By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – Growth and affordability can be a balancing act in communities like Red Bank, which faces rising municipal costs amid the need for critical infrastructure projects.
On April 22, borough officials proposed a 2% municipal tax rate increase that will help fund these projects. Finance officials said the hike would raise the average assessed property’s municipal tax bill by $106 for the year.
According to Thomas Seaman, the borough’s chief financial officer, the total municipal budget proposed for 2025 is $30,170,892. The amount to be raised by taxation is approximately $15.3 million; various municipal revenues make up the remainder, including fees, construction permits, licenses, interest on investments, state aid and grants. Fees from the town’s three cannabis businesses also provide revenue for the borough. “We’re investing in our town’s future while being mindful of taxpayer burden,” said Seaman.
In addition to the borough, other entities also impose taxes on property owners, which the borough collects. The largest tax burden comes from the local school district – nearly $20.5 million. The regional high school taxes are $14.6 million and the county taxes are roughly $7 million.
Additionally, both the Red Bank RiverCenter – the borough’s business promotional agency – and the Red Bank Public Library claim a share of the tax pie: $580,000 goes to RiverCenter and approximately $1.1 million funds the library.
Determining the Tax Rate
There are 4,126 properties in the borough that are taxed to fund the budget – around 61% are residential, 27.9% are commercial and 8.9% are apartments, according to the budget presentation. Tax rates for each entity are determined by property valuation, which is reassessed every year by the town’s tax assessor. The overall assessed value of all the properties in Red Bank went up by nearly 9.5% from last year, raising the total property assessment valuation from roughly $3.04 billion in 2024 to $3.33 billion in 2025.
Seaman explained the formula to calculate the current tax rate is $1.76 per $100 of valuation. So, for an average home in Red Bank valued at approximately $600,000, this translates to a total annual tax bill of $10,574, with the municipal portion accounting for roughly $2,755 of that, a $106 increase from last year. In this example of a tax bill, the library would receive $201.43; $1,276 would go to the county; $2,634 to the regional high school; and $3,701.62 to the local school district.
“I think it’s important to highlight, of that $10,000 tax bill, that $2,700 of it is your police, your fire, your DPW (Department of Public Works), your administrative services, your clerk, everything that we’re providing as far as snow removal ser vices for the town, garbage, our parks maintenance,” explained borough administrator Jim Gant. The municipal portion of taxes also pays for employee salaries, grant applications, capital improvements and insurance, among other expenses.
“I think that we really put together a budget responsibly,” Gant said, having worked with the borough’s finance committee and an ad-hoc budget committee consisting of council members Kristina Bonatakis, Ben Forest and Nancy Facey-Blackwood.
Some of the municipal projects the budget funds include the Marine Park revitalization, lead water service line replacements, road improvements at Bridge Avenue, Chestnut Street, Carmen Place and Clifford Place, Count Basie Park improvements, and potential DPW building renovations, among others. Despite “seeing rising costs throughout the county and the challenges that we have,” Gant said, the projects are “moving full steam ahead.”
Revenue Increases
Seaman said the borough anticipates approximately $7 million in total general (non-tax) revenues this year, a significant increase from roughly $5.2 million last year. Some of the key general revenue streams this year come from alcohol licensing, permit fees, court fines and code enforcement.
The most significant revenue will come from last year’s Hackensack Meridian Health Riverview Medical Center (RMC) tax settlement agreement with the borough. The borough had filed litigation against RMC, challenging the tax exemptions for certain properties owned by the hospital. In November 2024, the hospital agreed to settle outstanding tax appeals with a one-time payment of $1.25 million and a $230,000 payment every year for the next five years.
The borough also anticipates revenue from the three active cannabis licenses. “We’re getting maybe $25,000 to $30,000 a quarter. So, we’re going to be over $100,000 a year,” Seaman said. However, he noted, state aid remains flat, while grant funding has decreased significantly this year.
“I think this budget really reflects a town that’s growing. We’re investing, we’re planning, but at the same time, I don’t think that we’ve overburdened the taxpayer by what we’ve presented today,” Gant said.
The proposed municipal purposes budget will undergo a final review and is scheduled for adoption May 8, pending council and state approval.
The article originally appeared in the May 1 – 7, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
