Montclair Council Approves Town Budget, 2 Percent Tax Hike

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The Montclair Town Council unanimously approved the 2022 municipal budget during their Tuesday meeting.

Montclair homeowners will see a tax hike of about 2 percent to the municipal portion of their taxes. It will mean a $100 increase for the average home valued at $632,000.

Property taxes in New Jersey are made up of three parts: school, municipal and county. Here's how that broke down in Montclair last year:

• School – 57.2%
• Municipal – 25.9%
• County – 16.9%

Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller said the coronavirus pandemic has put a strain on municipal finances over the past years. But thankfully, the township has been able to balance those challenges with the need to serve local residents, he added.

“We’ve always and certainly continue to make great strides towards making Montclair financially sustainable – that’s huge,” Spiller opined, hitting on a concern that some residents voiced during public comment (watch the video below).

“Diversity, sustainability, affordability … all these things do go together,” Spiller said.

• Read More: Montclair Earns 'AAA' Bond Rating For 5th Year In A Row

Montclair officials gave a detailed presentation on the budget when it was introduced in March, which can be seen here.

According to Councilman Peter Yacobellis, some highlights of the budget include:

• Mayor and council salaries will remain flat at $10,000 per year.
• Almost uniformly, "other expense" budgets for municipal departments are flat to last year. This includes the police and fire departments. However, overall salary and benefit expenditures are up, largely driven by contractual wage increases for existing employees.
• The budget – for the first time – includes funding for administering of rent control in Montclair, at a cost of approximately $125,000 for 2022 (likely to increase in 2023). Read More: Rent Control Arrives In Montclair; Council Passes Revamped Law
• The library budget is increased from $3.1 million in 2021 to $3.4 million in 2020 (driven both by statutory increases from higher tax receipts as well as an increase of $95,000 in discretionary funding over last year). Read More: Montclair Library Will Be Fully Funded In 2022 Budget, Mayor Says

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