Hopewell Township property owners will see a slight decrease in the municipal tax rate with the proposed 2023 municipal budget.
The $26.3 million budget was introduced on April 3 at a Township Committee meeting. A public hearing is scheduled for May 1.
“With a second year of a significant increase in property valuations and the net of the [tax] levy and those valuations, the municipal tax rate will go down in 2023,” Committeeman Kevin Kuchinski said.
The proposed municipal tax rate for the introduced budget is 43.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of an average home assessed at $484,577 would pay $2,107 in municipal taxes, a decrease of $15 from 2022’s tax rate of 43.8 cents.
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 or her home and/or property, and the tax rate that is set by each taxing entity.
Hopewell Township’s municipal appropriations remain stable and are projected to be $26.3 million in 2023. Residential and commercial property owners support the appropriations through a tax levy.
The tax levy is slightly increasing from $17 million in 2022 to $17.3 million for the 2023 budget.
“This budget is both below the tax levy cap and appropriation cap, which will allow us to bank both of those in the years going forward,” Township CFO Julie Troutman said.
Hopewell Township will use $1.99 million from the surplus as revenue in the budget, which is a $684,000 increase used from 2022.
Other revenues in the budget include $1.73 million in state aid; $928,250 from the American Rescue Plan; $800,000 from delinquent taxes; $657,163 from share service agreements; $446,000 from PILOTs (payment in lieu of taxes); and $407,000 from fees and permits.
On the appropriations side of the budget, the budget will fund appropriations that include $6.4 million on municipal debt service, which is increased by about $300,000 from 2022.
Additional appropriations include $4 million for the police department, $3.43 million for insurance, $2.04 million towards streets and roads, $1.1 million toward the police and fireman’s retirement system, $943,534 towards shared service agreements, $670,000 towards capital improvements, $400,000 on utilities, and $215,000 toward motor fuels, according to the introduced budget documents.
“As we outlined through the capital process. We will be directly funding roughly $500,000 from monies from some of the developers to provide for the usage of new amenities for current residents,” Kuchinski said.
“That includes work on the Hart’s Corner Schoolhouse and monies toward our turf field replacement, and direct funding to one of the new police vehicles.”
