SPRING LAKE — The Spring Lake mayor and council adopted a 2023-24 municipal budget of $15,178,519 for 2023-24 on Tuesday. As a result, the estimated annual municipal tax bill for a home assessed at the borough average of $2,904,754 will be $3,592, a decrease of $272 from the current year.
The 2023-24 tax rate, including all entities, is 49 cents per $100 of assessed property value. For the home assessed at $2,904,754, the estimated taxes for other entities will be $995 in library taxes, $5,547 in county taxes; $739 for county open space taxes and $3,359 in local school taxes. The total estimated property tax bill would be $14,232.
Overall, this represents a 5.2 percent decrease in the combined property tax bill from the current year.
Robbin Kirk, borough Chief Financial Officer [CFO], presented the 2023-24 budget to the council, attributing an overall budget increase to “salaries, wages and increased general operating expenses,” referencing the effects of growing inflation that has hit municipalities throughout the country.
Twenty-five percent of municipal revenues is from municipal taxation at $7,285,881; seven percent is from the library, $2,019,671; 39 percent is an estimated rate for county taxes, $11,250,000; five percent is estimated for the county open space tax, $1,500,000; and 24 percent is for the local school district tax, $6,813,278, which remains unchanged from the previous year.
Spring Lake’s municipal budget is split into four separate funds: general, $15,178,519; water-sewer utility, $2,461,801; beach utility, $3,667,413; and pool utility, $1,710,623.
The general budget — the main municipal tax source — will see an increase of $1,190,097 for the 2023-24 fiscal year. This increase, according to the CFO, is due to a nearly million dollar price tag for the dredging of Lake Como; $508,034 in employee costs, utilities and pensions and increase in general operating costs; $309,424 statutory increase to the borough library budget; and $266,296,49 set aside for delinquent taxes.
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