The Pennington Council has introduced a $4.1 million budget to fund municipal operations in 2022.
The council introduced the budget on April 4. A public hearing for the 2022 municipal budget is scheduled for May 2.
“Some of the increases were that of the overall state pension contribution which increased by $47,000, health insurance increased by $11,000, the legal budget increased pending litigation of the Hopewell Township PILOT agreement, salary and wages for police went up by about $50,000, but that was offset by hiring a new officer with the overtime costs we were accruing,” Councilman Ken Gross said.
Gross said another area of an increased appropriation focused on funds for the Master Plan review from the Planning Board, which amounted to $10,000.
Pennington’s municipal appropriations are expected to decrease from $4.8 million appropriated in the 2021 budget to $4.1 million for 2022.
“We are using $492,299 about 16% of the surplus for this budget, as well as proposing a 1-cent tax increase,” he said.
The borough’s residential and commercial owners support the municipal appropriations through a tax levy. In 2022, the tax levy is projected to be $2.8 million, a slight increase from 2021’s $2.70 million that residential and commercial property owners paid in 2021.
In 2022, the municipal tax rate is projected to be 50 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of an average home assessed home at $$487,000 pays $2,435 in municipal taxes. The municipal tax rate increased by one cent from 49 cents in 2021.
An owner of an average home assessed at $487,000 paid $2,386 in 2021 municipal taxes.
Municipal taxes are one item on a property owner’s total tax bill, which also includes school taxes and Mercer 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.
On the revenues portion of the 2022 budget, Pennington will use $492,299 from the surplus as revenue in the budget. In the 2021 budget, officials used $438,915 from the surplus funds as revenue in the budget.
Other revenues in the 2022 budget include $110,000 in uniform construction code fees, $187,581 in state aid, which is the same amount received in 2021; $60,000 in reserve for liquor license and $43,000 in trash collection fees.
On the appropriations side of the budget for 2022, the budget will fund appropriations such as $680,575 in police salaries and wages, $321,176 on municipal debt service, $285,585 in road repairs and maintenance salary and wages, $245,000 on payment of bond principal, $184,599 on maintenance of free public library, and $184,508 on shared service agreements, and $220,920 on employee group health.