TOMS RIVER – The amount of money that the average person pays in municipal taxes will stay the same, according to figures shared by township officials.
The total budget is proposed to be $141,461,234.67. Of this, $88,536,066.71 will be raised in taxes. Last year, this figure was $88,115,061.65. Therefore, the amount that the town will tax is $421,005.06 more than last year, or an increase of less than one percent (.47%). The proposed tax rate would be .437 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
The taxes for an average home in town, valued at $448,700, is proposed to be $1,960. This $1,960 is the same as the average payment for 2021, officials said.
Township officials said that there were 37 retirements last year, as well as 47 resignations from full time and part time employees. There were 430 sick days due to COVID-19. The total number of full time employees is now 479, down from 490 last year.
“Thanks to the great work of our business administrator Lou Amoruso, our CFO Judith Tutela, and all of our department heads and employees, we’ve been able to hold the line on spending, even in this inflationary environment,” Mayor Maurice “Mo” Hill said. “For the second year in a row we have a 0% property tax increase.
“In the last two years, we have reduced our staff by 5.3% through attrition and by implementing reforms suggested by the efficiency study. The study, which cost $150,000 has already yielded savings of $1,500,000,” he said.
“We continue to work with those facing a property tax increase due to the higher value of their properties by making them aware of all the deductions, credits and reimbursements available to them,” Hill said.
“Toms River has lower municipal property taxes than 73% of all New Jersey towns and 60% of all Ocean County towns. This doesn’t happen by accident. I thank our staff and council members for making it happen,” he said.
