RED BANK – The members of the Red Bank Borough Council have adopted a $24.2 million budget to fund the operation of the municipality during 2021.
The budget, which was adopted during a special meeting of the council on July 28, will be supported by the collection of $14.6 million in taxes from Red Bank’s residential and commercial property owners.
Other revenue in the budget includes $3.4 million to be appropriated from Red Bank’s surplus fund (savings) and the receipt of $2 million in state aid.
Red Bank’s 2020 budget totaled $22.4 million and was supported by the collection of $14.1 million in taxes from property owners. Other revenue included the appropriation of $2.43 million from the surplus fund and the receipt of $2 million in state aid.
In 2020, the municipal tax rate was about 61.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The average home in Red Bank was assessed at $406,139 and the owner of that home paid about $2,514 in municipal taxes.
In 2021, the municipal tax rate is projected to be 61.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The average home in Red Bank is now assessed at about $406,228 and the owner of that home will pay about $2,506 in municipal taxes.
Municipal taxes are one component of a property owner’s tax bill, which also includes Red Bank Public Schools taxes, Red Bank Regional High School District taxes and Monmouth County taxes.
Individuals pay more or less in property taxes depending on the assessed value of their home and/or property, and the tax rate that is set by each taxing entity.
Selected appropriations in the 2021 Red Bank municipal budget include public safety, $6.2 million; insurance, $3.1 million; debt, $2.7 million; public works, $2.6 million; general government, $2.2 million; reserve for uncollected taxes, $975,000; education (including library), $834,493; and utilities and bulk purchases, $550,000.
There are 109 full-time employees (including 39 police officers) and 116 part-time employees in Red Bank. Personnel costs account for $16.3 million of the $24.2 million budget (approximately 68% of the municipal budget).
Borough Council President Hazim Yassin and council members Kate Triggiano, Erik Yngstrom, Edward Zipprich and Kathy Horgan voted “yes” on a motion to adopt the budget.
Councilman Michael Ballard voted “no” and asked why the appropriations and the revenues increased from 2020.
“We increased revenue from about 5%,” Ballard said. “We are still ahead of the game, even with raising appropriations by $1 million, we are seeing more in miscellaneous revenue. But we are still plugging that gap with $3.4 million from our surplus fund just to say we did not raise taxes.”
Yassin said the work on the municipal budget was done for the benefit of Red Bank’s residents.
“We don’t do something positive only to say it,” Yassin said. “Doing something positive, in my opinion, is doing something positive for the residents.”
After the budget was adopted, Mayor Pasquale Menna said, “I think it’s a great budget because of a lot of hard work that was done by our professionals.
“We still have to do more work as we go forward, but I think the mechanism for where we are today was started a number of years ago and is continued by aggressive, firm leadership,” the mayor said.