PETERSBURG — Upper Township residents should brace for higher taxes again this year after Township Committee and the Board of Education reported they anticipate increasing their rates again.
Township Committee introduced its budget Feb. 27. The spending plan is up $550,000 over last year and calls for a rate increase of 2.8 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Later that evening, school business administrator Laurie Ryan discussed an expected increase of 2.3 cents per $100 for the district budget.
Combined, the proposed increases amount to 5.1 cents, or $51 for each $100,000 of assessed value. The owner of a home assessed at the township average of $287,222 can expect an increase of $146.
The municipal increase of 2.8 cents, or 11 percent, would raise the tax rate to 28 cents, resulting in a bill $80 higher. Last year the tax rate increased 3.3 cents to 25.2 cents per $100 of assessed value, or $93.50 for an average-assessed home.
Committeeman Curtis Corson said the township is facing a $300,000 increase in health benefits and $250,000 in debt service payments.
He said they were able to curb the increase through providing employees incentives to go with a lower-cost health benefits plan, reducing the work force and shared services.
Mayor Jay Newman said it’s amazing that the increase is not larger given that the state health benefits plan increased 23 percent.
Auditor Leon Costello, who serves in that capacity for numerous southern New Jersey municipalities, said it’s “a year like no other,” noting that Upper’s increase is among the smaller ones.
The school increase of 2.3 cents would raise the tax rate to $1.47 per $100 of assessed valuation. Last year, the $38,227,032 spending plan called for an increase of 2.2 cents, or $66 per year on an average-assessed home. This year’s increase would be about the same amount.
According to Ryan, the school district tax levy would be $27,550,179 for 2023-24.
Ryan also discussed tuition rates, saying Corbin City owes the district $155,000 while the district owes Ocean City $237,000. She said the district would work with Corbin City to collect the payments over multiple years, while the $250,000 tuition reserve account established last year would pay the shortfall to Ocean City.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff