TAX NEWS - 2010

New Jersey Tax: Mine Hill to cut local open space tax, reduce tax increase

MINE HILL -- The township council has agreed to cut the local open space tax in order to reduce municipal tax hikes.

The council voted unanimously in a straw vote last week to approve the measure. However, members couldn't vote on adopting the $4.472 million township budget because the state Division of Local Government Services has not yet approved the spending plan.

The state agency reviews the township's proposed spending plan each year because Mine Hill has received Extraordinary Aid in the past.

Township administrator Stephen Welsh said council members had previously discussed the idea of reducing the open space tax rate from five-tenths of a cent per $100 of assessed property value to two-tenths of a cent per $100 of assessed property value.

He said the change would bring the annual open space tax collection total back to its pre-revaluation level of $11,000. Last year, the township collected about $26,000 in open space taxes, he said. A township-wide re-evaluation took place in 2007.

"We wanted to reduce the (municipal tax) increase, so that measure was recommended," Welsh said.

If the council adopts that rate change, the overall municipal tax hike for owners of property valued at the township average of $341,000 would be $20, instead of the original anticipated hike of $30. That doesn't include school or county taxes.

Since its inception in 2002, the local open space tax has helped provide seed money to secure state matching grants for land preservation and land surveys, among other things. For example, some 200 acres of land on Canfield Avenue has been preserved as open space.

Like other municipalities, Mine Hill has had to weather the storm of state aid cuts. The township saw its state aid drop from $356,000 last year to $283,000 this year, according to Welsh.

Despite that, the township does not plan to cut any jobs, the administrator said.

The next scheduled regular council meeting is July 15. However, if the township receives approval from the state on its spending plan sometime next week, Welsh said the council will likely hold a special meeting in order to adopt the township budget.