RP Average Property Tax Had 5th Highest Increase In The County

Property Tax Information has been released by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) for 2014. That data has revealed that although Roselle Park had the 9th lowest average property tax in Union County last year, it had the 5th largest percentage increase in those taxes from 2013.

Additionally, out of the 565 municipalities included, Roselle Park had the 99th highest increase and was in the top 30% for average property taxes, coming in higher than almost 400 other municipalities.

Out of our five (5) surrounding towns, Roselle Park had a higher average property tax than Elizabeth, Union, and Kenilworth.

Property tax is composed of five (5) major components: municipal tax, school tax, county tax, open space tax, and municipal library funding. Out of those, three of them make up about 95% of property taxes with municipal tax being around 30% and school taxes hovering between 50%-55% and county taxes accounting for between 10%-15%.

The table below shows the average property tax for all 21 municipalities for the years 2012 to 2014 along with the percentage increase for each year.

MUNICIPALITY
2012
2013
2014
2012-13
2013-14
Berkeley Heights
$11,105
$11,369
$11,839
2.4%
4.1%
Clark
$9,210
$9,370
$9,518
1.7%
1.6%
Cranford
$9,904
$10,171
$10,360
2.7%
1.9%
Elizabeth
$7,846
$8,302
$8,809
5.8%
6.1%
Fanwood
$10,437
$10,727
$11,083
2.8%
3.3%
Garwood
$8,749
$9,015
$9,170
3.0%
1.7%
Hillside
$8,670
$8,748
$8,965
0.9%
2.5%
Kenilworth
$7,338
$7,776
$7,966
6.0%
2.4%
Linden
$7,874
$8,062
$8,258
2.4%
2.4%
Mountainside
$10,189
$10,604
$11,064
4.1%
4.3%
New Providence
$12,312
$12,710
$13,091
3.2%
3.0%
Plainfield
$7,816
$7,994
$8,136
2.3%
1.8%
Rahway
$7,827
$7,998
$8,187
2.2%
2.4%
Roselle
$9,057
$9,160
$9,293
1.1%
1.5%
Roselle Park
$8,606
$8,742
$9,057
1.6%
3.6%
Scotch Plains
$11,520
$11,755
$12,148
2.0%
3.3%
Springfield
$10,008
$10,149
$10,451
1.4%
3.0%
Summit
$16,051
$16,419
$16,623
2.3%
1.2%
Union
$7,861
$8,055
$8,206
2.5%
1.9%
Westfield
$14,329
$14,780
$15,389
3.1%
4.1%
Winfield
$3,110
$3,308
$3,376
6.4%
2.1%

Focusing in on Roselle Park, the average property tax in 2000 was $4,425.54. That has gone up almost 105% to bring last year’s average to $9,056.66. Even adjusting for inflation, Roselle Park’s average property tax at the turn of this century would have been equal to $6,084.12 – almost $3,000 less than 2014’s average.

YEAR
Average Property Tax
% Change
% Change
2000
$4,425.54
(Annually)
(Since 2000)
2001
$4,858.10
9.8%
9.8%
2002
$4,422.23
-9.0%
-0.1%
2003
$5,209.41
17.8%
17.7%
2004
$5,232.00
0.4%
18.2%
2005
$5,804.01
10.9%
31.1%
2006
$6,310.90
8.7%
42.6%
2007
$6,140.24
-2.7%
38.7%
2008
$7,744.79
26.1%
75.0%
2009
$7,979.12
3.0%
80.3%
2010
$8,231.32
3.2%
86.0%
2011
$8,479.77
3.0%
91.6%
2012
$8,605.68
1.5%
94.5%
2013
$8,741.97
1.6%
97.5%
2014
$9,056.66
3.6%
104.6%

RP Average Property Tax

RP Average Property Tax Increase

More detailed numbers reveal the amounts that were collected for both the municipal and school taxes through property taxes since 2000. These percentage changes differ from the data provided by DCA since those figures included the mandatory library funding which was listed separately from the municipal budget starting in 2011. The percentage changes since then more accurately reflect the municipal portion of property taxes.

Year
Municipal
School
Municipal
School
2000
$6,060,705.00
$11,131,675.00
(% change from year-to-year)
2001
$6,393,527.00
$11,117,720.00
5.5%
-0.1%
2002
$6,822,652.00
$11,739,952.00
6.7%
5.6%
2003
$7,276,549.00
$12,695,123.00
6.7%
8.1%
2004
$7,537,263.00
$13,567,413.50
3.6%
6.9%
2005
$7,979,287.00
$14,643,512.00
5.9%
7.9%
2006
$8,498,140.00
$15,806,202.00
6.5%
7.9%
2007
$9,029,580.79
$16,875,448.50
6.3%
6.8%
2008
$9,693,740.46
$17,417,654.00
7.4%
3.2%
2009
$10,216,574.65
$17,557,877.00
5.4%
0.8%
2010
$10,613,416.04
$17,946,453.00
3.9%
2.2%
2011
$10,628,925.93
$18,200,732.00
0.1%
1.4%
2012
$11,033,605.35
$18,200,713.00
3.8%
0.0%
2013
$11,402,844.00
$18,370,800.00
3.3%
0.9%
2014
$11,785,811.20
$19,171,275.00
3.4%
4.4%

As detailed in the table above, the school district portion of property taxes shows that 2014 was highest percentage increase in six years since 2008. On the municipal end, 2014 was the third lowest percentage increase since 2000. Still, since 2001, the average increase for the municipal portion of property taxes was 4.83% while the school district had an average 3.85% increase during that same period.

The table below reveals the percentage increase since 2000 – using that year as the baseline – for the school and municipal portions of amounts that were levied from property taxes. Those increases have the municipality’s portion increase by 94.5% and the school portion increasing 72.2%.

Year
Municipal
School
Municipal
School
2000
$6,060,705.00
$11,131,675.00
(% change since 2000)
2001
$6,393,527.00
$11,117,720.00
5.5%
-0.1%
2002
$6,822,652.00
$11,739,952.00
12.6%
5.5%
2003
$7,276,549.00
$12,695,123.00
20.1%
14.0%
2004
$7,537,263.00
$13,567,413.50
24.4%
21.9%
2005
$7,979,287.00
$14,643,512.00
31.7%
31.5%
2006
$8,498,140.00
$15,806,202.00
40.2%
42.0%
2007
$9,029,580.79
$16,875,448.50
49.0%
51.6%
2008
$9,693,740.46
$17,417,654.00
59.9%
56.5%
2009
$10,216,574.65
$17,557,877.00
68.6%
57.7%
2010
$10,613,416.04
$17,946,453.00
75.1%
61.2%
2011
$10,628,925.93
$18,200,732.00
75.4%
63.5%
2012
$11,033,605.35
$18,200,713.00
82.1%
63.5%
2013
$11,402,844.00
$18,370,800.00
88.1%
65.0%
2014
$11,785,811.20
$19,171,275.00
94.5%
72.2%

Again, adjusting for inflation, in 2000, the municipal portion would have come out to $8,332,096.74 – $3.4 million dollars less than last year’s actual amount – while the school district’s inflation adjusted amount for 2000 was $15,303,532.01 – around $3.8 million less than the actual 2014 amount.

Since 2000:

  • $134,972,621.42 has been collected from the municipality through property taxes.
  • $234,442,550.00 has been collected from the school district through property taxes.
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