By John Pacenti
Manalapan is pressing pause for now on cutting back the 24/7 hours of guards at the entrance of Point Manalapan, Assistant Town Manager Eric Marmer said.
“There’s no formal decision. We got a lot of feedback from residents. They didn’t want to decrease the hours of the guards at the gatehouse,” Marmer said. “We budgeted for the full amount for the year. It seems that’s the way it is going to go.”
The town has allocated $270,000, an increase of about 2%, in the current proposed budget to man the guard gate. Police Chief Carmen Mattox has said the guard house serves as a crime deterrent.
At a July 23 meeting, Commissioner David Knobel suggested making the guards more visible in the guardhouse for even more of a deterrent effect.
In setting the proposed budget, Marmer said commissioners used the same tax rate on residents as last year, $3 per $1,000 of taxable value. Residents will still pay more because property values have gone up — but not as much as in other municipalities in South Florida.
Unlike many municipalities that saw property values go up 10% or more, Manalapan saw increases of about 5.3%, excluding new construction, Marmer said.
A homesteaded parcel worth $2 million — with its tax value capped under state law — would pay an increase of $180 in Manalapan taxes. A similarly valued commercial, rental or second home that matched the town’s 5.3% value increase would see an increase of $318.
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