TOWNSHIP ADOPTS $46.5 MILLION BUDGET WITH $75 AVERAGE TAX HIKE

In what was likely the quickest budget adoption in Township history, the Township Committee on Tuesday gave final approval to a $43.6 million budget for fiscal year 2017, which includes a 4% spending increase over last year and an average $75 municipal tax increase per home in Maplewood.

To be fair, there were no comments or questions from the public during the public hearing and much of it had been explained at the initial budget introduction on March 21. The TC voted, 5-0, Tuesday to adopt the spending plan.

Added to the average $249 increase per home by the school district  budget, adopted last month, and the average tax hike for Maplewood homeowners this year will be $324.

"The main drivers of our budget this year were increased pension payments, payments for debt," Mayor Vic Deluca said last month, adding that most other spending areas were flat. "The salary increases were pretty much based on the bargaining unit increases that we negotiated with our unions."

He said $29.7 million of the budget is to be raised from taxes, a 2% tax increase over 2016. That means the average municipal portion of taxes per home went from $3,750 last year to $3,825 in 2017. That does not include the school district taxes. 

He had also noted at a previous meeting that since the Avalon Bay project on Boyden Avenue is being delayed due to the recent fire there, anticipated tax revenue from that project will not be received until next year, impacting the revenue stream as well.