What to do About Taxes in Holmdel

Here in Holmdel – as in many municipalities throughout the state of New Jersey – property taxes are a hot (and painful!) topic. If I’m elected to the Holmdel Township Committee, I pledge to work with the mayor and my fellow committee members to attack the challenge rising taxes present to our residents.

This year, our township is expected to take in nearly 2% more in the “amount of money raised by taxes”. That’s approximately $250,000 more than they did a year ago. To be clear, this is just to the township and does not include portions of your tax dollars that go to the state, the county, or our school system.

So, the question is – how can we ease this burden? What CAN we do to battle back against the rising tide of property taxes?

My answer: through a combination of surplus, state law, and budgeting rigor we have a chance to make things easier on you.

Here are my ideas in detail:

• When there’s surplus, provide relief. As of this moment, Holmdel’s PILOT program has delivered approximately $2.5 million beyond expectations – meaning, the town is receiving $2.5 million more than they budgeted for. If the Township so chose, they could put into the budget a “give back” (for lack of a better term) to our residents. The math is simple – there are 5,500 homes in Holmdel. We could cut a $200 check to each home and only spend $1.1 million of that $2.5 million overage. I’m sure there are years when we won’t have this type of incremental revenue to work with, so when we do, let’s at least try to ease your financial burden a bit.
• Leverage a new NJ state law. Under a bill recently signed, homeowners will be able to save on their property tax bills as a reward for shopping locally. According to NJ.com, “the new law will allow New Jersey municipalities to create an incentive program that encourages property owners to patronize local businesses by discounting their property taxes.” Basically, Holmdel can offer a reward card that residents use when making purchases at local participating businesses, with a percentage of the sale going to lower the shopper’s property tax bill. Businesses determine the size of the reward, but Marlboro – the first to do this – indicates many have opted for rewards between 1% and 12%. This seems like a great way to boost local businesses AND ease your property tax burden!
• Budget differently. When it comes time for township departments to prepare their budgets, let’s change things up a bit. Let’s have each department start with zero budget, then establish their fixed costs. Subsequent to that, they can apply existing variable costs, and what they project their needs to be for the coming year – with an understanding that they are capped at 2%. From there, we can then make appropriate consumption choices that allow us to deliver on our needs but keep costs contained.

Friends, there is no silver bullet to stop the scourge of property taxes in the state of New Jersey, but if we stop presenting ideas – if we stop TRYING, we’ll never stem the tide.

The Republican Primary for Holmdel Township Committee is June 8th. Please vote for Rocco Impreveduto. I’m the endorsed Republican candidate in Column 3. We CAN do more and we CAN do better for Holmdel.