Wyckoff Township Municipal Taxes Expected to Increase by $34 Per Household

The Wyckoff Township Committee introduced a budget Wednesday afternoon that would raise municipal taxes on the average home by only $34.92.

“I’d like to come in at a $0 increase but when we include all of the unfunded mandates it comes in around the mid-low $30 range,” said Committeeman Kevin Rooney. “For us this really is a flat budget. We are not enhancing anything. In fact, we cut back in some ways. The $34 range is flat when you add in the state mandated increases.

The total proposed 2013 municipal budget is $17,775,278, an increase of 3.02 percent over the 2012 budget. The Library returned $388,070 in unused funds, which were used to limit the tax levy.

“I think the budget committee did a great job in preparing the budget and have given up copious amounts of time to do this,” said Wyckoff Mayor Rudy Boonstra. “They worked very hard on this budget and if it weren’t for state mandates we would have a flat budget coming in.”

The Township Committee and Department Managers went through every line item to justify their need for taxpayer money to provide services to the community.

“We meet with the head of the police department, the head of the DPW, Parks and Recreation, and the fire department,” said Rooney. “We work through their wish-lists and the items that are needed and try to come up that is something we can present to the pubic.”