UPPER FREEHOLD — A $5.19 million budget will fund the operation of Upper Freehold Township in 2015, and property owners will pay a combined $170,000 more in municipal taxes this year.
Township Committee members voted unanimously to adopt the budget on April 2. No residents spoke about the budget during the public hearing that preceded the committee’s vote.
“We run a tight ship in Upper Freehold, and we got the budget where it should be. We really take seriously how we spend our residents’ money, and we care about that,” Deputy Mayor Dr. Robert Frascella said.
Officials said this year’s $5.19 million budget will be supported in part by a $2.63 million local tax levy.
Upper Freehold’s 2014 municipal budget totaled $5.08 million and was supported by a tax levy of $2.46 million, according to Michael Cesaro, the township’s auditor.
The tax levy is the total amount of property taxes to be collected from Upper Freehold’s residential and commercial property owners to support the operation of the township.
State aid to Upper Freehold for 2015 will remain flat at $518,481. The amount of state aid delivered to the township by Trenton has remained the same since 2011.
For 2015, the township has a $2,758 recycling tonnage grant that was not in the 2014 budget. A grant that supports the Municipal Alliance on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse is decreasing from $59,923 in 2014 to $39,949 in 2015.
Capital improvement expenditures will increase from $110,000 in 2014 to $210,000 for 2015. The reason for an increase is for extra money to be available for any possible needs, according to Cesaro.
“The money is allotted in the township’s capital improvement fund for any future improvements. It is there and available for use,” he said.
Another reason for the increase to capital improvements comes from the cost of firefighting for 2015.
In December 2014, Allentown paid Upper Freehold $175,000 in a settlement for prior years in regard to the sharing of fire services.
Upper Freehold and Allentown had been involved in litigation regarding the cost of fire protection services, Mayor Stanley Moslowski Jr. said.
The money will be going toward fire equipment, according to Committeeman Stephen Alexander.
“The fire equipment will assist fire services, our volunteers and our career (paid) staff. We do without sometimes, and with being on this committee for the past 13 years, I have seen that our revenue has not changed a lot,” Alexander said.
Upper Freehold is seeing a decrease in appropriations for parks and recreation from $22,850 in 2014 to $2,450 in 2015.
“The reason for the decrease is due to the realignment of job descriptions and reallocation of specific jobs and salaries in that department,” Cesaro said.
Upper Freehold’s debt service payment has decreased from $1.55 million in 2014 to $1.52 million in 2015.
The budget indicates municipal officials plan to use $1.1 million from surplus (savings) as revenue in 2015. That will leave $2.19 million in the surplus account. The township used $1.12 million from surplus in the 2014 budget.
“We are using less from the fund balance (savings) because the township is trying to not just use it for the sake of using it and because it is there. They are trying to do more with what we already have,” Cesaro said.
According to Chief Financial Officer Dianne Kelly, who is also the township’s business administrator, the municipal tax rate will increase from 20.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in 2014 to 21.4 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in 2015.
In 2014, the average home in Upper Freehold was assessed at $446,800 and the owner of that home paid $925 in municipal taxes.
In 2015, the average home in Upper Freehold is assessed at $464,995 and the owner of that home will pay $995 in municipal taxes.
If an individual had a home assessed at $450,000 in 2014 that remained at that assessment in 2015, his municipal tax bill will increase from $931 to $963.
And, if an individual had a home assessed at $450,000 in 2014 that is assessed at $500,000 in 2015, his municipal tax bill will increase from $931 to $1,070.
Municipal taxes are one portion of an Upper Freehold property owner’s total tax bill. The tax bill also includes taxes paid to Monmouth County and to the Upper Freehold Regional School District, among other taxing entities.