MARGATE – Municipal taxes will increase slightly this year in Margate. Although the tax levy will increase 3.28% or $869,025, the tax rate will increase 1.53% mostly due to a $72.6 million increase in assessments.
According to the budget introduced at the March 5 Board of Commissioners meeting, the local tax rate will be 66.4 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, up from 65.4 cents last year. A taxpayer with an average assessment of $590,107 will see their tax bills increase by $56.51 to $3,918.31. Taxable properties in Margate are currently assessed at $4,110,031,700, up 1.8% over last year, but on average are valued at only 51.5% of true market value.
The city, along with other municipalities in the county, has partnered with Atlantic County government on a $300,000 LEAP (Local Efficiency Achievement Program) grant to acquire and implement the EagleView GPS software system that will provide aerial imagery view of land and improvements, which will set the stage for the Atlantic County Board of Taxation to issue a countywide reassessment order.
The total amount to be raised by taxes is $70,803,005 for municipal, school, county and library and 99.08% of taxpayers are expected to pay their share of the city’s tax burden. The local tax levy is $27,289,605, up from $26,420,779 last year.
The budget includes a $281,912 reduction in the cost of health benefits partially due to fewer employees enrolling in the city’s new health plan. The city switched to the Southern Coastal Health Insurance Fund from the NJ State Health Benefits Plan, and 33 of the city’s eligible employees who had spousal coverage in the state plan chose to accept a waiver instead.
The city currently holds $68.2 million in debt for the municipality, water and sewer utility and school district or about $12,830 per capita and will pay $7,956,073 in principal and interest payments this year. Although the city is eligible to hold debt up to 3% of its three-year average assessed valuation, the city carries just .627% in net debt, Chief Financial Officer Lisa McLaughlin said.
The budget includes $174,500 in equipment purchases for the Fire, Police and Beach Patrol.
The city has $8.29 million in fund balance and will use 61.3% or $5.1 million of it to bolster the budget. McLaughlin said several years ago the city adopted a formal fund balance policy to ensure stability, which includes retaining 20-30% of the prior year's operating budget in reserve. The fund balance will be replenished over the year with unanticipated revenue, taxes collected in excess of projections, receipts of delinquent taxes, and cancelled or unexpended appropriations.
McLaughlin said the full budget document, along with the User Friendly Budget and a synopsis of the budget is posted on the municipal website at https://www.margate-nj.com/finance/pages/municipal-budgets
A public hearing on the budget will be held 5 p.m. Thursday, April 3.
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