Proposed Township Budget Adds $19 to Tax Bills

Municipal taxes will go up 1.6 percent under the terms of a budget introduced by the Township Committee on Tuesday night.

That means the municipal tax bill on an average township home assessed at $368,700 will increase by $19 to $1,158, Nancy Haberle, the township’s chief financial officer, told the committee.

The tax rate will rise from 30.9 cents per $100 of assessed value to 31.4 cents. The municipal tax accounts for about 13.95 percent of the total property tax bill, which also includes levies for the school district and county.

Public hearing on the budget is scheduled for May 14. A copy of the budget will be available Wednesday on the township’s website. 

The overall budget is $27.377 million, which is higher than the 2012 budget, but $2.2 million lower than the township’s spending plan in 2008.

“We continue to operate the township as a business,” Mayor Frank DelCore said, adding that the budget process was “rigorous.”

“I am very proud of the fact that we spend less today than we did when I took office in 2008,” the mayor said. “It is a testament to the priority this Township Committee places on fiscal responsibility.”

Haberle explained that 56 budget lines in the spending plan are either frozen or reduced from their 2011 levels.

Major factors increasing the 2013 budget are hikes in contractual salaries, increased capital spending and higher healthcare costs.

DelCore said that insurance premiums have nearly doubled, but contributions by township employees increased by $135,000.

For the 11th year, the township’s $432,252 budget calls for no borrowing. 

“Hillsborough’s pay-as-you-go-no-debt plan has resulted in savings of $1,447,964 in interest payments for taxpayers to date,” the mayor said.

Among the items on the capital budget are the installation of new chassis on two ambulances, which saves the cost of replacing the two rigs, pistols and holsters for the police department, two defibrillators for the police department, a batter back-up for the police, public works equipment and $75,000 in sidewalk improvements.

Committee members lamented the loss of energy tax receipts that now go to the state, instead of municipalities. If the township had been allowed to keep that $620,000, the mayor said, there would have been no tax increase.

“I’m proud of this budget,” Committeeman Carl Suraci, the chairman of the finance committee, said, adding that he was proud that the township did not resort to any loopholes to keep the budget under the state’s two percent cap. 

“I think it’s amazing we have only a 1.6 percent increase,” Deputy Mayor Doug Tomson said.