Taxes

I was the only Member of Council to oppose the increase in the Municipal tax rate in the 2008 budget that was proposed by Mayor Hsueh. The amount of the increase was unreasonably high. Here's why:

A 12% increase in our taxes is ridiculous in the context of the 24% increase in available surplus that could have been used for tax relief at the end of a six year period during which available surplus increased 102% and during which the percent of surplus actually used to reduce taxes declined 42%. For a graphic representation of those numbers, click here:

Surplus serves the important purpose in Lesson #2 on the bulletin board in the cartoon above -- it is savings for inevitable emergencies.

But there comes a point where the amount of surplus is more than adequate to cover any foreseeable emergencies. West Windsor's surplus has passed that stage.

Property taxes in West Windsor have five components allocated in 2008 as follows:

West Windsor Township distributes tax bills comprised of all five, remits the school taxes and the county taxes to the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District and Mercer County respectively.

The Council does not control the amount of those taxes beyond the Municipal portion of the tax bill.