Friday, January 25, 2013
The 4.9% bump in taxes is still within the 2% tax levy cap, officials say
Mahwah’s municipal tax rate likely won’t be finalized until mid-March when the township council is required to introduce the 2013 budget. However, the initial township budget the mayor and administration presented to the council Thursday night calls for a 4.9% tax increase, which would translate into an about $59 per year increase for the average homeowner in the township. Mahwah Business Administrator Brian Campion and Chief Finance Officer Ken Sesholtz outlined the high points of the budget, which will set the municipal tax rate once its approved, at a town council meeting Thursday night. According to Campion, several uncontrollable factors have led to the increased tax rate. A $46 million decrease in the township’s overall assessed …
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Other ideas presented to the town council include adding solar panels to municipal buildings and reducing garbage and recycling pick-up
Would you want to see advertisements at Continental Soldiers Park or Commodore Perry Field if it meant saving some money on your taxes? Using municipal space to generate potential advertising dollars was one of a few revenue-generating suggestions made by resident Pete Cassotis at a Mahwah township council meeting last Thursday. “I know with all of the talk about the [2% tax cap] and needing to save money, I think [we should] start looking into some of these things,” he told the council. “Every little bit helps.” Cassotis’s other suggestions included reducing twice-a-week garbage pick-up from six months of the year back down to four. In April, the township changed the garbage pick-up schedule saying that by switching garbage companies, …
Friday, September 21, 2012
An audit of Mahwah's 2011 finances and analysis of current spending revealed the township is in good financial standing now, however
Mahwah’s municipal government is in good financial standing now, but may have a tough time reaching its 2013 budget restraints, according to a presentation Thursday night by county auditor, accountant Louis C. Mai. Mai presented a summary of his 2011 audit report on the township at a town council meeting Thursday night. Mahwah’s Chief Financial Officer Ken Sesholtz and Business Administrator Brian Campion also presented an analysis of where the township is in terms of finances for 2012, and where it is headed next year. Mai said he was “very comfortable” with all of the metrics he looked at to evaluate Mahwah’s spending and earnings in 2011, noting that the township’s fund balance was “where it needed to be.” In terms of generating revenue…
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
See the top taxpayer list, based on assessed property value
Ten businesses in Mahwah pay taxes on over $481M worth of assessed property values. The top taxpayer in the township is the New York Stock Exchange, which has a building on MacArthur Blvd. with an assessed value of $100M. The roadway connecting Island Rd. and Darlington Ave. houses four of the township’s top taxpayers, including the companies that own the UPS, Jaguar Land Rover and Mindray facilities. Howmedica Osteonics Corp., which owns and operates the Stryker complex off MacArthur Blvd., also made the list. Three companies that own parts of the Crossroads property – the Sheraton Mahwah Hotel and surrounding area - made the list. Together, they pay taxes on over $97M in assessed property value. The mostly-vacant property has recently …
Friday, April 13, 2012
Council approves budget with 1.75 percent increase in the municipal tax rate after the Mahwah school board approved a 2 percent school tax increase last month
Average homeowners in Mahwah will be paying $28.20 more in municipal taxes than they did last year, after the township council approved a $34.5M operating budget Thursday night. The 2012 municipal tax rate will go up 1.75 percent, which is within the state’s mandated two percent tax levy cap. The township’s municipal tax rate will go up from .342 in 2011 to .348 this year. The new rate means that homeowners will pay about $348 per every $100,000 of assessed value of their homes. For the average home in Mahwah, which is worth about $470K, the 2012 tax bill will be about $1,635.60, a $28.20 increase over last year’s. Municipal taxes make up the bulk of the township’s operating budget, which pays for service like the township police …
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
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,…
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Meet the residents who are helping make decisions about Mahwah's 2012 municipal tax rate
Over the past month, a group of fourteen Mahwah residents have been meeting with one another, the township’s new mayor, and its Chief Financial Officer and Business Administrator. The ‘Blue Ribbon Panel’ was asked by the mayor to advise him on how to balance this year’s municipal budget. The budget, which will determine 2012’s municipal tax rate after it is passed by the township council, needs to meet a state-mandated two percent tax levy cap. Assembled by the mayor and the chair of the panel and chosen because of their ‘business expertise,’ the ‘Blue Ribbon’ group doesn’t have any governmental power in Mahwah. The members are volunteers. But, Mayor Bill Laforet says he is taking their numerous suggestions into account when putting …
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Mayor’s advisory panel suggests it is possible to reduce actual raise in 2012 tax rate
Mahwah will likely meet the state mandated two percent tax levy cap, Mahwah Business Administrator Brian Campion said at a meeting of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Budget Advisory Panel Tuesday night. Campion said over the next week, he and township Chief Finance Officer Ken Sesholtz will be working to chip away about $200K in operating expenses tentatively budgeted for the new year in order to meet the cap. At the first meeting of the group at the close of last year, Campion said about $800K needed to be cut from the budget in order to meet the state cap. He said Tuesday that several “year-end expenditure figures” were lower than anticipated, which helped close the gap. Campion said he is confident “we will be able to deliver a budget that is …
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Several short-term solutions discussed at Tuesday’s meeting
The Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel is seeking both short-term solutions that will save the township money this year, and long-term ones that will allow for lower taxes in the future, Mayor Bill Laforet said at the group’s Tuesday night meeting. The panel of residents was assembled last month to make recommendations to the mayor as he and Mahwah’s Business Administrator and Chief Financial Officer are putting together the 2012 budget. The budget, which will determine Mahwah’s municipal tax rate this year, needs to be presented to the town council in February for approval. “We are looking for something different, an austerity spending plan that will have a significant impact on what people pay for their taxes,” Laforet said. “Our goal is…
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Advisory committee gets low down of town’s economic condition at its first meeting
A fourteen-member panel of Mahwah residents with strong business backgrounds will make recommendations to the mayor on how his budget can meet a state-mandated two-percent tax cap. The ‘Blue Ribbon’ Advisory Panel held its first meeting Tuesday night. According to new Mayor Bill Laforet, he assembled the panel so that it could make recommendations as to what items could be cut from the town’s budget, or how the town could pull in additional revenue in 2012, to help control tax rates. According to a presentation by Township Business Administrator Brian Campion and Chief Financial Officer Ken Sesholtz, Mahwah is allowed to raise its tax levy by a total of $20.1M in 2012, in order to be in compliance with a state-mandated cap on municipal tax…
Concerned Parent/Taxpayer
7:46 pm on Tuesday, October 23, 2012
NDW Your statement is completely false. I'm sure you can still listen to council meetings from that time and hear the rudeness. Lets not start with the "real name" thing or I could do the same with you. Lets just have a normal conversation. more ›