Wintry Weather Major Cost Driver In Middletown Twp $70.2M Budget

Middletown's governing body introduced a $70,200,465 spending plan for 2014 on March 17. The amount to be raised by taxation will rise by $1.398 million to $46,535,736, up 2.88 percent from last year. 

The proposed spending plan calls for an estimated tax rate of 50.6 cents per $100 of assessed value, up .11 cents from 2013. For a home valued at $375,600, the township average, the estimated municipal tax would be $1,901 annually, or an increase of $41 over last year.

Township CFO Colleen Lapp said most of the rise can be attributed mostly to weather related costs for 2014. A string of significant winter storms and frigid cold is blamed for 74% of the change in the proposed tax levy. Winter storm costs from January through March reached $1.5 million, an increase of over $1 million compared to 2013 and most prior years, she said. 

According to the budget documents the township budget is tentatively scheduled for public hearing on April 21. Formal adoption could come in May. 

The township property tax dollar is comprised of the school budget (62 percent), the county (13 percent), municipal library (2 percent), municipal open space (1 percent) and county open space (1 percent.) 

On March 19, the Middletown Township Board of Education proposed a spending plan that raises taxes 2 percent, or $115.11, for the average homeowner. Also earlier this month, the Monmouth County Freeholders introduced a budget that calls for no increase in taxes. 

To learn more about the township's budget, you can read an article in The Independent, download the township's budget summary, read the township's 2014 municipal budget sheet, or view Middletown Township CFO Colleen Lapp's budget presentation at the March 17 government meeting. The video was produced and shared on Youtube by citizen group Middletown Open Government (MOG).