Tax increase comes after 2017’s flat tax rate
During the April 16 Harrison Township Committee meeting, the 2018 municipal budget passed unanimously and with no comments from the public following the presentation of the breakdown of the numbers.
The nearly $11.5 million budget requires a slight increase from 2017– a one-cent increase from 42.6 cents to 43.6 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Based on the average priced home of $341,000, taxpayers will see a $34 annual increase in total taxes.
The 2017 budget was considered flat as the tax rate saw neither a rise nor fall from 2016.
Mayor Louis Manzo attributes the small rise in taxes to elevating costs in health care and benefits for township employees, further maintenance to local utilities and the agreement between the township and both local school districts to hire three new full-time school resource officers next year. Each building in both Harrison Township and Clearview Regional school districts will have a resource officer to address safety concerns stemming partially from recent tragedies in districts around the country.
“We are adding three full-time police officers [in the schools]. Our end of that is about a third of the cost of those police officers. We are looking at implementation by September. … We’ve had conversations with Mantua about their contribution going further to split the high school and middle school resource officer costs,” Manzo said.
Other capital projects, the mayor pointed out for which tax dollars are used include vehicle and fleet equipment for both the police and public works departments, wastewater facility upgrades and pump station repair and upgrades.
Projects that are planned to begin construction in 2018 include the new regional hospital, the 9/11 memorial and the implementation of the sidewalk program. Part of the larger project called the Harrison Township Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan published by the township in 2013, the sidewalk plan is the result of a study that considers a connectivity issue within the township. The aim of this potential, and long-awaited, project is to create a more “walkable” community by connecting gaps between available walking areas by housing subdivisions, Main Street, shopping and recreation areas.
The full plan can be viewed at http://harrisontwp.us/ under the “Boards/Commissions” tab. Then by clicking “Joint Land Use Board.”
Manzo also mentioned multiple new ratables that are coming to the township which include the near-future medical arts building, liquor store and Dunkin’ Donuts.
Breaking down tax bills into categories, the school districts combined see approximately 55 percent of taxes paid with the county taking the next largest percentage at about 22.
