Council Amends Budget, Lowers Tax Increase For Princeton Residents

PRINCETON, NJ — The Council on Monday said they were amending the 2023 budget to lower the tax increase for residents.

In March, Council introduced a $72.47 million budget for 2023, which included an increase of 45 cents per $100 of assessed value. Under the amended budget, the increase now stands at 29 cents.

This translates to an increase of $279 for the average Princeton taxpayer, as opposed to the previous amount of $459. More: Princeton Council Votes To Introduce $72.47M Budget For 2023

The reduction in tax increase was attributed largely Princeton University paying $5 million in fair share to the Municipality, according to Councilwoman Michelle Pirone Lambros.

Municipal staff and the University are currently working to finalize a new voluntary payment agreement, Lambros said.

Other factors include increase in additional state aid and reduction in the “administration other expense,” according to a memo by the Municipality’s Chief Financial Officer Sandy Webb.

Councilwoman Eve Niedergang noted that some of the drivers of increase in costs — which were factored into the budget — still remain. Namely, rising costs of health care, waste management and general inflationary costs.

“Some prices for equipment we are replacing is just shockingly high,” Niedergang said. “It’s still a tax increase which we don’t like to see, but it’s a lot less than we initially started at. There’s a lot of creative thinking and hard work that went into that.”

Councilmembers thanked Webb and her team for working to bring the tax increase down.

“We have an extraordinary, excellent finance team and our residents here at every level are well served,” Councilman Leighton Newlin said.

A public hearing of the budget will be held on April 24.

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