Mayor Proposes ‘Lowest Tax Increase Since 2001’
Residents would pay an average of $27 more than they did last year under proposed budget
Mahwah residents may pay a municipal tax bill this year that is 1.75 percent more than it was last year. According to Mahwah’s administration, that increase would be the lowest actual increase the township has seen in 11 years.
At Tuesday night’s final budget meeting of the advisory ‘Blue Ribbon Panel’ of Mahwah residents, Mayor Bill Laforet presented the 2012 township operating budget that will be before the town council to amend and adopt for this year. According to Business Administrator Brian Campion, who put together the budget with Laforet at township CFO Ken Sesholtz, the proposed budget comes in about $215,000 shy of the state mandated two-percent tax levy cap.
For the average home in Mahwah with an assessed value of around $450,000, municipal taxes would go up about $27 in 2012, Campion said of this proposed budget.
The particulars of the budget, which outlines anticipated spending and revenue the township will collect (from taxes, state aid, police and courtroom fees, construction fees, etc.), will go before the town council. The council may make changes to the budget during public work sessions, so long as it stays, overall, within the two percent tax levy cap.
According to Laforet, “this budget is a success because it not only comes within the two percent cap, but people will actually be paying that.” Because of exceptions built into the state’s two-percent tax levy mandate – namely pension and healthcare costs – Laforet said the actual increase people pay could have been greater than two percent. “To have a budget with an actual tax increase of 1.75 percent is a great thing.”
According to Campion, pension and healthcare costs to the township saw a considerable decrease in 2011, which helped lower this year’s proposed tax levy. According to statistics Campion and Laforet presented from Bergen County, Mahwah residents have not seen a decrease in taxes since 2001. According to the data, Mahwah has seen the following municipal tax rate increases and decreases:
|
Year |
Actual Tax Rate Increase/Decrease From Previous Year |
|
1995 |
-0.86% |
|
1996 |
-5.45% |
|
1997 |
-0.23% |
|
1998 |
-1.62% |
|
1999 |
0% (Stayed the same) |
|
2000 |
-4.23% |
|
2001 |
-1.33% |
|
2002 |
3.14% |
|
2003 |
4.78% |
|
2004 |
18.26% |
|
2005 |
26.67% |
|
2006 |
9.70% |
|
2007 |
8.59% |
|
2008 |
4.88% |
|
2009 |
4.43% |
|
2010 |
4.67% |
|
2011 |
7.21% |
|
2012 (proposed) |
1.75% |
Data from Mahwah Township Administration via County of Bergen Apportionment of Levies and Rates
The municipal tax rate is only a portion of what Mahwah’s residents pay. According to Campion, it’s about 22 percent of a homeowner’s total tax bill. The rest is made up of school, county and other taxes.
According to Laforet, using a Blue Ribbon Panel for budget advice was “a huge help. We came up with a lot of ideas that I hope to implement going forward.”
Joseph Florio
8:04 pm on Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Thank you Mayor Laforet for constructing a budget that actually respects the residents of Mahwah!
Lower Taxes
7:22 am on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
I think they really need to consider a rollback. Those big bumpups of previous years need remediation. Additionally, this does not take into consideration the revalue, which increased my home's value about 6 percent in itself. I would also like someone to advise if what you are talking about just includes the municipal tax increase and not the school tax---in which case it is an incomplete, misleading statement. The schools never have enough money, and this needs to be investigated/carefully reviewed.
JP
5:25 pm on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Remind me, what was going on in 2005 and 2006 to warrant such dramatic increases?
BTW, Bill likens this to "starve the beast". When you starve the beast, you eventually find the beast bites the hand that feeds it. Be cautious.
Lower Taxes
6:21 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
I see that no one is responding to the why of these excessive increases. I for one would also like to know if and how this was justified.
DC
7:08 pm on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
DID HE TELL YOU ONE OF HIS GREAT IDEAS? THAT THE TAXPAYERS IN MAHWAH WOULD NO LONGER HAVE THE BENEFIT OF A VOLUNTEER EMERGENCY SERVICES ORGANIZATION? PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INFORM THE TAXPAYERS THAT IF THEY NEED AN AMBULANCE IN TOWN - HOPEFULLY THERE WILL BE ONE LOCAL ENOUGH TO RESPOND AND THEN THAT TAXPAYER WILL RECEIVE A BILL TO PAY..........SO FOR MANY THAT WILL BE A HUGE BURDEN. AND BTW MY TAXES WENT DOWN LAST YEAR SO HE IS FULL OF IT. AND SPEAKING OF KEEP THE TAX BURDEN DOWN IF YOU WERE SMART ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND THE CROSSROADS MALL WE WOULDNT NEED TO CUT MUCH NEEDED TOWN SERVICES.......
Hank
7:40 pm on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The Ambulance Corps is part of Mahwah. I like the Ambulance Corps and don't mind my taxes paying for it. What next, sell the ball fields?
DC
9:55 pm on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The residents don't pay for the Ambulance services. The town makes a once a year donation for supplies and they pay the insurance/maintenance on the vehicles. The rest of the funding is provided solely through donations. And I would like you to also know that Mahwah Company 4 declined the donation in 2011 because of the town budget crisis. The town would have you believe it is a huge expense to the residents. It is not. These are people who live in Mahwah who wake up in the middle of the night to come help your families. They donate their time to the town and its residents and we all see Mahwah going down hill under the wrong leadership. Residents need to tell the One year term Mayor and the council that they don't support this.
KR
10:02 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
I purchased my home in 2001. My annual gross property tax payments have increased over 130% in the same 11 year period they referenced. Bear in mind that the increases are based on the previous years assessment so the above annual increases aren't cumulative. The reassessment from last year actually was a push for at least my home. :/
What has changed within the township during these 11 years that have warranted more than a 100% increase for many homeowners? There seem to be no obvious infrastructure upgrades. There seems to be as much, if not more, business activity. Yet, municipal services (such as garbage pickup) are abbreviated. Could it be the condos and rentals jammed the school system? Could it be our schools need to compensate teachers, right or wrong, for health care and pay increases just to placate them for the massive amount of enrolled children? Why is our surplus DECREASING in spite of all this?
I'm all for paying for what I use and/or receive, but, normal inflation vs. the velocity of the ANNUAL tax increases are just too divergent to not question at approximately 12% a year over the same 11 year period.
Andy Schmidt
11:06 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
KR, the schools have their own budget and their own taxes (which actually is the biggest item on your tax bill). The surplus has nothing to do with the schools - that's part of township's buget and taxes.
So you would have to look at the break down by school tax, county tax and township tax and compare those over the years. Once you did that you would relate the number of students, teacher salaries, etc. part of your question to your school tax comparisons - you could compare municipal services, surplus etc to the (quite small) township tax portion.
Lower Taxes
10:24 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
I believe that the mayor said that he would look into other towns which have been able to substantially hold down their taxes. And that that may generate some ideas as to where all the money is going in Mahwah. We will need to ask for a status report from the mayor on his review process in this area.
resident
10:59 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
My property value keeps going down but taxes keep going up. I would like to see the financial balance sheet for closing the ambulance corps and biding out for recylcling. Getting pretty sick of politics!!
Andy Schmidt
11:19 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
Will YOUR cost to run your OWN home go down, because your property value declined due to the economic conditions - or does the cost to run your house (gas, electricity, landscaping, snow removal, home owners insurance, flood insurance, etc.) increase independent of your property value?
The same is true for the town - it doesn't suddenly cost the town less to pay for personnel, supplies and services during a slump in property values.
KR
11:34 am on Thursday, February 2, 2012
Andy none of your clarification was inferred by me. If I was unclear, that was not intentional. The bottom line is, regardless of the allocation, what is causing the increases that are well above that which is logical concurrent to a surplus that is decreasing?
I am quite sure that many of us, including myself, can partially answer our questions by extrapolating thru the posted annual audits.......
mahwah0905
7:54 pm on Thursday, February 2, 2012
TO THE POST FROM "WATCHER" ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? REGARDING THE DONATIONS THAT THE AMBULANCE CORPS HAS RECEIVED OVER MANY YEARS The funds are used as operating costs to purchase equipment, which if you know anything is very expensive (we are not talking about the band aids the town pays for). We keep up to date with the latest technology and medical equipment to provide the best service to our community. As an example those little "pagers" each member walks around with to respond to YOUR FAMILY’S CRISIS is $600! That stretcher you father or son is laying on costs $12,000! I think you can see where I am going with this can’t you now? Company 4 DECLINED the donation last year from the town because WE as members and TAXPAYERS recognized that the money was not needed considering the town’s apparent budget issues. Pick up an application and a pager rather instead of just being a "watcher". Name suits you. Watch others and complain and make ridiculous statements instead of being an ACTIVE participant in the needs of the citizens of Mahwah.
Lower Taxes
9:24 pm on Thursday, February 2, 2012
So what was the mayor's rationale in making his decision?
Hank
9:50 pm on Thursday, February 2, 2012
and why isn't anyone interviewing the mayor?
Confused Taxpayer
9:54 pm on Thursday, February 2, 2012
BOTH Mahwah Ambulance Co. 1 and 4 voluntarily surrendered the town's operation funding in 2011 which has now also been carried over to 2012. To the credit of the VOLUNTEERS in the ambulance cores, they have continued to provide FREE 24/7 coverage to the residents of Mahwah. Now the Mayor has "decided" that the service from these volunteers is not adequate enough and is considering replacing VOLUNTEER services with a PAID company. Guess who will foot the bill??
JP
1:18 pm on Friday, February 3, 2012
Yup, time for the town council to step up and do their job now, and REJECT some budget proposals. This is why I'm concerned with a group of elite Mahwah residents coming up with a town budget. Their personal agendas may influence their decisions. You might have things similar to a quarter million dollar library staircase approved, while the citizens don't get adequate garbage pickups or now ambulance services. Give the people what THEY want with THEIR taxes!
hsr
8:03 am on Monday, February 6, 2012
yes - lower taxes at what cost to our daily lives?
Andy Schmidt
8:42 am on Monday, February 6, 2012
Agreed, mms, I'm not willing to celebrate any budget as a success, until I know the other side of the scale. Part of the town we like is the totality of its facilities and services. I'm more than happy to skip ONE visit to Starbucks a month (or McDonalds, or download one less iTune - whatever your "vice" may be) to pay for maintaining what's in place!
It's easy to "lower" taxes - just cut services, close facilities, or stop maintaining the township. In result, Mahwah will become less desirable to live in/move to - which means some loss of the resale value of my home if/once I reach the point when I decide to "cash in" on that real estate "investment" (= retirement savings) that the primary home is to most working folks.
So demanding to "cut taxes" is just mindless blabber, unless that person makes a specific proposal on where and how the cost can be cut, and what effect that will have to the people who depend/use that particular facility/service. Then the rest of the township can judge whether x dimes per month less in real estate tax is worth it.
Lower Taxes
8:43 am on Monday, February 6, 2012
I still like to know why the services of the Suffern Good Sam Hospital Level II (the same as St. Joseph's in Paterson) not being utilized when they are about 5 minutes away from this particular accident scene?????? Will someone please answer this question?
Lower Taxes
8:44 am on Monday, February 6, 2012
That's Level II trauma center, the same level as St. Joseph's.
hsr
8:52 am on Monday, February 6, 2012
as in all things --try it and judge it
delgado
12:54 pm on Saturday, February 18, 2012
The Mayor said he was a businessman and said he was going to LOWER taxes NOT increase them by 1.5%... That is dishonest.. Did he call to lower the Boro Adminstrators salary? Did he call to lower the Sheriffs salary, the County Executives salary and pension? He didnt do anything like that because he doesnt want to hurt his fellow Republicans, instead he cut services, he cut Ambulance service and failed to defends Mahwah open space when Freeholder/Former Mahwah Councilman Hermansen agreed to sell our open space for pennies... Thanks for nothing Mayor.