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Somers Point adopts 2025 municipal budget with 1.9-cent tax increase
Summary
The Somers Point City Council adopted the 2025 municipal budget by resolution after a public hearing and auditor presentation. City Auditor Leon Castello said the plan includes a 1.9¢ tax rate increase, is legal and remains within statutory caps; council approved the budget by roll-call vote.
The Somers Point City Council adopted the 2025 municipal budget at its March meeting, approving Resolution 97 to adopt the budget after a public hearing and comments from the city auditor.
City Auditor Leon Castello told the council the adopted budget is the same as the one introduced four weeks earlier and carries a 1.9¢ tax increase, which he described as “one of the lower ones in the area.” He said the budget is legal and within the applicable caps and that officials could, if they chose, levy more but had not done so. Castello also told the council the municipality lost about $100,000 in state aid this year, which he said is “almost exactly a penny” on the tax rate.
Council members heard Castello’s presentation, asked clarifying questions about state aid and inflationary pressures, and then moved to adopt Resolution 97. The roll-call vote on Resolution 97 was recorded as follows: Council member DePantelis — yes; Council member Dill — yes; Council member Garrity — yes; Council member Johnston — yes; Council member McGuigan — yes; Council member Owen — yes; Council president Haberkorn — yes. Following the vote the council president declared the 2025 budget adopted.
The council also took two earlier procedural votes tied to the budget: Resolution 95 (reading the budget by title only) and Resolution 96 (self-examination of the 2025 budget). Both passed by voice vote during the meeting without recorded roll-call tallies.
Auditor Castello told the council that budget committee meetings had reviewed the figures and that the plan “should provide well for you” and be sustainable without harming future budgets. He said the 1.9¢ increase equates to about 1.76–2% in the municipal levy context depending on the calculation.
No amendments to the budget were adopted at the meeting. Council members signaled support for the budget after the public comment period for the budget-related resolutions closed; the formal adoption vote completed the municipal budget process at the meeting.
