Lavallette Adopts 2025 Budget, Small Property Tax Increase

Lavallette Borough Hall (Photo: Daniel Nee)

The Lavallette borough council on Monday passed the town’s annual budget during an otherwise somber meeting, given the news of the loss of Councilman Robert Lamb earlier in the day. The budget was, essentially, the only item on the agenda given the circumstances, since the state requires municipal governments to adopt their spending plans within a given timeframe.

The budget passed unanimously with no opposition from council members or the public. According to Borough Administrator John O. Bennett, the $6,855,881 spending plan will equate to a 1 cent increase on the tax scale for property owners rising from 0.27 cents to 0.28 cents, or 3.7 percent. The borough tax base rose in value over the last year to $2.44 billion, with the average home valued at $905,219, up from $898,954 last year.

Bennett said the one-cent increase will equate to an increase of $80.70 in municipal property taxes for a resident whose home in valued at the borough’s average. This figure does not include school district, regional school district or county taxes.

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The spending plan as a whole is about $280,000 higher than 2024’s total. The increase, Bennett said, is attributed almost entirely to contractual salary increases, the rising cost of providing employee health insurance, plus state-mandated contributions to the public employee pension system that are assessed to local governments.