Upper Budget Introduced with 2.8-Cent Tax Rate Increase

PETERSBURG – Upper Township Committee, in its Feb. 27 meeting, introduced the 2023 municipal budget, which includes a 2.8-cent tax rate increase over last year.
Municipal auditor Leon Costello called 2023 “a year like no other,” describing the effects of a 22% increase in health care costs statewide.
“There are some pretty good numbers going around – yours is one of the smaller,” Costello said, using “pretty good” to mean large numbers.
Upper Township’s 2023 budget will appropriate $15,774,702.62, which is a decrease of $67,808.44 from 2022.
The nearly $15.8 million is $47,443.34 below the tax levy cap. The local purpose tax will increase by $551,306.08, necessitating an additional .0279 on the tax rate.
The tax rate per $100 of assessed value is increasing from .2520/100 to .2799/100. A home assessed at $300,000 would pay another $84 per year, or $7 per month, Township Administrator Gary DeMarzo said in the Feb. 27 meeting.
The township has a current tax collection rate of 98.87%, up slightly from the prior year. The township will be using an additional $105,000 from its fund balance to fund the 2023 budget but will end the year with a much better surplus balance than 2022 – $1,847,793 as opposed to only $146,345 in 2022, a change of $1.7 million more being added to the township’s reserves in 2023.
A second reading and public hearing on the budget is expected to be held March 27 at 4:30 p.m.