By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Sea Isle City was able to keep local property taxes stable for seven straight years, but that enviable streak is over following the approval of the 2024 municipal budget.
City Council adopted a $30.1 million spending plan Tuesday that includes an increase of 4.3 cents in the property tax rate in response to higher inflation and mounting municipal expenses.
Under the budget, the owner of a typical Sea Isle home assessed at $750,000 would pay an additional $324 in local property taxes annually. Overall, the total annual local taxes on a $750,000 home would be about $3,200.
When county and school taxes are added in, the total annual tax bill for a home assessed at $750,000 will be about $6,852, the budget shows.
Council President J.B. Feeley said the governing body did not want to raise taxes, but felt the increase in 2024 was “reasonable” considering that Sea Isle went the last seven years without one.
“I don’t know of anybody else who held the line for seven years,” Feeley said of other municipalities avoiding a tax increase for that long.
The budget was proposed by Mayor Leonard Desiderio’s administration. In its role as the city’s legislative body, Council scrutinized the spending plan and voted on it to give it final approval.
“There was no fat in there that we could see,” Feeley said of Council’s budget review.
Feeley praised the mayor and his administration for doing a good job in collaborating with Council on the budget.
“We’re happy with it,” he said.
During his State of the City address on March 12, Desiderio noted that Sea Isle was previously able to avoid a local tax increase for seven straight years through its “fiscally conservative approach to budgeting.”
However, inflationary pressures have driven up costs by about 20 percent in the last three years, prompting Sea Isle to raise taxes in 2024 in order to offer the same level of municipal services to the public, Desiderio said.
“This budget will continue to provide all of the services our residents and visitors have come to expect, as well as the multitude of planned capital improvements to our city assets and infrastructure,” he said in a statement Tuesday.
Desiderio noted that his administration and Council “spent a considerable amount of time” reviewing all of the budget expenditures, along with the projected revenues for this year while crafting the budget.
In addition to dealing with inflation, the city will also experience higher budget expenses in 2024 for the fire department, emergency medical services division and summer employees such as lifeguards, seasonal police officers and Public Works Department personnel, Desiderio said.
The fire department is made up of volunteers, but for the first time in Sea Isle’s history the city will provide round-the-clock, year-round coverage by paying firefighters to be on duty at all hours at the firehouse, the mayor said. Up to this point, Sea Isle had been limiting the paid crews to overnight duty.
Although a tax increase is part of the 2024 municipal budget, the city’s water and sewer rates will remain the same for the 11th consecutive year.
Jennifer McIver, Sea Isle’s chief financial officer, said the city’s finances remain strong overall.
Tax revenue of $21.2 million represents the budget’s greatest source of funding. Other major revenue sources include beach tag sales, construction code fees, franchise fees, parking charges and marina boat slip rentals.
Sea Isle used $3.3 million in surplus funding to balance the budget and has a $4.1 million surplus in reserve. McIver noted that it is critical for the city to have a significant surplus on hand in case there are emergencies or an extraordinary event, such as the COVID-19 outbreak, that could cut into Sea Isle’s municipal revenue.
Sea Isle is not alone among Cape May County’s 16 municipalities in approving a local tax increase this year. Leon Costello, Sea Isle’s budget auditor, said most of the county’s towns are raising taxes in 2024.
Costello blamed inflationary pressures for the local tax increases. He also said towns that have police and fire departments are dealing with higher expenses because of salary increases.
