February 8, 2012 THE VILLADOM TIMES IV • Page 5 Mahwah Budget reflects decrease, keeps tax levy under cap by Frank J. McMahon Mahwah Mayor William Laforet has submitted his 2012 budget to the township council. The $34,559,614 total budget is $167,712 lower than last year’s $34,727,326 spending plan, and the municipal tax levy of $19,838,884 is $215,318 under the state-mandated two percent cap. Laforet advised that the anticipated amount of surplus to be used in the 2012 budget is $3,250,000, which he said is $575,000 less than the $3,825,000 used last year. If this budget were approved by the council as submitted, the municipal tax rate would be 34.8 cents. This represents an increase of six tenths of a cent above the 2011 tax rate of 34.2 cents, which did not include the library tax rate of 3.9 cents the state requires municipalities to calculate separately. The proposed tax rate represents an increase of 1.75 percent, which Laforet said is the lowest tax rate increase since the revaluation in 2001. Last year, the municipal budget increased $134,030 over the township’s 2010 budget, and the post revaluation municipal tax rate, separate from the library tax rate, was 34.2 cents for 2011. That figure represented an increase of 2.3 cents, or 7.2 percent, over the 31.9 cent tax rate in 2010, which was adjusted for the revaluation. Based on the mayor’s budget, the municipal portion of the total property tax bill for the owner of a home with the township’s average assessed value of $470,000 would increase by $28.20 and would result in a property tax of $1,636 per year. That property owner’s final property tax bill, however, will also include taxes to support Bergen County, the public schools, the library, and the county and township’s open space programs. “I believe that the recommended budget I am submitting to you is fiscally responsible while maintaining the services expected by the taxpayers of Mahwah,” Laforet told the council in his budget letter. “I look forward to working with you during the year of 2012 to prepare an even better budget for 2013.” Laforet credited the Blue Ribbon Panel of residents he assembled to review the budget for providing valuable input. Those residents included one with years of experience in the banking and financial services industry, a business owner, a sales executive, a business manager, an attorney and general counsel, a manufacturing executive, an investment manager, a real estate executive, an auditor, a managing director of a bank, and a past member of the League of Women Voters in Bergen County. “It’s the first time we have had a Blue Ribbon Panel and their contribution to this has been exciting,” Laforet said. “They really have done a great job and they’re not going away. We’re going to continue to depend on them for ideas that help our community to achieve a lower tax rate.” According to Mahwah Township Administrator Brian Campion, “The two biggest drivers of the budget this year were that there was no increase in the pension bill this year, and we had very good expenses in our self-insured medical fund in 2011.” (continued on page 19)