WEST WILDWOOD – The Board of Commissioners has introduced a 2025 municipal budget with a 5-cent tax rate increase while overall spending is down.
The average home in West Wildwood is assessed at about $261,000; it would see a tax increase for municipal purposes of about $130.
The total budget of $3.65 million reflects a decrease of more than $276,700 from 2024. The increase in the tax rate is due, in part, to a $70,477 decrease in state and federal grants.
According to Leon Costello, who serves as the municipal auditor for West Wildwood and many other municipalities in Cape May County, the grants might be acquired or replaced during the year. While they are shown as a loss in revenue, with a matching amount reflecting a decrease in spending, the numbers will be adjusted as the borough receives grant monies.
The proposed budget meets all state cap requirements.
The tax rate will change from $1.207 per hundred of assessed value to $1.257, a 4.14% increase. The increase will allow the borough to collect $2,917,962 in taxes in 2025, an increase of $151,537 over 2024 and a 5.48% increase.
The budget is being funded in part by $500,000 from the borough surplus, an amount $164,000 less than what was applied last year.
Commissioner Joe Segrest, who presented the new budget, said the plan for 2025 is to continue paying down debt but reducing debt service payments from $960,739 in 2024 to $599,130 this year.
There will be an increase in overall salaries and wages of $43,954.
Segrest also presented a 2025 Sewer Utility budget of $983,750, an increase of $1,450 from 2024. Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority charges were reduced in 2025 by $95,101, and there is a $5,000 reduction in salaries and wages. However, “other expenditures” and debt service payments increased by about the same amount.
A public hearing on the budget will be held on Friday, April 4, at 7 p.m.
Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
