Explaining it all in the name of the need "to meet the continued growth of the population," Lakewood's Township Committee on Thursday gave final approval to a $4 million tax increase.
This increase will equate to an $848.49 increase to the average new duplex homeowners' property tax bill.
The total tax levy for the municipal budget for Fiscal Year 2022 was $75,237,426.38. The tax rate was $0.701. This is the amount in taxes that you pay per $100 of your property's assessed value.
Based on this rate, the total annual tax bill for FY '22 for an average new duplex in the Oak and Vine neighborhood, assessed at $577,200 was $13,050.49. Of this amount, $4,046.17 funded the municipal budget, $5,893.21 funded the school budget, $467.532 funded the fire budget, and $2,643.576 funded the county budget.
Back in May, as previously reported here on FAA News, the Township Committee introduced the FY '23 budget with a tax levy of $78,472,923.65 - a $3,235,497.27 increase from last year's tax levy. This would have resulted in a tax rate of $0.721.
Under this proposal, the total annual tax bill for FY '23 for a similar new duplex would be $13,610.376, which represents a $559.88 increase. Of this total amount, $4,161.61 would fund the municipal budget (an increase of $173.16 from FY '22), $5,945.16 would fund the school budget (an increase of $51.95 from FY '22), $577.20 would fund the fire budget (an increase of $109.67 from FY '22), and $2,926.40 would fund the county budget (an increase of $282.83 from FY '22).
However, the Township Committee has now approved yet an additional increase of $700,000 to the tax levy, for a total of $79,172,923.65, increasing the tax rate to $0.771.
This means that everyone's property tax bill will go even higher. In fact, it's a $288.61 increase!
The total annual tax bill for FY '23 for a similar new duplex will be $13,898.976, which represents a $848.49 increase. Of this total amount, $4,450.21 will fund the municipal budget (an increase of $288.60 from FY '22), $5,945.16 will fund the school budget (an increase of $51.95 from FY '22), $577.20 will fund the fire budget (an increase of $109.67 from FY '22), and $2,926.40 will fund the county budget (an increase of $282.83 from FY '22).
A big reason for the increased in taxes is due to all of the short and long-term tax abatements that the Township continues to grant.
Lakewood's Township Committee this past year granted short and long-term tax abatements to 36 new commercial buildings around town. This resulted in a loss of over $5.77 million in tax revenue for this year alone.
The Township Committee has granted 5 year tax abatements / Payments in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) to 21 properties around town. (These properties pay 0% the first year, and then slowly increase 20% each year for the next 5 years). These properties are assessed at a total of $240,345,500.00 and would have paid a total of $5,410,177.21 in taxes for FY '22, however due to the abatements they are paying only $1,038,855.26, which is a non-payment of $4,371,321.95.
The Township Committee has also granted long-term tax abatements / Payments in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) to 15 properties, mostly located in the Cedarbridge Corporate Campus. These properties are assessed at a total of $147,593,100 and would have paid a total of $3,195,186.45 in taxes for FY '22, however due to the abatements they are paying only $1,790,713.74, which is a non-payment of $1,404,472.71.
In total, the Township Committee has granted tax abatements to 36 properties. They are assessed a total of $387,938,600 and would have paid a total of $8,605,363.66 in taxes for FY '22, however due to the abatements they are paying only $2,829,569, which is a non-payment of $5,775,794.66.
This is an increase from the amount of tax cuts the Township Committee granted last year. For FY'21, the Township Committee granted tax abatements to 32 properties. They are assessed a total of $241,418,100 and would have paid a total of $5,485,019.23, however due to the abatements they paid only $1,235,226.99, which is a non-payment of $4,249,792.24.
Had all these properties been assessed their full taxable value, our taxes would have actually decreased. Instead, our taxes are increasing to make up for the lost revenue.
This municipal budget is only one of 4 portions of our single tax bill, which also the budgets for the Lakewood Board of Education, Fire District, and Ocean County. Not all of these budgets have been finalized yet. However, the Township estimates the total tax levy of these other budgets to be $178,159,177.06. Combined with the municipal budget, the total tax levy will be $257,332,100.71.
The total tax levy for FY '22 combined with the municipal budget was $246,969,170.14.
The total tax rate for our entire combined property tax bill for FY '23 has not yet finalized by the Township Tax Collector, however, based on the Total Taxable Valuation of all taxable properties in Lakewood, which, as of October 1, 2022 is $10,886,899,800.00, the Tax Collector has estimates that the total tax rate will be $2.408. The actual total tax rate in FY '22 was $2.261, so this represents a $0.147 increase to the tax rate. (Under the Township's introduced budget, the total tax rate was $2.358, which equated to an increase of only $0.097 to the budget).
For FY '22, the Total Taxable Valuation of all taxable properties in Lakewood was only $10,744,753,700.00.
A number of members of the public opposed the tax increase, highlighting the fact that increasing overdevelopment and tax abatements means higher taxes for the rest of us.
Central Avenue resident Avi Gordon additionally emphasized that the Township Committee's huge tax increase comes just after the Board of Fire Commissioners announced plans to hire an additional 20 career members.
Mr. Gordon and 7th Street resident Boruch Mandel also exhorted the Committee to stop increasing their own salaries.
"Thank you," was the only response from Mayor Coles.
At a previous budget meeting, Mayor Coles explained that the continued tax increases are "because the police department and public works departments have needed to grow to catch up with the continued growth of the Township's population."
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3 comments:
Does FAA’s calculation on abated non-payments include the total for those properties which were granted this coveted status in previous years, but are still in midst of their long/short terms?
It does, as the Committee did not grant all 36 abatements just in the past year alone.
Perhaps someone can compile a list of owners of these properties nothing to be ashamed of after all since obviously their properties serve the greater good of the community kudos to them.
On another note valuations of usually low for non taxed properties Since they're not paying anyhow and there's no reason why to accentuate how much the public is gifting them.....
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