By KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
METUCHEN — Increased debt service and insurance costs account for the major drivers of the 2016 municipal budget that boosted taxes $96.92 for the average homeowner.
The Borough Council adopted the $18.74 million spending plan at a meeting on June 28. The average home assessment in Metuchen is $193,833.
Business Administrator Jennifer Maier said the municipal portion is 20.36 percent of the residential tax bill, which also includes library, 1.29 percent, county, 15.65 percent, and the largest portion, the school district accounting for 62.69 percent.
The average homeowner will pay about $2,095.08 in taxes this year for the municipal portion of the budget.
This year’s tax levy is $11.7 million, up by $612,180.70, or 5.52 percent, from last year’s tax levy.
The tax rate increased by 4.33 percent from 1.132 last year to 1.181 this year.
Maier said despite a small increase in the salary and wages line in the budget that totals $6.1 million, the largest drivers of the tax increase were debt service that increased by $497,378 to total $2.1 million; insurance increasing by $244,600 to total $1.8 million; and reserve for uncollected taxes increasing by $143,612 to $883,541 to name a few.
The budget has a number of anticipated revenue sources including parking contributions from meters that total $1.26 million, miscellaneous fees totaling $644,652, uniform construction code fees from the Building Department totaling $480,300, municipal court fines totaling $295,000, interest and costs on taxes totaling $145,000 and cable franchise fees totaling $63,921.
For more information on the budget, visit www.metuchennj.org.