Tonight a special hearing will take place at the fire station 733 Cedarbridge Avenue 7:00pm. The Lakewood Fire commissioners will vote on the budget for 2023 which is now over $10 Million and voter approval is not needed to pass it. FAA News reports. A typical new duplex, such as in Oak and Vine, assessed at $560,000, will pay $560 in 2023, a $100 increase over the 2022 tax of $460. An older townhouse which is assessed at $417,900 will pay $417.90, a $75 increase over the 2022 tax of $342.68.
According to budget documents obtained by FAA News, the tax increase is due primarily to firefighter contract salary increases, a large health benefit increase due to more family coverage (additional firefighters becoming eligible for expanded coverage) and health benefit cost increase. Additionally, capital appropriations have increased by $1,250,000 to $1,900,000 for buildings renovations, a new fire engine, hose replacement, a rehab & care unit, the increased debt service for the new Seagrave 75' Aerial scope etc..
From FAA
The Lakewood Board of Fire Commissioners is scheduled to vote tonight to adopt their annual budget, which will once again increase local property taxes. Under a new law, voters will not have an opportunity to approve or deny this tax increase.
The Fiscal Year 2023 total budget reflects total revenues of $10,944,234, of which $10,845,907 will be raised by taxation. The remaining $98,327 will come from interest on investments and deposits, and operating grant revenue.
The Fiscal Year 2022 total budget reflected total revenues of $8,892,315 of which $8,834,988 was raised by taxation. The remaining $57,327 came from interest on investments and deposits, and operating grant revenue.
The amount to be raised by taxation in 2023 will increase by $2,023,419 or 23%.
The tax rate will increase .018 to .100. The tax rate is the amount of money you pay in taxes per $100 of your property's assessed value.
(The total assessed value of all property in Lakewood is $10,900,513,200. This number x 0.0009949904927 = $10,845,907 which is the total amount to be raised by taxation.)
A typical new duplex, such as in Oak and Vine, assessed at $560,000, will pay $560 in 2023, a $100 increase over the 2022 tax of $460.
An older townhouse which is assessed at $417,900 will pay $417.90, a $75 increase over the 2022 tax of $342.68.
The budget includes a salary of $191,732 for Chief Jonathan Yahr, $155,000 for Administrator Yehuda Beer, and $110,000.00 for Deputy Administrator Steven Mulholland.
According to budget documents obtained by FAA News, the tax increase is due primarily to firefighter contract salary increases, a large health benefit increase due to more family coverage (additional firefighters becoming eligible for expanded coverage) and health benefit cost increase. Additionally, capital appropriations have increased by $1,250,000 to $1,900,000 for buildings renovations, a new fire engine, hose replacement, a rehab & care unit, the increased debt service for the new Seagrave 75' Aerial scope Tower Ladder. Operations expenses have also increased due to fire hydrant rental charges (more hydrants added and a increase in charge per hydrant). IT services increased due to contractual increases and annual fees for new software purchased in 2022. Training & Education was increased due to additional anticipated training costs from the hiring of additional firefighters and higher costs
See full story HERE
Blame this on what you want, but this is not happening in any other town.
ReplyDeleteThey sit at the cookie jar and take and take however they pleeze Let the tax payers be doomed. And all the township departments do the same taking hard earned tax payer money.
ReplyDeleteAnd always with the same excuse the town is growing and it's only a minimal increase. if you add up the minimal increases over the last 10 years the average homeowner is paying an extra 500- 700 a year for this.
If the town is growing so should the tax revenue increase why are they going up while the township officials keep sifening off the top
Harold Hershkowits warned us for years more homes do not equal lower taxes! Businesses, (the ones we ran out of town by building tax free schools in their backyard) is what helps raise tax funds... It doesn't help when we stuff homes on blocks and with all the parked cars we end up with narrow passages, so they need to purchase narrow trucks.
DeleteI agree 100 per cent . Schools are not so important. People can home school or they can send to NY schools. Businesses pay our taxes. They take priority .
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