$45M Budget Introduced In Freehold

FREEHOLD, NJ — The Township Committee proposed a $45.4 million municipal budget for the 2022 fiscal year at a recent committee meeting.

The $45.4 million budget will be supported by $23.7 million in property taxes collected from Freehold Township's residential and commercial property owners.

The municipal tax rate is expected to fall to 31.6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in 2022, down from 33.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in 2021. The average home, on the other hand, is now estimated to be worth $494,212. The owner of that home will have to pay approximately $1,561 in municipal taxes.

According to Township Administrator Peter Valesi, the largest increases in township spending have been for health insurance costs, which account for $8.4 million, or more than 18 percent of the budget. “Our insurance costs have gone up, health insurance costs went up,” he said. “You are going to find that in every town.”

According to the proposed budget, these costs increased by more than $480,000 compared to 2021.

Selected appropriations in the 2022 municipal budget include the following line items:

• Public safety, $10.4 million
• Debt, $5.4 million
• Statutory expenditures, $4.83 million
• Public works, $4.31 million
• General government, $2.8 million
• Reserve for uncollected taxes, $2 million
• Utilities and bulk purchases, $1.34 million
• Court and public defender, $1.19 million.

The budget will be the subject of a public hearing before the final vote on April 26.