By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City has approved a $26.8 million municipal budget for 2021 that reflects the resort town’s strong finances despite the tumultuous first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Approved by City Council on Tuesday, the spending plan raises the local tax rate by a quarter-penny. For an average Sea Isle home assessed at $683,500, the quarter-penny increase will translate into an extra $17 in taxes per year, or less than a nickel a day.
The city will keep water and sewer rates the same in 2021, the eighth straight year there has been no increase in utility charges.
Paula Doll, Sea Isle’s chief financial officer, said in an interview Wednesday that the city was able to weather the pandemic without any major hits in revenue. Sea Isle started 2021 with a record-high $7 million surplus and used $3.5 million of it to help fund the budget, she said.
“I feel we survived it relatively well,” Doll said of the impact of the pandemic. “We were very fortunate.”
Most of the revenue for the budget comes from the city’s property taxes. Overall, the amount to be raised by taxation is $18.3 million.
The total tax bill for a Sea Isle home assessed at $683,500 is $5,188, Doll said. The figure includes school and county taxes as well as Sea Isle’s local levy.
Doll said Sea Isle’s 99 percent property tax collection rate is extraordinarily high and remains a major reason why the city’s finances continue to be strong.
“We have an incredible tax collection rate,” she said.
Sea Isle is also benefiting from a red-hot real estate market at the Jersey Shore that has driven up home values. Rising home values, in turn, have expanded the city’s tax revenue base.
“I feel we have an incredible community. People want to be part of it,” Doll said of the city’s strong housing demand.
A recent story by NJ.com found that Sea Isle has the fifth-lowest local tax rate among all New Jersey towns. The average equalized tax rate in New Jersey was 2.279 in 2020, but for Sea Isle it was 0.601, according to data from the Department of Community Affairs cited by NJ.com.
Despite the quarter-penny increase in local taxes for 2021, Sea Isle’s tax rate is slightly less than it was four years ago because of a rate decrease two years ago, Mayor Leonard Desiderio said when the budget was introduced by Council in February.
Desiderio noted that Sea Isle’s solid finances will allow the city to advance a series of capital projects in 2021. At the top of the list is a proposed community recreation center expected to cost around $15 million.
Construction of the recreation center is expected to begin this year, with completion in spring 2023.
A public presentation for the project is planned for Saturday, April 24. The city will release more information on the presentation in coming weeks, but expects that the meeting will be virtual.
The 2021 budget will also include funding for the city to bolster its fire safety by having volunteer firefighters stationed overnight at the fire station during the peak summer tourism season, saving valuable time in responding to fires when the town is crowded with vacationers.
City Council approved an ordinance in February creating a payment program for volunteer firefighters who are part of the overnight shift. Overall, the cost of the program will be capped at $30,000 per month, according to the ordinance.
