Boonton council advances 2025 budget; municipal tax portion set at 1.99% (+$67 avg.)

Boonton's finance team presented the proposed 2025 municipal budget and advanced it to the public hearing stage, with the town's municipal tax levy slated to rise by 1.99 percent under the current proposal.

CFO Mike Yesi told the council the budget process began in October with department requests and multiple finance committee meetings. He said salaries, wages, insurance and pension costs account for roughly 54 percent of appropriations and that a reserve for uncollected taxes is budgeted at about 10 percent (roughly $1.5 million).

The proposed municipal tax increase was presented as 1.99 percent, which the CFO said would amount to about $67 on the average household tax bill for the municipal portion of the levy. He also noted the school share and county share are set by those respective bodies; the school portion shown in the presentation was an estimated 2.9 percent increase (about $220) and the county budgetary change was described as roughly 3 percent based on preliminary figures.

Yesi described revenue offsets that helped limit the tax increase, including partial cannabis tax receipts this year, the addition of parking meters, and a projected 50 percent rise in court revenues in the municipal forecast. He also discussed the town's capital-improvement fund balance and a plan to raise it to about $760,000 after adding $300,000 in the 2025 budget.

Council members confirmed the schedule: a public hearing and final adoption of the budget will occur on May 5; the CFO agreed to update charts after the Board of Education finalizes its budget numbers.

What happens next: the budget is posted for public comment, the May 5 public hearing will be held and council will vote on final adoption at the public hearing.