No Tax Increase for Oceanport Residents

By using surpluses wisely, and sharing services with other towns, residents will not see a tax increase this year.

The news came during a presentation of the $6.97 million budget, given by Councilman Joseph Irace, before it was unanimously approved by the borough council at the April 19. The presentation also informed residents that discretionary spending remained at last year’s levels.

“We decided as a governing body that we do not want to use any exceptions to our 2-percent cap,” said Irace. “Once again, for the second year since we have had the 2-percent cap, we are coming in under a true 2-percent cap over last year’s budget.”

As in 2011, the local tax rate for 2012 is 50.8 cents per $100 of assessed value. The amount to be raised by local taxes to support the budget is $5.33 million, which is an increase of $13,367 and can be attributed to the increase in the borough's 2012 net valuation taxable, according to Irace

The municipal portion of the tax bill for the homeowner of a residence with the average-assessed value of $450,000 in Oceanport is $2,286.

According to Irace, 23 percent of taxes go to the municipality, 50 percent go to schools and the remaining 27 percent goes to the county.