Mt. Laurel residents received some good news at last night’s council meeting. Property taxes will likely see a decrease in 2014.
Mt. Laurel council passed a preliminary municipal budget last night, which includes a tax cut for the average assessed home. The preliminary budget has taxpayers with an average assess home of $236,952 paying $6,430.88 in taxes. This is a decrease of $39.22 from last year’s municipal taxes.
“If you compare the average assessed home after the (revaluation) and the average assessed home last year, this is an actual decrease in property taxes,” township manager Maureen Mitchell said.
The tax rate itself decreased drastically, from 57.3 cents per $100 of assessed value in 2013 to 33.7 cents in the preliminary budget.
The actual amount of the budget is $37.3 million, a slight increase from last year. However taxes will still decrease since property values are now up to date. Mitchell said the revaluation included both homeowners and private businesses.
“Every property in the township was brought up to market value,” she said.
The revaluation was posed as an important step to boosting ratables in the township. Councilwoman Linda Bobo said the township has lost $3 billion in ratables since 2003.
Mitchell followed up by stating the revaluation should help stop declining ratables at least in the short term.
Council also passed a related ordinance on first reading allowing them increase budget appropriations up to 3.5 percent. Mitchell said the extra appropriations will be used to create a bank cap. State law permits an increase up to 3.5 percent for this purpose.
“What we are doing is increasing this cap and banking it in case we ever need it for the future,” Mitchell said.
The ordinance will be up for second reading and public hearing at the next council meeting on March 24. The public hearing for the municipal budget is set for April 14.
In Other News:
• A resolution passed by council authorized the township’s participation in a shared services agreement called Municipal Apartment and Condominium Collection Services. The contract will run for three years and will include trash collection in certain apartment and condominium complexes.
Mt. Laurel joined in a shared services agreement with a few surrounding communities. Maple Shade was cited as the lead agency in the program.
“We found out that it would make more sense to participate in the contract as a whole than to go into it by ourselves,” township clerk Meredith Tomczyk said.
• Council approved two bids last night. L and S Contracting was awarded the bid for leaf, brush, wood grinding and recycling pick up. Multi-Temp Mechanical was approved as the HVAC contractor in the township.
• An ordinance on second reading was approved to amend township code regarding extra duty police officers. The ordinance aligns township code with the new contract signed with the Mt. Laurel Police Officers Association.
• The next Mt. Laurel Township council meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 24 at 7 p.m. in the Mt. Laurel municipal courtroom.
