PETERSBURG — Township Committee approved the 2025 budget April 14 with a tax rate increase of 2.9 cents or 9.9 percent.
Chief Financial Officer Barbara Ludy said the tax levy is increasing $594,000, requiring the rate increase. A penny is worth about $192,000.
The $45.6 million spending plan includes a tax levy of $6.2 million, up $594,384 to offset the loss of $645,000 in state aid as well as increases in costs across the board.
Ludy said major factors driving the increase include the loss of $645,000 in state aid, debt service payments and employee costs. She said it’s important to note that the township uses only 13.6 percent, or $6.2 million, of the $45 million it collects, while 67 percent goes to the schools, 15 percent to the county and 5 percent to the fire district.
Auditor Leon Costello noted that “every single town” lost state aid.
“The governor did not fund that amount this year, so it leaves holes for people that were dependent on that. The good thing is you’re not going to depend on that next year so we start off with a base of zero and we’re not going to get hurt on it next year,” he said.
“You reduced some capital things to make this budget work as it is; without that decrease we wouldn’t have had a tax increase. That really took the wind out of the sails for Upper Township,” Costello said.
The auditor said the 2.9-cent increase is about average for many towns in southern New Jersey.
“I know for sure, this is my 51st year doing this, that next year you’re going to spend more money than this year,” he said.
The rate increase boosts the total municipal tax rate to 32.3 cents per $100 of assessed value, or $323 on each $100,000. The owner of a $300,000 home would see a municipal tax bill of $969, an increase of about $90. There also is an 11-cent fire district tax rate that amounts to $11 on each $100,000.
The Cape May County Board of County Commissioners introduced its $224 million budget Feb. 25 with a tax rate reduction of 1.9 cents to 16.9 cents, a decrease of $190 on each $100,000. The rate has fallen steadily since 2021, when it was 23.4 cents.
The Upper Township Board of Education introduced its budget March 18 calling for a 4-cent increase to the tax rate to $1.587 per $100 of assessed value.
The estimated total tax rate is $2.296 per $100, or $2,296 per $100,000. The owner of a $300,000 home can expect to pay $6,631 in taxes.
Last year, Township Committee approved its municipal budget with a $301,980 increase in the tax levy and a 1.4-cent increase in the municipal tax rate.
The tax levy rose 5.7 percent to $5,618,158 for 2024, while the tax rate rose 5.1 percent to 29.4 cents.
The rate rose 2.8 cents in 2023, 3.3 cents in 2022 in 1.8 cents in 2021, for a total increase of 12.2 cents over the past five years, or about 60 percent.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff