By Emily Rose Finn
Manalapan’s town tax rate will stay at $3 per $1,000 of taxable value for another year, though most property owners will still pay more because property values keep climbing.
Town commissioners on Sept. 28 unanimously approved the rate and a $9.74 million general fund budget — a drop of 25.8% from the previous budget — with no discussion. The new budget and property tax rate are for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1.
It is the fifth straight year the town has held the rate at $3 per $1,000 of taxable value. The owner of a home with a taxable value of $10 million this year will pay $30,000 in town taxes, an increase of almost $2,000 from the previous year based on the town’s average increase in home values.
Taxable property values in Manalapan rose 6.94% this year, to about $2.59 billion, according to town budget documents. As a result, the unchanged rate is expected to bring in about $7.49 million in property taxes, roughly $471,000 more than last year.
That puts the rate 6.65% above the town’s rollback rate of $2.81 per $1,000 — the rate that would bring in the same property tax revenue as last year.
The drop in the general fund budget, which pays for day-to-day operations including police — and is supported by the property taxes — was from land purchase, mostly, including the land for a new Town Hall, officials said. The town’s overall budget, including for water and other services, is $15.5 million.
The town’s $516,032 capital budget includes $175,000 to design the new Town Hall and $200,000 for police and town vehicles.
A separate $1.065 million utility capital budget will pay for several water projects, including design work to meet new federal limits on PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.”
Comments