CAPE MAY – City Council on Monday, April 14, unanimously approved a
$6.79 million budget, with a higher tax rate increase than expected.
According to auditor Leon Costello, the local purpose tax was set to increase by 2.9 cents per $100 assessed value, but because of cuts to state aid to small towns this year, that increase could climb 4/10ths of a cent to 3.3 cents.
That will mean a local purpose tax of 30.7 cents per $100 assessed value, which would mean the owner of a house assessed at $500,000 would pay $1,535 in city taxes, plus county taxes and school taxes for the local and regional school districts.
According to Costello, the state has slashed aid to towns like Cape May, which has affected budgets throughout New Jersey.
But he said there have been indications that some portion of the state aid could be restored, saying the 3.3-cent increase was the worst that could happen in this year’s budget.
“You don’t know what Trenton is going to do from week to week,” Costello said. “Everything that we’ve been talking about, everything that’s been planned could change.”
He added that he does not have any good news for any of the towns he works with this year, and warned that next year’s budget could also be difficult, particularly with new state caps on increases to the tax levy in addition to caps on spending increases.