MyCentralJersey.com
MILLTOWN – The borough adopted a nearly $25 million municipal budget for 2025 that will bring a slight increase to residents' tax bills.
Under the budget, an average borough home assessed at $164,349.79 can expect to see a $64.12 increase in the municipal portion of their tax bill, said borough Chief Financial Officer Joseph Zanga. This does not include library, school and county taxes.
No reduction in municipal services is anticipated and infrastructure improvements are included in the budget, Zanga said.
The budget was introduced March 28 and approved April 28.
The $24,846,433 municipal budget consists of $12,527,551 for the current fund, which includes a $410,898 library tax; $4,192,800 for water/sewer and $8,126,082 for electric.
The 2024 municipal budget was $23,893,999.27 with a tax rate of $1.604 per $100 of assessed valuation. In 2025 it’s $1.637 per $100 of assessed valuation.
The biggest driver in the budget was insurance, Zanga said.
"This is something that has been a budget change in almost every single town," he said.
The library appropriation went up $13,461, Zanga said, adding that's statutory and the borough has no control over it.
Utilities went up $11,000 and salaries and wages saw a little more than a 2% increase, he said.
The borough left one joint insurance fund and joined another, which allowed it to anticipate savings in this year's budget, Zanga said.
Local purpose tax rose by $169,675 or 2.38%, he said.
Some of the revenues did stay level, but some did not hit their target projections in 2024, Zanga said.
"The water/sewer budget was not self-liquidating, which means revenues did not support operations," he said. "It just barely missed it though. It was off by about $1,300, so it was very close, but it did not hit its target last year."
The 2025 water/sewer budget reflects the new rates that were approved in December 2024.
The electric utility fund was also not self-liquidating, but a rate increase was put in place in April, Zanga said.
"Everybody in New Jersey is seeing a large increase in electric bills," he said.
Zanga said the borough is out to bid for a battery storage project. This is one way the borough is trying to mitigate the increased costs in the future. If the bids come in favorable to the borough, this will help offset future transmission and capacity increases, he said.
The budget also includes capital projects such as road improvements, curb cuts and sidewalk improvements, purchase of equipment and vehicles, parks and playground improvements, utility system improvements and the battery storage project.
In addition to Zanga, the finance committee was made up of Council President Filipe "Phil" Zambrana, Councilmen David Potter and Gary Posnansky and Business Administrator Fred Carr. The group met six times to go over the budget spending plan, Zanga said. A few of those meetings included department heads, who provided input, he added.
The borough collects the property taxes, which are distributed to all the taxing entities. The Board of Education makes up about 61% of the total tax bill, the borough makes up about 24%, the county about 13%, and the county open space and library at 1%.
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Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.