HOW PROPERTY TAXES AND SERVICES COMPARE TO OUR ... the top 50 property tax payers only represent 13.1% of ... water on a
Borough of Madison
2018 Budget Summary This document was created to better inform Madison residents about the 2018 Municipal Budget. Earlier in the year, the Mayor and Council voted and/or deliberated on the 2018 budget at ten Council meetings. The Council unanimously approved the budget on April 23rd. Detailed information can be found on the “Annual Budget Process” page on www.rosenet.org.
MADISON TAX BILL BREAKDOWN During the 2018 budget process, Council approved a $1.5 million electric utility dividend to be distributed to all customers. This dividend will automatically appear on your bill from May 2018 to April 2019. For residential customers, the credit is approximately a 7.5% reduction on your bill.
This chart illustrates the breakdown of taxes for each component of your property tax bill.
Municipal
School Tax
MADISON ELECTRIC RANKS TOP 10% MOST RELIABLE
22.5%
62.1% County
The Borough Electric Utility tracks electric outages and compares our reliability to other public utilities. Based on data released by the American Public Power Assoc., Madison Electric was in the TOP 10% fewest outages for all utilities in the country for 2017.
15.4%
TOP 50 UTILITY CUSTOMERS Did you know….The top 50 electric utility customers represent 40% of the total revenue for the utility and 17 of those users do not pay property taxes. By contrast, the top 50 property tax payers only represent 13.1% of the total tax levy. The largest customers are Drew, the corporate offices and the grocery stores in the Borough. Instead of borrowing, utility surplus is used to fund road repairs, equipment purchases and other capital projects. This helps the Borough maintain a AAA bond rating, the highest possible rating.
County School Borough Total
2013
2018
1,781.42 7,119.02 2,802.24 11,702.68
1,974.91 7,966.37 2,888.98 12,830.26
5 Year $ Increase $193.49 $847.35 $86.74 $1,127.58
5 year % Inc 10.9% 11.9% 3.1%
This table shows all of the parts of a tax bill for a homeowner’s property assessed at $667,200.
HOW PROPERTY TAXES AND SERVICES COMPARE TO OUR NEIGHBORS Town Madison Chatham Boro Chatham Twp Morris Twp Florham Park Harding
2017 Per Person Garbage included Municipal Tax in taxes? $828 Yes $877 No $789 $1,011 $1,082 $1,453
No Yes No No
Curbside Yard Sewer included in Waste? taxes? Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No
No No No No
Fall Curbside Leaf Pickup? Yes Yes No Yes Yes No
Paid, Professional Municipal Fire Dept? Electric Utility? Yes Yes No No No Yes No No
No No No No
Senior Center and Van? Yes and Yes Yes and Yes Yes and Yes Yes but no van Yes but no van No
An averge home valued at $667,200, received a 2018 property tax bill of $12,830.26. The municipal portion of this tax bill is $2,888.98. For this amount, the residents of that home will receive the following municipal services and capital programs: Municipal Services Garbage & Recycling Pickup Yard Waste & Fall Leaf Pickup Road Plowing & Maintenance Recreation & Parks Maintenance Senior Citizen Services Water Utility including 525+ hydrants Library
Police Department & Crossing Guards Fire Department & Fire Safety Sewage Treatment Health Department Administration/Elections/Records Construction/Planning/Zoning Electric Utility including 1200 street lights
Capital and Infrastructure Road Maintenance and Reconstruction Electric & Water Utility Infrastructure Sewage & Storm Water Systems Hartley Dodge, Library other Buildings Parks and Recreation Fields Fire Trucks and Large Apparatus Public Works Equipment and Vehicles
Borough of Madison 2018 Budget Summary TAXES AS A PERCENT OF BUDGET
CAPITAL SPENDING The Borough has invested over $32 million in capital items over the last five years. Impor tant capital investments for 2018 include: $1.8 million for reconstruction of Greenwood, Central, Rosewood, Crestwood and Kensington. $385,000 for road improvements including repaving Kings Rd, Barnsdale, Elmer, Keep, Winding Way and the Cook Avenue Parking Lot.
DID YOU KNOW?
Over 50 miles of town roads are maintained and plowed by the Department of Public Works (DPW). Over 300 acres of parks & fields and over 50 different properties (parks, fields, buildings) are maintained by DPW. Over 500 fire hydrants and over 5,200 service connections are maintained by the Water Department. Over 1,200 street lights and over 6,600 service connections are maintained by the Electric Department. Close to 1 million gallons of sewage and waste water are transported and processed every day. Madison pumps and distributes over 3 million gallons of water on a single hot summer day.
2018 MUNICIPAL BUDGET APPROPRIATIONS Salaries, Wages, Benefits Operating & Reserves Capital Improvement & Debt Service TOTAL
REVENUES
2018
Since 2011, the municipal property tax as a percentage of the Borough budget has dropped by over 7%. This has been accomplished by a) limiting tax increases, b) identifying alternate sources of revenue, c) containing costs, and d) increasing shared service revenues by contracting our Borough staff to other municipalities. Almost 54% of the Borough Budget is now funded by non-tax revenue.
GRANTS HELP BUDGET Over $1.5 million dollars of grants will be recognized in 2018. Some of the largest grants are:
$500,000 in NJ Green Acres funds to help fund the Madison Recreation Complex. $265,250 in Morris County Historic Preservation funds to repair the Hartley Dodge Plaza. $250,000 in NJ DOT funds to repair Greenwood Avenue. $409,312 in NJDEP funds for Bayley Ellard Remediation.
SHRINKING STATE AID
$ 14,428,489 10,983,788 6,118,000 $ 31,530,277
2018
Municipal Fees & Revenues Utility Revenues (Surplus) Property Taxes Municipal Surplus TOTAL
$ 4,741,926 7,245,153 14,719,513 4,823,685 $ 31,530,277
The six largest operating expenses in the 2018 Budget are:
Police Department…………………… $5.8 Million Public Works Department…………… $3.8 Million Fire Department……………………... $2.6 Million Garbage/Recycling/Yard Waste……... $1.7 million Library……………………….………. $1.5 million Sewage Treatment………………….... $1.1 million
The blue bars above show total dollar amount of Municipal Aid received from the State of NJ. The red line show the % of state aid to the total budget.
Shrinking State Aid: Madison receives state Aid annually and it is used as a revenue to offset property taxes. Aid to Madison dropped from 2005 to 2010 and has remained flat since then. As the red line shows, State Aid used to fund 6.3% of the municipal budget. Now it funds less than 2.6% of the budget.
