Payment deadline extended to Sept. 3
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Township property owners can begin checking their mailboxes next week for their 2014-15 property tax bills, which are being mailed out a few weeks later than usual, according to Lawrence Township officials.
The delay in sending out the tax bills also means the deadline for paying property taxes — without a penalty — has been extended to Sept. 3, Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun said. Payments received after that date will be assessed interest from Aug. 1.
The mailing of the tax bills was delayed while township officials waited for state certification. Tax bills are due Aug. 1, Nov. 1, Feb. 1 and May 1, but the August deadline was extended while waiting for certification.
The property tax is made up of three components — county, municipal and school district taxes. The total tax rate for 2014-15 is $2.62 per $100 of assessed value. This is less than the 2013-14 tax rate of $4.68, and reflects the new property assessments as a result of last year’s township-wide revaluation.
For the owner of a house assessed at the new township average of $281,970, the 2014-5 tax bill is $7,387. This is less than the $7,500 tax bill that would have been owed by a house assessed at the then-township average of $160,262 last year.
The Lawrence Township municipal property tax rate for 2014 is 53 cents per $100 of assessed value. The municipal open space tax, which was approved by voters several years ago, remains unchanged at 3 cents.
The Lawrence Township school district tax rate is $1.36.
The Mercer County tax rate is 73 cents, which includes the county open space and library taxes.
The school district property tax accounts for 52 percent of the property tax bill. The county tax makes up 28 percent of the tax bill, and the municipal property tax is 20 percent of the total bill. Those percentages have not varied significantly from year to year.