By PETE WALTON
Neptune City will not increase municipal spending under a new budget introduced this week.
Borough Administrator Chris Cherbini said that nearly $5.45 million will be raised through property taxes for municipal purposes under the proposed budget, the same amount as in 2019.
“Our assessed property values rose from $607,598,200 in 2019 to $641,047,000 for 2020,” Cherbini said.
As a result, the municipal tax rate will fall by 4.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.
The overall tax rate cannot yet be determined since the local school district and Monmouth County have not yet set their budgets.
A public hearing on the municipal budget is scheduled for June 22.
“This is a really, really sound budget,” said Mayor Andrew Wardell. “We are in a really good fiscal place here.”
Wardell thanked current and previous council members and borough employees for helping to preserve Neptune City’s financial position.
“Many towns would be quite envious,” the mayor said.
Also at the meeting, the council introduced an ordinance which lists the fees for the use of various municipal facilities, including the Neptune City Community Center, Memorial Park and Adams Field.
A public hearing on the ordinance will take place at the council’s next meeting on May 26.
The council withdrew a previous fee ordinance to make several changes, including elimination of the community center registration fee for persons under 18 or over 59 years of age.
A rental fee of $100 per year was established for the new kayak racks at Memorial Park. Work on the 27 racks was scheduled to start this week.
The council approved the applications of Dylan Voll and Giuseppe Alioto to become members of the Neptune City Fire Department.
