West Orange 2023 Town Budget Still Being Hammered Out

This article was updated on April 28

WEST ORANGE, NJ — West Orange town officials continue to hammer out the 2023 municipal budget.

A work session was previously scheduled for township council members on Thursday, May 4. It has since been canceled and will be rescheduled.

Township business administrator John Gross told Patch that the proposed budget will head to the desk of Mayor Susan McCartney, then to the town council, which will have a series of meetings to discuss the spending plan.

The timeline on first meeting it will be discussed is May 2, and the first meeting the budget could be approved would be May 16, Gross said. No information about the anticipated tax impact for local homeowners was available.

Gross offered some additional details about this year's budget at the April 18 town council meeting (watch the video below). See his presentation online here.

Property taxes in New Jersey are generally made up of three parts: school, municipal and county. Read More: Average Property Tax Bill In West Orange Is Growing, Latest Data Shows

Here’s how that played out in West Orange last year (numbers rounded up):

• School – 61.7%
• Municipal – 26%
• County – 12.4%

SCHOOL BUDGET

The West Orange Board of Education heard a presentation from Assistant Superintendent Hayden Moore about the preliminary 2023-2024 school budget at their meeting on March 20

The proposed school budget would mean a yearly tax hike of $296 for the average West Orange homeowner with a property assessed at $336,591, an increase of about $25 per month. A public hearing and adoption of the final budget is scheduled for the board’s meeting on Monday, May 8.

• See Related: Proposed West Orange School Budget Would Mean Tax Increase

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