News-Record's Highlights Tagged 'tax' (20)

BoSE requests school officials decrease hike to 2%

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Employee salaries and benefits account for more than half of a $114.9 million school budget that raises taxes by 2 percent.

The district will need to raise $105,284, 078 million through taxation to support the spending plan, budget records showed.

How this impacts…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

The Township Committee voted 5-0 March 20 to introduce a $38.5 million budget that calls for a slight municipal-tax hike.

To support the budget, the town will need to raise $26.9 million in taxes. For a home assessed at the average of $421,665, municipal taxes will increase by $67.46 — or 1.99 percent — from last year.

The public will have a chance to comment on the…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Maplewood officials agreed March 6 on the terms of a $38.4 million budget that raises municipal taxes by 2 percent.

After tweaking budget numbers, officials felt they had produced a solid spending plan that calls for no major cuts to government programs or layoffs of municipal employees. The spending plan is expected to be introduced on March 20.

“We sat here in the beginning of January, in…

By Christina Hernandez, Managing Editor

Although the proposed budget numbers presented in the February school board meeting will change, school officials are still expected to vote on the superintendent’s preliminary spending plan at its meeting March 5.

School board President Beth Daugherty noted that school officials will discuss the superintendent’s “specific” cuts to the spending plan, as well as the new state aid and budget…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Part of the roughly $1.2 million Maplewood will get from selling the former police headquarters on Dunnell Road should be used to reduce a projected 5.6 percent municipal tax hike, two township officials suggested Feb. 25.

However,…

The South Orange-Maplewood school district, along with other districts statewide, received a gift from the governor Feb. 23 — an extra $764,940 in state aid.

According to the proposed 2012-2013 district spending plan, the district was expected to receive $3,310,598 in state aid, around the same amount as the 2011-2012 school year.

With the additional $764,940 the district is expected to receive, its state aid amount has increased to…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

The Maplewood Country Club, the town’s second largest taxpayer, is challenging the numbers the township uses to calculate its property-tax bill.

The club, whose property spans some 89 acres, appealed its tax assessment of roughly $17.4 million in March, court records showed.

Records on file in Town Hall put the assessments at a little less than those contained in court records — at about $17.2…

Last week the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education was fortunate to receive notification that our district will receive $1,069,000 in additional state aid.  

The state has advised us that the additional aid amount can be used for tax relief or "real education reform" over the next three years. The Board of Education welcomes this additional funding from the state and will work with the superintendent to seriously study the best way to allocate these additional funds.

We…

On March 30, the Board of School Estimate approved the schools portion of the tax levy to total $103,218,671 to support the South Orange-Maplewood 2011-2012 schools spending plan.

Next year's tax levy represents a 1.89 percent, or $1,917,244, increase from the 2010-2011 school year, which is under the mandated 2 percent cap imposed by Gov. Chris Christie last year.

The eight-member board made up of elected municipal officials from both towns voted on two separate resolutions in…

Editor’s Note: This is the third in a four-part series examining the impact of the recent revaluation on Maplewood. It appeared in a recent edition of the News-Record.

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Maplewood could face as many as 1,000 residential tax appeals, an executive of the firm that did the townwide property revaluation said.

Jason Cohen, vice president  of Appraisal Systems Inc., called that a “realistic” number based…

The Township Committee voted 4-1 on March 15 against introducing a $38 million municipal budget in Maplewood that left officials confused as to whether it accomplishes their goal of having a zero tax increase.

The budget that officials were presented with called for a slight increase in the amount to be raised through taxation to support the spending plan. Figures shown on March 15 put the amount at $26,312,195, compared to $26,099,362 in 2010.

Two weeks ago, officials agreed…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Maplewood officials took steps Friday that would lead to no municipal tax hike this year, the first time that would happen in more than a decade.

Those decisions include using about $290,541 in “capital” surplus and decreasing the reserve for uncollected taxed by $200,000. Taken together, these and other steps would erase what was a $985,792 increase in the amount raised through taxation.

Township Committeeman Jerry Ryan,…

Editor's Note: The following story appeared in the Jan. 27th edition of the News-Record.

By Christina Hernandez, Managing Editor

School officials are predicting that personnel cuts and a slash of $1.5 million from expenses should cover the $2.5 million shortfall the South Orange-Maplewood K-12 district is going to face in the 2011-2012 school year.

That’s if the amount of state aid  given to the district remains constant, health care costs…

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer

Opposition by South Orange and Maplewood officials was  immediate against eliminating the tax-exempt status of municipal and state bonds, one of the recommendations of President Obama’s deficit commission.

They said borrowing costs would increase at a time when  towns already are struggling.

Towns use bonds to finance road repairs, buy fire trucks and pay for other projects. In turn, investors find municipal bonds attractive since the…

Maplewood and South Orange officials will have to adjust to a new law that puts a tighter lid on how much they can raise the tax levy starting next year.

When officials formulate their budgets for 2011, they will need to hold the hike on the tax levy to 2 percent, replacing the current state mandated 4 percent cap. The law, with fewer exceptions than in the past, also requires a voter referendum if local officials want to exceed the new cap.

Here are some of the reactions of local…