Princeton Residents Could Face Tax Hike Due To Budget Shortfall

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton residents could see a 2 percent increase in their taxes this year, to make up for the shortfall in budget for 2021.

At the recently held town council meeting, members said the township could see a projected shortfall of $2.5 million in its budget.

To bridge the gap in revenue, the council may raise taxes and is working on some cost cutting and revenue generating methods.

Some of the ideas discussed were trimming certain expenses and selling properties in town.

(See how much property tax Princetonians paid in 2020.)

Councilwoman Michelle Pirone Lambros said that in a normal year, the town increases taxes by 2 to 3 percent to cover costs. But due to the pandemic, last year there was no increase in taxes.

“We would like to do the same this year, because of the current pandemic economy. This is going to be really hard to achieve. We're looking at everything,” she said.

Lambros said that the decrease in non-tax revenue was related to COVID-19 and it could bounce back once businesses reopen.

Administrator Marc Dashield said that the original budget shortfall was 4.7 million, and that the township is already using $2 million in surplus to cover the gap.

“When the COVID situation is over, we expect those revenues to come back and we’ll not need the $2 million in the following year. So, it's a onetime expense as far as we're concerned in terms of use of that surplus,” Dashield said.

Lambros said that the council was looking at every possible avenue to provide residents tax relief. One of her suggestions include selling two Clearview properties owned by the township, that could bring in around $1.5 million.

However, councilwoman Eve Niedergang expressed her reservations over this idea.

“Once those properties are gone, we don't get them back. There's limited amount of real estate in Princeton,” she said.

“It’s hard for me to let those properties go without knowing what the big picture looks like in terms of other uses.”

Mayor Mark Freda agreed with Niedergang saying that the council should not get rid of municipality owned property “because you never know what the future use is.”

“I don't know if it's worth it to try to make a short-term gain on it right now,” said Freda.

Niedergang instead suggested to slow down the number of hires in the police department.

Sandra Webb, chief financial officer, said she’s already had this conversation with the police chief.

“There are five vacancies in the police budget right now. They are looking to push back hire dates and hoping to get maybe three or four this summer and another two in the fall,” said Webb.

Council members said they hoped some “sense of normal” would return soon that would see businesses reopening and attracting more people in town, resulting in an increase in parking revenue.

“This (tax increase) is by no means good news,” said Niedergang “I’m confident we will continue to look for whatever types of savings or delaying of expenses that we can.”

“Much as I would like to say that our taxes need to stay flat, that’s clearly not possible. If you think two percent is where we are, it pains to say I don’t see a feasible alternative at this point.”

Thank you for reading. Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com

Get breaking news alerts on your phone with our app. Download here. Sign up to get Patch emails so you don't miss out on local and statewide news.