By Mark Rosman
Staff Writer
ENGLISHTOWN – Borough Council members have adopted a $2.4 million budget that will keep the municipal tax rate stable at 62.1 cents per $100 of assessed valuation during 2017.
The owner of a home that was assessed at $300,000 in 2016 paid $1,863 in Englishtown municipal taxes. With a $300,000 assessment for 2017, that homeowner will continue to pay $1,863 in municipal taxes.
The collection of garbage and recyclable materials is included in municipal taxes.
Laurie Finger, the borough’s chief financial officer, said the budget will be supported by the collection of $1.5 million in taxes from the borough’s residential and commercial property owners. Englishtown will receive $142,206 in state aid and officials will use $305,000 from surplus (savings) as revenue in the budget this year.
In 2016, the budget totaled $2.36 million and was supported by a local tax levy of $1.49 million, the use of $258,000 from surplus and $142,206 in state aid.
Finger said capital improvements for 2017 will consist of the purchase of a new dump truck for the Department of Public Works at a cost of $65,000 and the continuation of improvements to Carriage Lane. The Carriage Lane improvements were included in the 2016 budget.
The 2017 budget includes the following appropriations: police department, salaries and wages, $616,000; police operations, $106,800; municipal debt service, $209,500; employee group health insurance, $201,000 (employees to pay $21,000 of that amount); and garbage collection and disposal, $150,000.
Englishtown has 11 full-time employees and 22 part-time employees. The borough’s estimated population for 2015 was 1,955 residents.
In addition to municipal taxes, a property owner’s tax bill also includes Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District taxes, Freehold Regional High School District taxes and Monmouth County taxes.
