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MHD
Citizen
Username: Mayhewdrive
Post Number: 2039
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 3:47 pm: | 
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Since Nancy is so fond of articles about Montclair:
Montclair holds the line against higher taxes
Jump in revenue allows manager to propose budget with no rate hike
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
BY PHILIP READ
Star-Ledger Staff
On a small cul-de-sac off Montclair's Park Street, a vintage residence described by assistant township planner Jonathan Mellon as "a modest 1950s house" is to be razed in favor of a more impressive, larger one.
Once built, the higher-priced replacement is likely to translate into a higher assessment -- and more tax revenue for Montclair's coffers.
It is examples such as these --big add-ons and the occasional teardowns borne of Montclair's rising affluence -- that are contributing to a "zero increase" in Montclair's municipal tax rate, officials said yesterday.
"All the new investment in town means we have a zero percent increase," Township Manager Joseph Hartnett said yesterday of a budget he is unveiling at tonight's public council meeting.
In Montclair, the average residential taxpayer with a home assessed at $252,900 paid $12,417 in property taxes last year. Then, the tax rate -- comprising municipal, school and county taxes -- was $4.91 per $100 of assessed value, with the municipal portion coming in at $1.16, where it is expected to remain.
Until yesterday morning, Hartnett had been touting a proposed budget showing a 3 percent increase, with the amount to be raised by taxes increasing less than 1 percent. Then, he said, he got word from the town's auditors about the bonus of all those added assessments.
"This year truly begins a new era in Montclair," Hartnett had said in a memo to the town's council.
Mayor Ed Remsen, who assumed office with a big chunk of his "Leadership Montclair" slate on July 1, was elated.
"Amazing, isn't it?" said Remsen, attributing the good budget news to a detail-minded manager. "It's not like we're making a lot of cuts. We said we could improve the services and make customers happy, and it looks like we're going to do that, and we're thrilled."
At Montclair's town hall, Joan Kozeniesky, the tax assessor, rattled off some examples of increased assessments and the tax revenue that goes with them.
The assessment on a Park Street ranch converted to a large colonial went from $295,200 to $863,700, pushing up its annual property tax bill by $27,913 to $42,407, she said. On a smaller scale, a family-room addition on Prospect Street pushed up the annual taxes by $1,964 on that home, she said.
The municipal budget, which includes $32.2 million to be raised by taxes, is holding steady despite $515,544 in increased state pension costs; a $265,814 jump, or 13.5 percent, in the bill from the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission; and an additional $432,736, or 10 percent, rise in debt service.
On the plus side, the budget shows a savings of $541,515 from last year's reorganization and early retirements and nearly $400,000 from joining the Garden State Joint Insurance Fund.
Hartnett's budget is requesting a 3.4 percent increase for the library, which has sought 6 percent more in funding. "The council should review this request during budget hearings," Hartnett said.
The budget also includes $93,600 in seed money for an arts council and more resources for the town's cable-television operation, increasing salaries from $12,000 to $50,000 and expenses from $9,000 to $20,000.
Over at the school system's administrative offices, budget-planners have prepared a plan with a 5.6 percent increase in the tax burden, or $404 more for the owner of a home assessed at $252,900, the townwide average.
Yet that increase, which pushes the average tax bill for the schools to $7,536, is the smallest percentage jump since the 2000-2001 fiscal year and is way below the 9.1 percent spike in 2001-2002.
The town-by-town breakdown of the third component of the tax bill -- the county's -- hasn't been released yet, but last year, Essex County imposed a $93.55 increase for the average Montclair homeowner. Though considerably smaller than 2003's spike of $159, it was the biggest jump of any town in Essex.
Assuming the Essex County tax bite stays the same, the average Montclair homeowner would be paying an extra $497.55 this year in property taxes, or about $41 a month more.
Philip Read covers West Essex. He can be reached at pread@starledger.com or (973) 392-1851. |
Rastro
Citizen
Username: Rastro
Post Number: 885
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 3:58 pm: |
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So now we know what we need to do in South Orange. tear down all those old houses, and build new, bigger ones!
This had absolutely nothing to do with the town administration. Montclair is hot, just as Short Hills is, for tear downs. People buy homes for the purpose of tearing them down and building new ones. Do you really want a whole town of Pulte McMansions?
BTW, you realize this simply holds the tax RATE down, not the budget, right? So you're simply telling your neighbors to make their houses bigger (either by renovating or rebuilding), so that your taxes stay the same...
Maybe I'm missing something obvious... it's happened before. but this reads like an advertorial, not news. I wonder how the town is holding the line in the municipal budget? Tax receipts are going to go up. How is that holding the municipal budget steady? |
Ace789nj
Citizen
Username: Ace789nj
Post Number: 13
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 4:10 pm: |
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Talking about Pulte McMansions, there's quite a bit of tax $$ being generated at the top of Tillou Rd., wonder where that's gonna go? I hope some of the town's dept's (street, fire, police) see some of it |
elliott spitzer
Supporter
Username: Doublea
Post Number: 993
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 4:53 pm: |
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Rastro - The article says that until yesterday, Montclair's Mayor was going to introduce a budget with an increase of 3% which would have resulted in a 1% tax increase. The new assessments eliminated the need for a tax increase. So you are correct that Montclair's budget did increase.
However, my impression is that there is a different mindset in Montclair than in South Orange, both on the part of the administration and the residents.
I know based on statements made by SO officials that the feeling is that the residents don't mind paying the taxes because of "all the services they receive." We seem to be locked into a pattern where a 4.5% increase is deemed acceptable. SO is applying for discretionary aid from the state. If we get it, the tax increase will still most likely be 4.5%. If we don't get it, the tax increase will be 4.5%.
As I said before, it's the mindset which is different. And it comes from the top. Gaslight Commons produces over $500,000 in pilot revenues which all go to the Village. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 8091
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 6:11 pm: |
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This isn't a troll post, but did the municipal taxes go down when the Gaslight Commons revenue kicked in? Will it go down next year when you pick up $300,000 or so (?) from the Pulte development? How about when the Shoprite and Beifus PILOTS kick in? |
Two Sense
Citizen
Username: Twosense
Post Number: 66
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 6:27 pm: |
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Why make it up, when you can look it up: http://www.to.montclair.nj.us/manager/annual_report_04.pdf.
Does South Orange produce a genuine, non-fluff, annual report for its citizens? |
elliott spitzer
Supporter
Username: Doublea
Post Number: 994
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 8:50 pm: |
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Bob K - The answers to your questions are no, probably not and probably not (unless there's an outcry from the public). |
elliott spitzer
Supporter
Username: Doublea
Post Number: 995
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - 9:02 pm: |
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Bob K - If $300,000 in municipal taxes from Pulte is correct (?), that will be probably used up in the funding the Village has promised to SOPAC. |
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