Englishtown ’05 budget calls for 12.8¢ tax hike
Police department takes 32 percent bite of all spending
BY MARK ROSMAN
Staff Writer

Property owners in Englishtown are facing the prospect of a higher municipal tax bill in conjunction with the 2005 budget that has been proposed by the Borough Council.

The budget was introduced on March 9 and a public hearing was held on April 13, but the budget was not adopted that night and no date has been set for its adoption.

According to figures provided by Chief Financial Officer Himanshu Shah, the municipal budget for 2005 checks in at $1,948,537, an increase of $54,107 from the 2004 budget total of $1,894,430.

Englishtown property owners will be asked to pay a total of $758,521 in municipal taxes, an increase of $127,010 from the 2004 tax levy of $631,511.

The borough expects to receive $238,304 in state aid in 2005. That is $1 more than the $238,303 Englishtown received from the state in 2004. The borough did not receive any extraordinary state aid in 2004. A request for extraordinary state aid for 2005 is pending.

The municipal tax rate is proposed to increase 12.8 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, from 66.8 to 79.6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. If the budget is adopted as it is currently proposed, that means the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 will pay $796 in municipal taxes in 2005, up $128 from the 2004 amount of $668. The owner of a home assessed at $150,000 will pay $1,194 in municipal taxes in 2005, up $192 from the 2004 amount of $1,002. The owner of a home assessed at $200,000 will pay $1,592 in municipal taxes in 2005, up $256 from the 2004 amount of $1,336.

Municipal taxes are one part of the overall tax bill, which also includes Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District taxes, Freehold Regional High School District taxes, Monmouth County taxes and other assessments.

The operation of the Englishtown Police Department will account for 32 percent of the 2005 budget, according to the figures provided by Shah. Police salaries and wages account for $402,504. When costs for dispatching, pension contributions, health insurance and the borough’s share of Medicaid are added, the total cost of operating the police department amounts to $623,535.

The future of the nine-man police department has been discussed by local officials from two towns in recent weeks. Elected officials in Manalapan and Englishtown have met to discuss the possibility of sharing municipal services and have acknowledged that one way of sharing services might be for the Manalapan Police Department to assume responsibility for covering Englishtown. That possible course of action has left the members of the borough’s police force wondering what their future may hold.