The members of the Cranbury Township Committee have voted unanimously to adopt an $11.95 million budget to fund the operation of the municipality during 2019.
Mayor James Taylor, Deputy Mayor Dan Mulligan, Committeeman Mike Ferrante, Committeeman Glenn Johnson and Committeeman Matt Scott voted “yes” on a motion to adopt the budget during a meeting on April 8.
Denise Marabello, Cranbury’s township administrator and chief financial officer, said the 2019 budget includes a decrease in the municipal tax rate from 44.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to 34.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
“Our total assessed value increased to $1.76 billion. With that in mind the committee members decided to use almost double the amount of surplus from what we used last year in order to decrease the tax rate,” she said.
In the 2018 budget, officials used $950,000 from Cranbury’s surplus fund (savings) as revenue in the budget.
In 2019, officials will use $1.79 million from the surplus funds as revenue in the budget, Marabello said.
In 2018, Cranbury’s municipal tax rate was 44.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of a home assessed at $650,000 paid $2,905 in municipal taxes.
In 2019, the municipal tax rate is expected to be 34.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of a home that is still assessed at $650,000 will pay $2,255 in municipal taxes – a decrease of $650.
Municipal taxes are one item on a property owner’s total tax bill, which also includes school taxes and Middlesex County taxes.
The amount an individual pays in taxes is determined by the assessed value of his home and/or property, and the tax rate that is set by each taxing entity.
Cranbury’s 2018 budget totaled $11.89 million. Residential and commercial property owners paid $7.6 million in a local tax levy to support the budget.
The 2019 budget totals $11.95 million, an increase of $56,600 from 2018. Residential and commercial property owners will pay a total tax levy of $6.7 million. The tax levy is down $900,000 from 2018, according to a presentation provided by Marabello.
“We were able to decrease the amount to be raised by taxes due to keeping the budget pretty steady and by having our assessed value go up as significantly as it has,” she said.
In addition to property taxes and funds from surplus, revenues in the 2019 budget are projected to include $2.11 million in miscellaneous revenues and $467,000 in state aid.
“What we were able to do with this budget is fantastic and I would like to thank everyone for making this happen,” Taylor said.
The Township Committee’s next meeting will be at 7 p.m. April 22 at Town Hall, which is located at 23 N. Main St.