PLUMSTED — Municipal officials are optimistic that Plumsted is on good financial footing now and will remain so for the foreseeable future.
On April 23, the Township Committee held a public hearing on the $3.45 million municipal budget for 2014. The budget is down from $3.48 million in 2013.
The 2014 budget carries a $1.85 million municipal tax levy, which is a $90,000 increase over the 2013 municipal tax levy of $1.76 million.
The tax levy is the total amount of money that will be collected from residential and commercial property owners to operate Plumsted this year.
Officials said that in 2014 the municipal tax rate will increase from 22 cents to 23 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
In 2013, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $275,900 paid about $607 in municipal taxes.
The average home in Plumsted is now assessed at $276,048 and with a tax rate of 23 cents in place, the owner of that home will pay about $635 in municipal taxes.
The increase in the municipal tax rate will have a different impact on each property owner depending on the assessed value of his home and/or property.
Overall, the owner of a home that is assessed at the township average can expect to pay a total tax bill of $6,542 this year, including municipal, school, county, fire district and open space taxes. The average total property tax bill in New Jersey is $7,988.
The municipal budget pays for items such as the police department, municipal professionals (e.g., attorneys, engineers) and the administration of the municipality.
Preparations for this year’s budget were made more difficult for officials due to the complete removal of a subset of state aid that had been provided in recent years.
“This is the first year in the last three that the township is not receiving [transitional] state aid,” Business Administrator Ronald Dancer said at the time of the budget’s introduction.
In 2012, Plumsted received $300,000 in transitional state aid and in 2013 the township received $140,000 in transitional state aid.
At the time, Plumsted needed the transitional state aid after a significant number of successful property tax appeals and township wide property revaluations depleted the municipality’s surplus account.
During the 2012 budget process, successful property tax appeals took $535,000 from the surplus account.
The state Department of Community Affairs retains oversight of the budget before its final approval.
In addition, this is the final year Plumsted will be under a hiring freeze that was placed on municipalities receiving transitional state aid.
Salaries and wages saw a less than $10,000 increase year-to-year, with $1.2 million to be paid to township employees in 2014, compared to a figure of $1.19 million in 2013.
Other operating expenses which cover the funds necessary to run the township’s departments saw an increase from $1.21 million in 2013 to $1.42 million in 2014.
According to Committeeman Jack Trotta, the approximately $207,000 increase in operating expenses stems from courtesy busing ($72,000), the hiring of a school resource officer ($75,000) and contractual obligations regarding health and pension costs for employees ($56,000).
Changes in pension regulations at the state level immediately following the budget’s creation caused some headaches for township officials, as a handful of amendments will be required before the budget can formally be adopted, Chief Financial Officer June Madden said.
Madden said additional changes to the budget will also be required prior to its adoption due to a small number of changes in various line items.
Although Madden said the final adoption of the 2014 budget should occur by the end of May, no official date has been set for a committee vote on the budget.
Commenting on Plumsted’s financial position, Mayor David Leutwyler said, “I think our tax base is starting to settle down. We really took a hit when the market crashed … and it seems like things are starting to level off. The median price of a house went up, so that is a good sign.”