City Council introduced a municipal budget on Monday night that includes no increase in the municipal portion of tax bills this year.

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The governing body adopted a resolution (AR-144-21) to introduce a $58.6-million budget during a special meeting on Wednesday night. The municipal budget, as introduced, can be accessed in full here. A public hearing and final adoption is scheduled for June 17 at 6:30 p.m.

The municipal tax levy — the amount to be raised by taxation — is slated to be $39.1 million, up about 0.39%, from $38.9 million in 2020.

Municipal taxes would remain about $3,611 for the average home, assessed at $133,000, and the municipal tax rate would remain at $2.72 per $100 of assessed value. The net valuation taxable of the city for 2021 is slated to be $1.441 billion, up about $5.4 million from $1.435 billion in 2020, or about 0.38%.

In brief comments during last night’s special meeting, Mayor Ray Giacobbe, Jr.,  said the last 14 months have been very difficult for people. City Council and the administration gave specific instructions to the chief financial officer and city directors to deliver a zero-increase budget this year while maintaining services, he said.

The city received $2.7 million in CARES Act 2020 funds last year. For 2021, the budget anticipates $1.207 million from the American Rescue Plan approved by Congress.

The budget uses an anticipated $2.5 million in surplus, up from $2.25 million in 2020. The plan also uses $1.6 million in surplus from three utilities (water, sewer and parking), about $120,000 more than the $1.488 million used in 2020. The surpluses break out as (2021/2020 [difference]):

• Water utility – $783,417/$832,704 [-$49,287]
• Sewer utility – $421,925/$382,727 [+39,198]
• Parking utility – $403,450/$273,000 [+$130,450]

Last year’s $56.7-million municipal budget included an increase of about $49 on the average assessed home, rising from an average $3,562 to $3,611 with the tax rate goin from $2.68 to $2.72 per $100 of assessed value.

Municipal taxes make up about a quarter of the overall property tax bill, with about half accounted for by school taxes, set by the Board of Education, and another quarter by county taxes, set by the Union County Board of Commissioners.

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