$100K helps Helmetta control taxes

HELMETTA - Residents will pay an average of $151 more in property taxes for 2007 now that the Borough Council has adopted its municipal budget for the year.

The borough's property tax rate will increase by 8.2 cents to $1.91 per $100 of assessed valuation. That is due to a 5.4-cent hike in the municipal tax rate and a 2.8-cent increase in the county and open space tax rates. The school tax rate remained flat.

The new figures reflect changes brought about by the borough-wide property revaluation. The average borough home is now assessed at $274,427.

The Borough Council adopted its 2007 municipal budget in a 5-0 vote Aug. 23 after being informed that the town will receive $100,000 in state extraordinary aid for the year, according to Mayor Nancy Martin. Had the borough been denied that aid, the average tax hike for residents would have been $260.

The total municipal budget stands at $1,061,780, an increase of nearly $137,000 from the prior year. Martin said the increase is due to mandatory and statutory items including health insurance, pension contributions, debt payments, utility costs and "expenses over which the borough has no control."

The budget also funds an efficiency study of the borough's police department, and includes the balance of the purchase price for a public works dump truck and a lease-purchase vehicle for the fire department, the mayor said. Other expenses involved emergency appropriations for two floods in town and the borough-wide real estate revaluation.

Martin noted that the borough has not incurred any new debt since Jan. 1, 2004.

Also, the 2007 budget, she said, uses less surplus funds than the prior year.

Martin said she looks forward to an increased ratable base with the redevelopment of the snuff mill for age-restricted residential condos and retail stores.

"Our redevelopment project of the Helme mill property is moving along, and we look forward to this development to assist in municipal tax rate stabilization," she said.