Politics & Government

Average Hopatcong Municipal Property Taxes to Rise $76

Borough council approves $15 million budget, 5-1.

Hopatcong's council approved a budget, 5-1, that will raise municipal property taxes $76 on an average borough home Wednesday night.

The new tax rate of 58 cents per $100 of assessed valuation is up from 55.6 cents in 2010. For the owner of a home valued at the borough average of $315,000, that means a municpal tax payment of $1,827, up from $1,751. Those figures do not include taxes for school district and county expenditures, which fall under their own budgets.

Councilwoman Madeline McManus was the only "no" vote on the $15,152,351 budget—$100,000 less than last year's.

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She said she voted "no" for the second straight year because she didn't agree with the budget-forming process, in which a finance committee of two council members crafts a budget with the mayor, borough administrator, chief financial officer and an accountant. McManus didn't attend the March 8 budget introduction.

"In the past years when I was on the council, the budget was done by the whole mayor and council and it was done in an open meeting," said McManus, in her 12th year on the council. "So we discussed the whole thing. Every person in charge of departments would come and present the reasons why they wanted the things that they wanted. So, we were all part of the process, and the process has changed. Some communities do it that way. That's not the way I like it."

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Mayor Sylvia Petillo said she disagreed with McManus on Thursday morning. Petillo said the process "is more open than it's ever been because we show a PowerPoint presentation that actually gives a visual to the budget that's esay to understand for the residents."

The tax levy will increase 3.7 percent overall. State law prohibits the levy from growing more than 2 percent year over year, but makes exceptions for expenses such as health insurance and pension payments; omitting those payments, it comes in under the 2 percent cap as required.

Petillo said the budget fell $85,000 under the 2 percent cap before the exceptions were factored in. Legally, the taxy levy could have been has high as $11,910,922 instead of the approved $11,825,922.

Accountant Paul Lerch of Lerch, Vinci & Higgins said at the meeting that the borough will put the $85,000 into a cap bank, which it can use it next year.

"It doesn't mean you have to use it," Lerch said. "But it means that if there are emergency situations and you have to use it, you can."

"We have continually reshaped and we have cut," Petillo said. "We have not just reduced the line items, they don't exist anymore. If you speak to many of our department heads, you know how difficult it is to spend any money in this town. We keep a very tight rein on any type of spending."

Several costs, however, will rise within the budget. Insurance will cost the borough nearly $100,000 more than last year, up to $1,861,653 from $1,765,653. Police services will rise by about the same amount, up to $3,104,263 from $3,000,477. Several other expenses will rise by smaller dollar amounts.

A few expenses will drop in dollar amount, however. The borough will spend $13,216 less on public works, down to $1,550,276 from $1,563,492, and $32,400 on solid waste, down to $1,196,500 from $1,228,900.

Police services remained the budget's biggest line item—about a fifth of all borough spending, at more than $3,100,000.

Assessed property value 2011 property tax 2010 property tax $200,000 $1,160 $1,112 $400,000 $2,320 $2,224 $600,000 $3,480 $3,480


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