Everything you need to know about the 2024 Newton town budget from taxes to police costs

Newton's proposed budget for 2024 is below the $16 million mark that last year's spending package exceeded, but the average tax bill is going up by about $60 - or $5 per month - according to the preliminary budget presented to the Town Council on Monday.

The seeming dichotomy is helped along by the first year of a five-year revaluation of property within the town which, for the first time in history, topped $1 billion. That, of course, is an appraisal but those property evaluations are the base on which tax bills are based.

On Monday, Town Manager Tom Russo presented a 2024 budget of $15,9187,600, which was less than the $16,372,301 approved budget for 2023.

Net property taxable values were up by more than $431,000 to $1.04 billion. However, that is because the revaluation process is designed to bring all properties into equilibrium, which, in his written report, Russo said was an indication that "property values were increasing at a relatively brisk level from the more stagnant period leading up to the pandemic."

He also noted in remarks to the council that the growth in town can be seen by the developments, both commercial and residential around town, but especially on the northern end of Water Street.

Taxes Phil Murphy's 'Tammy' budget: Four takeaways on $55.9B spending proposal | Stile

He pointed to a "well-documented outward migration away from NYC and surrounding urban areas," as well as other factors, such a work at home, which has "the continued effect of putting pressure on the current real estate supply. We still remain in a 'sellers' market.'"

While property values have gone up, the town, being county seat, still finds about one-third of the town's property is tax exempt.

Of the $4.494 per $1,000 total tax bill, half goes to the Newton school district, 35% to the town, 14% to the county with the remainder made up of the county library and open space taxes.

Drone for Newton police

Although it's an expenditure of less than $20,000, Police Chief Steve VanNieuwland got the most questions about his request in the capital budget to purchase a new aerial drone for the department's use.

The chief noted there are already two officers with federally required drone pilot licenses and he is looking for a couple more officers to be trained.

He noted he spent some time with the Elizabeth Police Department watching their operations and feels the local department can justify the expense. Among uses are to search for missing people, especially those with mental issues; those who try to elude police arrest, and crowd control.

The chief also said the drone could be used to help other departments. Again, using Elizabeth as an example, there was a fire in a building. Using its sensors, the drone flew over the top of the building and discovered the roof was heating up from the fire below and about to collapse. The fire chief was able to cancel having men go onto that roof.

VanNieuwland noted that an aerial drone could watch over a much larger area, such as a parade route, or a large gathering at Memory Park, looking for signs of potential trouble. Officers could then be dispatched to quell a minor squabble, before the situation got out of hand.

He said the drone has infrared capabilities, useful for tracking suspects with the pilot directing ground units. In the case of missing people, the drone would also have audio capabilities for two-way conversations to people on the ground and spotlights for visual search or to guide a lost person to responding officers.

College Making your college decision? Here's what NJ universities cost

The police capital budget also includes updating surveillance cameras around the municipal building where police headquarters is located, as well as units in commercial areas, and upgrades such as cloud storage to the video units in cars and body cameras.

Other projects

In addition to replacing outdated and broken equipment at the town's swimming pool, there is money in the capital budget to expand the concrete apron to the outside fence line.

There was also discussion, but no decision made, on the purchase of a new utility truck for the fire department. Although the department relies on volunteers for manpower, the firehouses and equipment, including fire trucks, are owned by the town.

Fire Chief Jason Miller said such a utility unit would be similar to a contractors large pick-up truck with cabinets on the sides of the beds for equipment, but an open bed to carry equipment.

He noted such a unit would be more economical and better than using one of the larger pumper or rescue rigs.

The town's water and sewer department is looking to upgrade large flow valves at the sewer plant over the coming year. The valves are used to divert incoming raw sewage into the treatment process and can shut down parts of that process to allow for maintenance and cleaning.

The department is also looking to upgrade some of the water lines to increase the pressure and amount of flow in older, and therefore smaller, water mains in some streets. Those upgrade would replace 4-inch diameter pipes with 8-inch mains.

The council took no action on the budget and will hold a public hearing on the spending package at March meetings.

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Newton NJ budget includes average $60 tax increase to residents