Tax Increase Proposed For Hillsborough Residents: See How Much

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough Township residents will see an increase in taxes as revealed in the proposed budget for 2024.

The Township Committee introduced this year's $39.7 million municipal budget at the May 14 meeting, which includes a 1.95 percent municipal services tax levy increase. The 2024 introduced budget increases about $2 million over last years $37.7 million budget.

A home assessed in 2023 at $400,000 will pay $1,190.75 for the municipal services portion of the tax bill. The increase itself is less than $40.

Included in the budget are some capitol improvements such as:

• BOE Tennis Court / PickleBall Court - $110,000
• Park Improvements - $160,000
• Village Green Basketball Court - $95,000
• Jail Cell Renovation - $32,370
• 5G Networking - $53,278

The budget introduction passed with a 4 to 1 vote. Committeewoman Samantha Hand was the lone "no" vote, who said she received the budget the Friday prior to the vote.

"I did not have enough time to dig into this," said Hand.

Hand noted that the surplus is going down and the debt service is going up.

According to the introduced budget the surplus is going down by $1 million from $4.5 million to $3.5 million. Additionally, the debt service is increasing by $428,599 from $2,967,201 to $3,395,800.

"Not having enough time with the budget, I plan to spend more time working with the not only the Finance Liaison but our CFO to understand more of why we've made some of these decisions and then I would feel more comfortable," said Hand. "But at this point I will be voting no."

A public hearing for the budget will be held on June 11.

On May 16, Mayor Robert Britting shared some comments about the budget in his Budget Update video.

"This is the time of year for budgeting and we are finalizing our township budget municipal budget," said Britting,who noted about 14 percent of residents' taxes come from the municipal portion.

"That's what we control," said Britting. "When we get more information when its formally approved we'll come out and share all the details with you. Its a very good budget, solid budget and everything is covered."

Editor's Note: A previous version of the article incorrectly listed the increased amount of taxes. The increase is in fact less than $40.

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