Pennington Council members have approved the introduction of a $4.8 million municipal budget for 2025.
A public hearing on the municipal budget, which includes a 2.5-cent tax rate increase, takes place on April 7 at 7 p.m. through a Zoom virtual meeting.
The proposed municipal tax rate would increase from 55 cents to 57.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of an average assessed home at $489,000 would pay $2,811 in municipal taxes.
Municipal taxes are one item on a property owner’s total tax bill, which also includes the Hopewell Valley Regional School District (HVRSD) taxes and Mercer County taxes.
The amount an individual pays in taxes is determined by the assessed value of his or her home and/or property, and the tax rate that is set by each taxing entity.
Council President Nadine Stern, Councilwoman Catherine Chandler, Councilwoman Kati Angarone, and Councilman Charles Marciante voted “yes” to introduce the budget on March 3.
Councilman John Valenza was the sole “no.”
“Last year I said I would not vote for a tax increase and that will be the case,” he said. “Since 2021, on a compounding basis, the tax increases are pretty much in line with inflation and that is in spite … an additional $350,000 in surplus that we will likely not have next year and that is a troubling thing to contemplate.
“Right now, I think this tax increase is on the order of $200,000, which means we are looking at least at the same budget tax increase next year.”
Valenza added that homeowners in the community are also facing the same pressures of inflation and cost increases across the board.
“A lot of our homeowners have to pay more into their health insurance, and I don’t know if we are asking that of our employees,” he said. “I’m not suggesting we should I’m just pointing out that some of those pressures are consistent between the borough and our homeowners.
“They are forced to make difficult decisions on their budget, but we don’t seem to feel the same way about our budget…60% of the budget is controlled by this council which means we have a large hand in these increases,” he noted.
“I think that council should consider every appropriation moving forward very seriously and consider whether or not we need to do it and whether the level of appropriation is necessary and what are our alternatives to spending that money.”
Valenza recommended the council return to the drawing board and try to avoid the tax increase at all costs.
Mayor James Davy responded by noting the borough’s numbers are not in line with inflation and have been below the three-year average on inflation.
“… Our employees do contribute to health insurance just like everybody else, in fact, they are mandated by state law to contribute to health insurance,” Davy said, adding that the employee contribution formula is set.
“… to say that we have not as a municipal council scrutinized and scrubbed the budget is just wrong.”
Valenza countered, “That is not what I said. I said we need to return to the drawing board and scrutinize it and I didn’t say they didn’t do their job. I disagree on inflation. And I didn’t say that the employees don’t contribute to healthcare I asked have we asked them to increase their contribution to healthcare like many of our community members.”
Marciante, who had previously raised issue with the tax increase during a work session on Feb. 24, said he is not against the budget but had wanted to know “what is involved in the budget.”
“Now I know and have it in writing,” he said.
Property taxes are the main source of revenue supporting the budget. The amount projected to be raised by property taxes for 2025 is $3.28 million.
On the revenue side, the projected budget revenues include $818,287 in the use of surplus, which is an increase of $239,535 from 2024; $189,585 from the energy receipts tax; $105,000 in uniform construction code fees; $70,000 in receipts from delinquent taxes; $57,000 from trash collection fees; $50,000 from the municipal court; and $41,900 from cannabis.
On the appropriations side of the budget, the budget will fund appropriations that include $325,745 on municipal debt service.
Additional appropriations include $733,000 for police salary and wages; $461,600 million for insurance, $433,250 for streets and roads (includes salary and wages), $301,127 for shared service agreements, $240,365 for the maintenance of the free public library, $108,000 for utilities, and $70,000 for legal services and costs.
In a budget presentation, Sandra Webb, the borough’s chief financial officer (CFO), noted budget drivers as: $10,000 increase in the engineering services; an increase in buildings and grounds by $11,200 due to janitorial expenses in addition to bringing the First Aid Squad building into the fold on some service agreements such as HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning); and an increase in planning and zoning salary and wages by $18,000 with the hiring of new employee and additionally includes the zoning officer.
Additionally, more than $75,000 in increased costs for insurance (which captures the hiring of a sixth officer and a police officer’s change in coverage) and the increase in the overall budget for road repairs by $57,000 despite the removal of $104,000 for the asphalt for road resurfacing.
