East Brunswick Taxpayers Seeing Bigger Bills. Mayor Explains Why

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — Mayor Brad Cohen addressed residents' questions about third-quarter estimated tax bills during Monday's Township Council meeting, explaining how the estimates are calculated and noting an average increase of about 4.6 percent.

Cohen said most residents received estimated tax bills for the third quarter, and reminded residents that the figures are estimates because the township does not yet have final tax rates from the county for all of the taxing bodies involved.

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"We do the best that we can from the information we have from each of those agencies to estimate what that tax increase is going to be, and that's how we generate the bills," Cohen said.

The mayor noted that the third-quarter bills will always appear larger than the previous quarter's because the township doesn't approve a budget or receive its tax rate until well after the first half of the year, meaning increases aren't reflected until the third and fourth quarters.

"So to compare the increase to what you had the quarter before isn't a fair calculation," Cohen said.

The average tax increase is about 4.6 percent, which Cohen attributed primarily to a 6 percent increase accounted for in the school system's budget.

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