The Hopewell Township Committee unanimously voted to adopt a $30.3 million municipal budget that includes no tax increase for property owners in 2025.
The township’s $30.3 million municipal budget, which funds municipal operations for 2025 and contains a slight tax rate decrease, was adopted by the governing body at its May 19 meeting. Officials had introduced the budget back on April 14.
The proposed municipal tax rate for the budget is 44 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of an average assessed home at $497,275 will pay $2,188 in municipal taxes.
In 2024, the township’s municipal tax rate was 44.3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
Municipal taxes are one item on a property owner’s total tax bill, which also includes Hopewell Valley Regional School District (HVRSD) 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.
“As we look at 2025, I’ll start with the really good news,” Committeeman Kevin Kuchinski said. “The municipal tax rate will decrease…we will be well below New Jersey’s 2% cap and the municipal levy will decrease by .7% versus 2024 – well below the rate of inflation.”
The township continues to reduce debt levels, he said. The township’s new authorized capital borrowing in 2025 is less than the bond principal scheduled for repayment and they are using capital improvement funds to directly fund $1.5 million in capital projects.
“The other big headline is we are starting to see an increase in new revenue sources,” Kuchinski added. “We have been working on this for the past seven-plus years. So, we have PILOTs (payment in lieu of taxes), cannabis tax, cell tower rents, and shared services.”
To support the budget, property taxes are a main source of revenue for the township. The amount expected to be raised by property taxes for 2025 is $17.5 million.
“It is important to note that the budget itself is less dependent on the levy,” said Julie Troutman, the township’s chief financial officer (CFO). “The levy’s percent of the budget is less than it was in the prior year.”
Some of the areas the budget covers are the police department, public works, capital projects, shared service agreements and general government operations.
The township proposes to use $3.35 million from the surplus as revenue in the budget, which is a $2.55 million increase from 2024.
Other projected revenues in the budget include: $3.5 from PILOTs, $1.67 million in state aid, $1.6 million from energy receipts tax, $900,000 from interest on investments and deposits, $758,494 from shared service agreements, $390,000 from fees and permits, and $40,000 from local cannabis tax revenue.
For appropriations, the budget will fund $6.7 million on municipal debt service.
Additional appropriations include: $4.4 million to public safety (includes police department), $3.8 million on insurance, $2.28 million for public works; $1.8 million towards capital improvements, $1.3 million on shared service agreements, $662,000 toward utilities and bulk purchases, and $482,000 to Health and Human Services, according to the budget documents.
This year’s budget impacts on the expenditure side – a just under $1.4 million increase in the capital improvement fund, staffing increases which amount to an increase in salary and wages of $560,000, a $510,000 increase in medical benefits insurance, a $91,000 increase in liability insurance, an increase of $36,600 for recycling shared services, and a just under $49,000 decrease in debt service payments.
According to the budget presentation, the budget impacts on the revenue side are a $2.5 million increase in surplus, a $2.65 million increase from PILOTs, a $1.27 million decrease from receipts from delinquent taxes, a decrease of just under $136,000 from the tax levy, a decrease of just under $175,000 in state aid, and a $474,000 decrease from the premium reserve for debt service.
When it comes to PILOT funds for this year’s budget the township anticipates $1.8 million from The Parc, $750,000 from Woodmont Federal, and $500,000 from The Collection. The township also projects $3.3 million from BeOne Medicine annually as a payment and the revenue is not anticipated for the 2025 budget but will replenish the surplus used.
