Cranbury Budget Proposes 1.5-Cent Tax Increase

Cranbury residents will face a 1.5-cent increase in taxes this year if the 2012 budget proposed at Monday’s township committee meeting passes.

The 2012 total budget is $10,822,802.38, . Although the budget is lower, the tax increase is attributed to the loss in total assessed property value in town.

Mayor David Cook said they had to make cuts in every area of the budget, including personnel, municipal alliance, recreation and police.

“It’s probably the hardest budget that I think the town has probably had to put together in 20 years. The pressure from state and county services has been enormous as far as cutting, yet the cost of pension and healthcare and insurance increased,” Cook said.

The 1.5-cent tax increase will increase municipal taxes $7.50 per month for a house valued at $600,000, Cook said.

“This year is the first time that I ever heard all the areas of the budget had to be addressed for cutting in order to keep a sound fiscal policy,” Cook said.

Committee member James Taylor was the sole vote in the 4-1 approval that was against the introduction of the budget, and he said as of now he plans of voting against the ordinance because of increase of tax rate.

“My view is that since we raised taxes two cents last year and we're using less surplus this year that the tax rate should be at best a half cent and at most a one cent increase if we felt some increase was necessary to reduce the surplus burn and keep taxes stable for residents,” Taylor said in an email Monday night. “The others felt that the lowest we could do and still help the town long term was 1.5 cents.”

The Township Committee only has about $1.3 million in expenses that are in their control and overall ratables in town are down, Taylor said.

“I think we’ve stripped everything down that we can strip down, and ratables keep declining and ratables drive everything. So we all agree on the spending, and we all agree on the lack of ratables or the decrease in ratables is a big issue,” Taylor said Monday.

The Middlesex County Abstract of Ratables said the 2011 total assessed property value in Cranbury was $1.6 billion, and that dropped by $57 million this year, according to Cook. 

The township also saw a consistent amount of tax appeals this year, which has plateaued since last year, Cook said. He also noted Cranbury still holds the AAA credit rating, and was told only a handful of municipalities in the state hold this rating.

and Taylor said one of the two positions would be replaced this year. The fire department and first aid squad will also receive the maximum amount of the money allowed by the state from the township. 

Taylor also said there is a misconception that if Cranbury had its own court it would generate more revenue for the town, but the costs associated with it would not help the tax burden on residents. 

The township will also spend $1,114 sending out direct mailings to residents explaining the budget, Cook said. The public hearing on the budget will be March 26 at 7 p.m.