The Trenton Times published the following article on June 11, 2014. To read the full article, click here.
County tax rate to vary in Mercer County as freeholders adopt $305.3M budget
By James McEvoy/Times of Trenton
on June 11, 2014 at 6:40 AM, updated June 11, 2014 at 6:43 AMTRENTON — County taxes are set to increase in nine Mercer County towns with the freeholders’ unanimous adoption last night of the 2014 county budget, which totals $305.3 million.
The actual tax rate will vary from town to town, based on property values, but Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said overall tax impacts are beginning to balance out throughout the county.
“We see a smoothing out (in) many of the towns that have seen jumps or declines very rapidly as we came out of the worst economic recession that any of us will see in our lifetimes,” Hughes said.
Though the board previously trimmed $1.5 million from the county’s proposed spending plan, the reductions amount to a less than a third of a cent off the tax rate, effectively maintaining the budget’s average tax rate of 60 cents per $100 of valuation, which is a 2-cent rate increase from last year’s spending plan, Mercer County Chief Financial Officer David Miller said previously.