The Hopewell Township Committee has introduced a $25.2 million municipal budget that would fund municipal operations in 2022.
The budget was introduced this month at a Township Committee meeting on April 18. A public hearing for the budget is scheduled for May 16.
Hopewell Township’s municipal appropriations are projected to be $25.2 million in 2022. Residential and commercial property owners support the appropriations through a tax levy.
The tax levy is slightly increasing from $16.67 million in 2021 to $17 million for the 2022 budget.
The introduced budget includes a slight tax rate increase in the municipal tax rate from 2021. The 2022 tax rate is projected to be 43.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
In 2022, the owner of an average home still assessed at $480,085 pays $2,102 in municipal taxes.
The 2021 municipal tax rate was 43.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. In 2021, the owner of an average home assessed at $480,085 also paid $2,097 in municipal taxes.
Municipal taxes are one item on a property owner’s total tax bill, which also includes Hopewell Valley Regional School District 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.
For revenues in the 2022 budget, Hopewell Township will use $1.31 million from the surplus as revenue in the budget. The use of surplus as revenue has decreased from the 2021 budget, when officials used $1.73 million from the surplus funds as revenue in the budget.
Other revenues in the 2022 budget include $1.63 million in state aid, which remains the same amount of aid received in 2021; $819,784 from public and private revenues that includes $280,000 from the New Jersey Department of Transportation, $563,880 in shared service agreements, $417,000 from fees and permits, and $222,398 from the Cable TV franchise fee.
On the appropriations side of the budget, the budget will fund appropriations that include $6 million on municipal debt service. In 2021, Hopewell Township appropriated $6.32 million towards municipal debt service.
Additional appropriations include $4.98 million for payment of bond principal, $2.7 million towards police department salary and wages, $2.67 million for medical insurance, $1.5 million on salary and wages for streets and roads, $843,982 on shared service agreements, and $350,000 on legal services.
Correction: Story has been updated to include a slight increase in the tax rate for 2022 that had been in a previous version stated as a zero tax rate increase in the municipal tax rate from 2021 at 43.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The 2022 tax rate is projected to be slightly increased to 43.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.