Raritan Borough Approves Budget With Flat Municipal Tax Rate

By Emma Uk

RARITAN, NJ - The Raritan Borough Council passed the 2024 municipal budget, which will keep the budget and municipal tax rate flat, partially thanks to a $3.3 million surplus. 

Although municipal taxes won’t increase, the same can’t be said about school and county taxes. The municipality makes up 23% of resident taxes, schools make up 60%, the county about 16% and the municipal library 1%. "The fact that you have the surplus and you can keep it level is pretty good, because our school taxes and our county taxes are probably going to be going up," said councilman Michael Patente. "So I think it's good, regardless of which council it is, if you can keep it balanced, using whatever revenue you have."

Revenue generated above the anticipated amount is considered surplus, which the borough can use the following year to fund current operating and capital budgets, including for emergencies and keeping taxes flat. The borough's chief finance officer, Paige Elster, said the borough generated a lot of the surplus from construction fees from corporate or industry projects, such as Johnson & Johnson construction and renovations, which is now slowing down. "If we don't have those construction projects going on, we're not going to regenerate that surplus, so we kept the surplus stable enough for the next year's budget," she said, since the goal is to regenerate surplus or whatever is used from it.

“The rule of thumb is not to use more than you regenerate,” Elster said. 

The borough will look at how much additional revenue they’re getting to see how much they can afford in surplus to use in 2025. About $3.23 in surplus is being used to support current fund operating expenses for 2024 and $100,000 for the capital improvement funds, mostly down payments for projects at Frelinghuysen and Basilone parks and equipment for 2024. 

Borough resident and former planning board member Thomas Brown said he believes more money should be put toward capital improvement funds and to help local businesses. He said that along with the projects to fund downtown improvements, business owners still don't have an opportunity to get loans from the town to make upgrades. "You're just using it for general expenses and not for special expenses based on the construction applications that come in," he said. "When the money comes into the town through the construction project, and then it sits there long enough that it becomes disencumbered so that you use it for general taxes, I see that as a problem." Mayor Nicolas J. Carra said the money is going to capital improvements and not just the general fund. 

Councilman Umesh Agrawal said another win for the borough stems from Elster’s renegotiations with the bank. The borough can get 4.5%, meaning the borough can secure a large sum and do a lot more with the money it budgeted. "If you're talking $3.3 million, and you're getting 4.5%, that's awesome," said councilwoman Joyce Melitsky, who sits on the finance committee with Agrawal, Eslter and borough administrator Eric Colvin. Melitsky said they spend up to 20 hours on the budget, line-by-line, over the course of four meetings. “You know, this is my sixth year on the council, and I don't think I've ever had to devote as many hours as we devoted with the finance committee,” said Melitsky.