Point Boro Taxes May Increase by $63 Per Year on Average Home

Municipal taxes will increase by $63 per year for a Point Borough home with an average assessment of $300,000 if a tentative budget is adopted on July 31.

The Borough Council has introduced a municipal budget, but cannot use it as a spending plan until after holding a public hearing and adopting the proposed budget, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. July 31 at

The proposed budget is subject to change at the July 31 meeting.

If adopted as is, the tax rate would increase from about 38.2 to 40.36 cents per $100 assessed value, which is an increase of 2.16 cents or about 5.6 percent, Maffei said.

The municipal portion of the tax bill on a local home assessed at $300,000 would increase from $1,146 by $63 to $1,209 per year.

The amount to be raised by local taxes would increase from $12,458,569 last year to $13,161,608 this year, which is an increase of $703,039.

The total budget would decrease from $18,439,021 last year to $18,235,039 this year, Maffei said.

The budget the Borough is considering is only for the municipal portion of the overall tax bill paid by Borough taxpayers. The bill will also include the Ocean County and Borough school district taxes.

The Borough Council voted unanimously to introduce the budget at a special meeting on July 2, although Councilmember Chris Leitner had some questions about the current surplus and how much might be generated next year.

Various members of council, including John Wisniewski and Bob Sabosik, had a number of questions about the budget document for Maffei. They had been on the council finance committee that worked on the budget with Maffei and Chief Finance Officer

Leitner said, "We've had budget workshops. It seems like council is not comfortable with the budget. Maybe we should adjourn to have more time to get answers."

Sabosik said, "I'm pretty comfortable."

Councilmember Toni DePaola said, "I think Dave answered the last few questions we have."

Maffei said the state is pressing the Borough to introduce its budget, since this is late in the year to be at this point.

Leitner then said, "I still have some questions about information behind the projections. But I'll vote yes for introduction."

Councilmember Chris Goss was absent.

Regarding the state-mandated 2 percent tax levy cap, the Borough can raise a maximum of $13,391.374.00. However, the Borough is raising $13,161,608.00, which is $229,766 less than what is allowed by the tax levy cap.

Regarding the budget's use of surplus as anticipated revenue, there is about $1.2 million, of the total $1.3 million, being used, compared to no surplus being used last year, Maffei said.

"Last year, we didn't have any surplus because " Maffei said after the meeting. "Some of the surplus receivables due to us have not been collected yet, so we can't use it yet."

compared to none being used in this budget.

The Borough's tax collection rate has improved from 95.5 percent last year to 96.74 percent this year. The reserve for uncollected taxes, which is the amount of money that Borough taxpayers have to pay to compensate for unpaid taxes, decreased from $2,013,864.20 last year to $1,862,257.26 this year.