Sea Girt Eyes $60 Municipal Tax Hike Under Budget Proposal

Municipal property taxes in Sea Girt could rise by an average of $60 this year under the $6.3 million budget introduced by the Borough Council at its March 9 meeting.

The total proposed municipal budget amount for calendar year 2011 is $6,353,905.76 or $225,671.27 less than then the approved municipal budget of $6,579,577.03 in 2010.

Despite the lower figures between this year and last, property owners would take on a 4/10-cent municipal tax rate hike to cover the deficits created by the loss of about $341,000 in funding collectively from the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), the federal Community Block Development Grant program (CBDG), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other sources that were calculated into last year’s spending plan.

“Pass-through funding” from such sources, as designated for specific expenses, will not be received this year according to Councilman Ken Farrell, who chairs the council’s budget committee.

That leaves the borough relying on property taxes, miscellaneous revenues, receipts from delinquent taxes and its surplus to balance the proposed budget, Farrell explained.

This year, the borough will apply $460,324.00 from its existing surplus to help offset expenses. That figure represents an increase of about $10,324.00 from the $450,000 in surplus applied in last year’s budget. The borough expects to add about another $263,000 to its surplus within two years, Farrell noted.

The total tax levy or amount to be raised by taxation this calendar year is about $5,302,628.00, which reflects an increase of approximately $84,000 more than last year’s tax levy of nearly $5,217,877.00.

Under the introduced budget, the owner of a home assessed at the average of $1.5 million would pay approximately $4,020 in municipal taxes during calendar year 2011. That amount is $60 more than last year’s yearly tax bill of $3,960.

Those figures break down to 26.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation or 4/10 of one cent more than last year’s figure of 26.4 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

Three separate line item appropriations—debt service on capital improvements, pensions, and interlocal agreements—show the greatest increase over last year’s allotments according to charts distributed by the finance committee.

To repay the debt service, the council has proposed putting aside $672,963.50, which is $62,897.50 more than the amount of $610,066.00 for the same line item in 2010.

The allocation for pensions, which are fixed costs dictated by collective bargaining agreements, would be hiked to $478,719.00, up by $66,351.00 from the 2010 line item figure of $66,351.00.

Finally, $186,000 would be allocated for interlocal agreements. That figure represents $66,000 more than last year’s designated $120,000.

Farrell acknowledged that continuing to provide the same level of municipal services for residents for less than a penny more in property taxes proved to be a challenging balancing act.

With state aid to many New Jersey municipalities flat and no additional state aid or government grants coming in, the town had to get creative in cutting costs, he said. As an example, he pointed to trash pick-ups that are now done once instead of twice weekly.

Council President Fred Niemeyer admitted that though he is not pleased with a tax hike at all, he appreciated the “yeoman’s job” performed by Farrell and the finance committee in crafting the budget.

A public hearing and a final vote on adopting the budget will be held on at the council’s April 6 meeting.