Last night the Lakewood township commitee held a public meeting online thatblasted all of 3 minutes on the municipal budget. The 4 members approved it which includes a tax increase. Faanews broke down the numbers.
The total annual tax bill for FY '23 for a similar new duplex in Oak and Vine will be $13,898.976, which represents a $848.49 increase.
Several residents sent comments asking the commitee to cut their salaries which are way higher than neighboring towns and why should the deputy mayor get a salary double than the other commiteeman. The big question asked where is all the money going from the new construction the mayor said that due to the growth they had to expand the police force and other municipal services. Mayor Ray Coles was asked about the tax abatements and he responded that in 30 years our grandchildren will benefit when the full taxes kick in.
Faa reports: The goings have really gotten tougher for Lakewood Township's finances, thanks to all the tax abatements and growth of municipal services due to the continued growth of the population. The tough finances will now be felt in our pockets.
Yesterday the Township Committee unanimously approved the tax levy, for a total of $79,172,923.65. This means that everyone's property tax bill will go even higher.
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.
However, today, the Committee approved the final budget with a tax levy of $79,172,923.65, thus increasing the tax rate to $0.771.
The total annual tax bill for FY '23 for a similar new duplex in Oak and Vine 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 f÷÷ 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).
This increase would not be necessary had the Township Committee not granted numerous long and short-term tax abatements this year
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..
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.
Prior to voting to adopt the budget, members of the public opposed the tax increase, calling for the Committee members to stop increasing their salaries.
Mayor Coles stated 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.
H H is the pioneer fighting these insane tax abatements Tax abatements are meant to attract businesses to build up an area that needs rehabilitation. It is not a reward for starting a business! HH this is something to focus on your campaign! I think if you make a list that of your goals explaining what is wrong and what you will do to change it - if people listen you will win in a landslide!
ReplyDeleteClassic example of the rich and powerful ripping off the poor. The struggling homeowners paying more taxes so the rich can get richer and the chutzpah of Rat Coles and others who gave themselves higher salaries the last two years while raising taxes on the working class and youngeleit.
ReplyDeleteRemember elections are coming up time to vote out dem bums
Another BIG reason for this outrages hike in taxes is all those "Special" Yeshivos that charge full tuition for every kid/bochur whose parents send them to these yeshivos on the Lakewood residents Cheshbon. These Yeshivos who some are out of State as in NY, VA, FL just to name e few.
ReplyDeleteEven if you can remotely justify that the Lakewood BOE should pay for this - some under court order (go figure) - the fact that they charge full tuition which is different then the 'full tuition' that a parent paying from their own pocket is. The "government" full tuition is about 3 - 4 times higher.
These fees cost the BEO lots and lots of money - in other words all of us, we pay the taxes.
And we are not even talking about all the lots that are "Tax Exempt" which are not really used for tax exempt purposes. That's a whole 'nother' story.
ReplyDeleteStop being mechanef those who get rich
And of course not a word about this on TLS this is how corruption works in real time. The media covers up for the Township officials who give exclusives to them. Yet the poop acts tough against Jackson officials.
ReplyDeleteHow are people expect to get the truth when Adirei hatorah event is ignored and any thing that makes politicians look bad is not reported
Anyone want a job as a reporter? We pay you in gift cards - To get started you can use your exclusive articles and pictures from the Adirei Event! Also some recent Agudah statements from Avi Schnall - haven’t been talking to him in a while.. We will moderate any negative comments, including banning ip addresses of detractors to your articles. Bonus perk - get your birthday wishes on a billboard! Just Google” Lakewood accident” to find our contact info.
ReplyDelete