WEST CAPE MAY – Borough taxpayers will see a half-cent increase on the tax rate under the 2024 municipal budget introduced on Wednesday, March 13. Both revenue and spending are anticipated to be down this year.
The roughly $3.7 million budget would have a local purpose tax rate of .4310, compared to .4260 last year. The borough will raise an additional $49,380 from taxes in 2024.
The tax increase for the owner of a $300,000 home would be $15 this year. “It’s a very austere budget,” Mayor Carol Sabo said. “We are conservative about projecting out what it would be.”
Sabo said the municipal tax rate is where it needs to be, and it’s the county and school taxes that tend to drive increases. Those figures are not yet available.
Municipal auditor Leon Costello said the introduction is the starting point of the budget process, although municipalities and departments have been working on their budgets for months. He said the budget may be altered before being adopted on Wednesday, April 10, when it is scheduled for a public hearing at a meeting beginning at 7 p.m.
Costello said West Cape May is well under the state-mandated 2.5% tax levy cap. He said the budget was up slightly in 2024, although the budget summary handed out at the meeting suggested a decrease in appropriations, from $4.9 million in 2023 to $3.7 million this year. The difference is mostly due to a loss of state and federal grants totaling more than $1.45 million.
Chief Financial Officer Frank Donato, responding to a question on the reduction in state and federal grants, said money could come in over the year and be added to the budget.
Costello said West Cape May has a small budget, and any change can impact it. He said the budget contains “no funny one-timers,” meaning gimmicks to artificially keep the tax rate low. He also said the borough could not spend any more money.
Deputy Mayor George Dick asked how Costello comes up with the fund balance, or surplus, amount. Costello replied that they look at the figure used from the surplus in the previous year that is applied to the current budget and they try to replace it.
West Cape May used $580,000 from its surplus in 2023 and will use $650,000 to help fund the 2024 budget. However, the surplus is projected to grow by roughly $50,000 this year, to $474,175.
The borough’s total assessed value of property grew about $4.8 million over 2023, and its current rate of tax collection is 96.93%, which is down from 97.41% last year.
