West Orange Town Budget Update: 2.47% Tax Hike Floated

WEST ORANGE, NJ — West Orange town officials continue to hammer out this year’s municipal budget, but numbers are starting to come together.

There is currently a proposed increase of 2.47 percent to municipal taxes on the table, council president Bill Rutherford confirmed at the council’s meeting on Tuesday.

The council voted to approve an ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and establish a cap bank during the meeting, which could potentially increase the maximum tax hike that could be greenlighted – although that is a rare situation, according to the town’s outgoing chief financial officer, John Gross.

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Gross previously provided an explanation of the cap bank is and what the ordinance does at the July 9 council meeting (watch the video below, cued to his statements).

Rutherford also spoke about the cap bank at the council’s July 23 meeting (watch the video below).

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The town previously held budget workshops on June 13 (watch the video here) and June 27 (watch the video here).

Property taxes in New Jersey are mainly made up of three parts: school, municipal and county. Here’s how that played out in West Orange for 2023, according to state data:

In 2023, the average West Orange homeowner paid $15,475 in property taxes on a home assessed at $336,591. Here are the previous four years for comparison:

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