MONROE — Township officials said through strong management decisions, careful planning and putting residents first, the township now has the second lowest overall effective tax rate of Middlesex County’s 25 municipalities.
The ranking is through the 2017 Abstract of Ratables by the Middlesex County Board of Taxation. Cranbury Township has the lowest ranking followed by South Brunswick Township, which comes in third lowest.
“The Township has worked hard to hold the line on taxes with four straight years of no municipal increases,” said Monroe Mayor Gerald W. Tamburro. “We achieved this result through strong management decisions, careful planning and putting our residents first. I also want to thank the leadership of the Board of Education for their efforts. We appreciate working with them as partners to benefit our residents and school children.”
Officials said an “effective” property tax rate is a calculation that offers a method of comparing residents’ property tax burdens across municipalities. Because towns have different valuations, this allows one to compare tax rates on a level playing field.
“Our AA+ bond rating from Standard [and] Poor’s recognizes our commitment to strong fiscal management on behalf of our taxpayers,” said Monroe Councilman Michael Leibowitz. “We’ve worked extremely hard to balance our budget and meet the priorities of our residents. We have increased our reserves over the past five years to ensure a stable tax rate now and in the future.”
In 2017, the township marked 26 years of operation of the Water and Sewer Utility with no rate increase and Monroe currently has the lowest utility rates in Middlesex County.