From the Courier News:
Property tax rate going up in Middlesex
Even after $500,000 in state aid to help keep property taxes in check,
borough residents will see a 49-cent increase in the property tax rate this year, Municipal Treasurer and CFO Andrea Corcoran said.The Borough Council introduced amendments to the budget Tuesday that include a proposed tax rate of $6.34 per $100 of assessed value.
…
The increase in Middlesex in particular is “kinda high,” said Joseph Robert Forgash, a Lauri Lane resident. “We’re paying $8,000 a year, and we’re retired – for a house that I paid $19,500 for in 1962. In two and half years, the taxes will be more than I paid for the house.”The average home in Middlesex is assessed at $92,227 for 2006, and the borough’s total worth is assessed at $31,536,817.31, Corcoran said. The tax increase will help to defray increased costs of employee benefits and health insurance, Corcoran said.
…
This year’s increase is higher than usual: taxes per $100 were at $5.85 last year, $5.53 in 2004 and $5.40 in 2003, Corcoran said.
…
Bust said most residents don’t seem to be hostile about the tax increase and have complained less than they usually do, Corcoran said.“When the people came in to pay, there wasn’t as much complaining as I thought there would be,” she said. “I think all in all, it wasn’t bad. They took it well.”
Well here it goes. their is no
place to go in NJ except to
the poor homeowner.
we aint seen nothing yet.
It gets worse.
Well get use to it! I am working with someone from Florida and was floored when she told me her taxes were $9,000 for .25 acres in a middle clas neighborhood were the home prices range from $345K – $450K.
Bottomline: You can run, but you can’t hide. Taxes are going up everywhere–it’s the American way!
That headline number of 49 cents is scary and misleading. As is revealed in the story, the town’s property assessements are way below market value so their tax rate is based on a number that is ridiculously low.
That said, the increase is still outrageous. There is no way municipal taxes should ever rise that much even if property in town is assessed at 20 percent of market value. I know such increases happen all the time (I used to be a municipal reporter), but they require incompetence and big cohones on the part of those in charge.
If the town had any control on its spending, the increase wouldn’t be more than half that.
Lindsey
i may be naive here, buy why don’t towns set a flat tax rate, and then you pay that tax rate based on what you payed for your house? or based on comps from other houses sold in the area? instead of saying this house is apreaised for 92,000, why not makei t what it is, which is 500,000??
The increase in Middlesex in particular is “kinda high,” said Joseph Robert Forgash, a Lauri Lane resident. “We’re paying $8,000 a year, and we’re retired – for a house that I paid $19,500 for in 1962. In two and half years, the taxes will be more than I paid for the house.”
What a bunch of cry babies.
How would this guiy like to pay the so called greedy grubbing sellers asking price with these ridculous taxes.
Why doesn’t he complain about the ripoff home prices?
Might as well throw this in. Garfield in Bergen will see a $2 million increase in it’s budget. I don’t have the article, but it’s somewhere around a 40% increase in the budget. They say to cover health and other benefits. This is after $500,000 from the state. Maybe that’s why they approved that Garden State Paper project, because it”ll add $2 million in taxes. And this is tiny little, poor ass Garfield. This story sound familiar?
Am glad to rent in Middlesex county.
This will surely bite the flippers out there who have contributed to the doubling of inventory in the past year (if I remember/read correctly).
Patience is thy watchword.
Why doesn’t he complain about the ripoff home prices?
Simply because he’s not buying a house, he’s getting stuck with a huge tax increase.
Do you plan on owning a home? If so, do you really think taxes will come down with home prices?