Residents with an average assessed home will see their municipal taxes decrease by $6.38.
Evesham Township Council has approved the introduction of the 2018 municipal budget.
With total appropriations set at $37.6 million, the budget will see the local municipal tax rate decrease from 43 cents per every $100 of assessed property value to 42.7 cents per every $100 of assessed property value.
An Evesham resident with the average assessed home valued at $270,500 would see a $6.38 decrease in the annual municipal tax bill.
New to the 2018 budget is a $300,000 increase for school resource officers, which will be offset with funds through an interlocal service agreement with the Evesham Township School District.
The budget also features a $250,000 increase in the township’s Transportation Trust Fund Grant that will also be offset by that amount through a grant from the state for work on Brick Road.
According to officials, the remaining $647,000 in expense growth from last year’s budget represents about 1.78 percent increase from the prior year.
When compared to other local taxing entities, this year’s municipal budget is responsible for about 15 percent of a resident’s overall annual property tax bill.
Remaining taxing entities include the Evesham Township School District responsible for about 41 percent of local property taxes, the Lenape Regional High School District responsible for about 24 percent of local property taxes, Burlington County responsible for about 14 percent of property taxes, the Evesham Fire District responsible for about 5 percent of local property taxes and municipal open space funds responsible for about 1 percent of local property taxes.
Officials also note that under the state’s tax levy cap law, which limits municipalities’ power to increase annual tax levies by 2 percent or less and to “bank” the remaining difference for future use, Evesham had the power to increases taxes by an additional $3.2 million through use of its tax levy bank for 2018.
According to officials, for every $525,000 the township raises in municipal taxes, the municipal tax rate rises one cent.
Officials also spoke about tracking the efficiency of the township’s budget versus the number of residents, especially when compared those same figures for the county and state.
According to township officials, Evesham spends $801 per resident, versus the Burlington County average of $964, the Camden County average of $1,268 and the New Jersey average of $1,559.
“We maintain a fairly strong position regionally and statewide as far as efficiency measures,” said Evesham Township Director of Finance Thomas Shanahan.
