2017 Tax Rate Brings Average Property Tax Close To $10K

The 2017 tax rate has been certified by the county and – for a house assessed at $253,000 – the average property tax in Roselle Park is just $47 under $10,000.

$253,000 is the new average assessment after the townwide revaluation conducted in 2015. Previously, the average was $65,000.

Property tax is broken down into five (5) major components: school, municipal, county, open space, and library. The breakdown for this year’s property tax is listed below:

Average Tax
Average Increase
% Of Property Tax
County
$1,391.50
$37.95
13.9%
Open Space
$37.95
$0.00
0.4%
School
$5,295.29
$149.27
53.2%
Municipality
$3,139.73
$121.44
31.6%
Library
$88.55
$2.53
0.9%
Total
$9,953.02
$311.19
100.0%

Although the municipality accounts for a little over 31¢ of every dollar, it is the only portion of property taxes that had an average dollar increase – a significant one at 33% – over the previous year. All other components either remained stable or had a decrease. The school increase in 2016 was $242 while this year had only a $149 increase.

Average Tax
Average Increase
% Of Property Tax
County
$1,353.55
$63.25
14.0%
Open Space
$37.95
$0.00
0.4%
School
$5,146.02
$242.88
53.4%
Municipality
$3,018.29
$91.08
31.3%
Library
$86.02
$2.53
0.9%
Total
$9,641.83
$399.74
100.0%

To date, no one on the governing body has provided a detailed explanation as to what resulted in a $121.44 increase in municipal taxes. Initially, mayor & council claimed that the municipal increase was only $95.94 but an incomparable average assessed value was being used (link).

In total, this year’s amount to be collected from property taxes is $41,328,858.14. This is to be collected from 3,657 properties, which includes 3,302 residential properties.

Portion
Percentage (%)
Amount ($)
School Tax
53.20%
$21,992,706.00
Municipal Tax
31.55%
$13,034,370.97
County Tax
13.98%
$5,769,180.99
Library Tax
0.89%
$367,362.73
Open Space Tax
0.38%
$165,237.45
$41,328,858.14