MONROE — The Township Council introduced a budget that would keep the tax impact virtually flat for residents.
The proposed municipal budget includes a tax rate of 44.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of a home assessed at the township average of $309,993, which is up more than $9,000 from last year, would pay $1,392 in municipal taxes, according to Business Administrator Wayne Hamilton.
The budget itself is up to $52.31 million from last year’s $51.41 million, which represents a 1.73 percent increase of $900,000.
A final hearing on the proposed budget will be held at the May 4 meeting of the Township Council, Hamilton said.
Mayor Richard Pucci, who recently announced he would not seek election to an eighth term, said this is the first budget since the financial crisis of 2008 that demonstrates Monroe has weathered the storm.
“I just want to look back at the last five years … when we went through that whole recession,” Pucci said at the April 6 council meeting. “That was probably the most catastrophic time period we’ve had in New Jersey government for funding through property taxes that I can recall.
“I was very uncomfortable four years ago, saying to myself, ‘How are we going to get through this?’ ” In my 28th year now, I can breathe comfortably … that the town is on solid ground financially, and for anybody who owns a home in this community, the values are not going down and the services are not going down.”
Hamilton echoed the mayor’s confidence in the township’s fiscal condition, running through a list of steps the township took during the recession to remain financially stable.
“The municipal tax rate will remain the same as last year,” Hamilton said. “It’s a very positive thing, and I’ll elaborate more on it at the public hearing, but we’ve done a couple of things.”
According to Hamilton, the township is reducing its reliance on the surplus from the Monroe Township Utility Department by using only $4.3 million. That is down from an all-time high of $15 million, Hamilton said.
“It’s an extraordinary weaning-off to get through that worst period,” Hamilton said. “We avoided the prospect of having to borrow money to survive through that period, which would have further hurt us.”
According to Hamilton, the township went out for $30 million worth of notes earlier this year, with an interest rate of 0.1 percent.
“It doesn’t get any better than that,” he said. “My entire career, I’ve never seen interest rates that low.”
Hamilton added that the township intends to sell permanent bonds before interest rates are expected to rise in September as the Federal Reserve seeks to end its quantitative easing bond-buying program.
“Things are looking positive on the financial side,” Hamilton said. “It’s a good solid budget where, essentially, the services and programs the municipality has provided are going to continue.”