a $300,000 increase over last year’s spending plan.
The tax levy for 2014 would be $15.91 million — a $500,000 increase over the 2013 levy of $15.4 million.
The tentative municipal tax rate of 78.6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation is an increase of 2.5 cents over the 2013 tax rate.
The final rate depends on the disposition of tax appeals pending before the Monmouth County Board of Taxation, which is expected to render decisions by May 5, Borough Auditor Bob Oliwa said.
“If our ratables were to decrease by about $5 million, then taxes would go up about twotenths of a cent,” Oliwa said at the April 23 council meeting. “Going down by $25 million would mean taxes increase a penny and so on.”
Oliwa said previously that Eatontown’s ratables have dropped by $610 million since 2006.
He said at the April 23 meeting that the council would normally adopt the budget after the public hearing, but it could not yet act on it this year due to the pending tax appeals.
“The tax rate right now is an estimate,” Oliwa said. “The other side of the tax appeals is that the average home assessment could go up a little bit.”
Under the proposed budget, municipal taxes on a home assessed at the borough average of $300,000 would increase from $2,283 to $2,358 per year.
Mayor Gerald Tarantolo raised concerns about the use of surplus funds to support the budget. The proposed budget draws on $506,818 in surplus funds, with $2.55 million remaining in surplus.
“The fact that things are slowly escalating year by year concerns me,” he said at the meeting. “We are spending over $500,000 in surplus right now, and we just keep eroding that year by year. We might have to start looking into how we can generate more revenue or more surplus in the coming years. That is something we should … start thinking about.
“I think overall this is a very stable budget. It maintains services for the township, keeps the police force as it is, and does everything a stable governing body would want a budget to do.”
Borough Administrator George Jackson pointed out during the meeting that while state aid for the township has remained constant at $1.16 million, requesting an increase could be a solution.
“Our state aid has been cut and then frozen. We used to receive an extra $600,000,” he said.
The council will take action on the budget at the May 14 meeting.