WEST WILDWOOD – The Board of Commissioners has approved the introduction of a 2024 municipal budget that has no tax rate increase.

The local purpose tax rate was $1.207 in 2023 and will remain the same this year. The average assessed value of a home in West Wildwood is $261,150, whose owner would pay $3,152 in municipal taxes, plus county and school taxes.

Commissioner Joseph Segrest, director of revenue and finance, said at the March 1 meeting where the introduction was approved that it is likely there will be a school tax increase. This is the final year of a five-year state plan to reduce school aid to certain school districts. West Wildwood does not have a functioning school district but sends its students to either North Wildwood or Wildwood.

The nearly $3.9 million municipal budget, of which about $2.7 million will be raised by taxation, is under the state’s cap requirements, according to information provided by the borough clerk/administrator.

The budget includes a surplus of $1.02 million, with $664,000 being applied to the budget, which is $272,000 more in surplus than was applied to the budget in 2023.

The total budget will increase by $269,097 this year, with salaries and wages accounting for $32,537 of the increase and other expenditures amounting to an increased $236,560.

The sewer utility budget calls for appropriations of $982,300, which is an 11.6% increase. “The new levy equates to no increase in the 2024 sewer rate,” Segrest said in his report. Borough Administrator Donna Frederick said the borough applied surplus funds to the sewer utility budget to offset an increase.

Segrest also announced that the borough was due for a revaluation. “It’s always popular with the community,” he said in jest.

Revaluations are ordered every three to five years, Segrest said, adding that West Wildwood would have to revalue in 2026 for the 2027 tax year. The county, which bases taxes on true value, might order a revaluation when the assessed value of property in municipalities falls below 85% of the true value.

Contact the author, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.