Government

Seaside Park Details Potential Property Tax Savings in Merger With South Seaside Park

by
Daniel Nee
March 12, 2026

Route 35 South in South Seaside Park. (Credit: Monmouth-Ocean MLS)

A meeting last week during which a panel of experts hired by Seaside Park detailed the process of merging the borough with its southern neighbor South Seaside Park – now a section of Berkeley Township – drew questions from dozens of residents, primarily having to do with potential property tax savings should the merger be approved.

South Seaside Park residents last year won the right to secede from Berkeley Township following a state Supreme Court ruling, but they must now gain approval by the Seaside Park borough council to join the neighboring community. While the study on the impact of a potential merger spanned hundreds of pages and detailed the lengthy – and rare – process of combining the two communities, residents primarily focused their questions on tax impacts at the meeting, which was held last week. The questions from residents and officials led Government Strategies Group, a consulting firm, to issue additional guidance and examples of what a future property tax bill might look like post-merger.

The initial document released by the consulting firm estimated property tax savings of about 40 percent, however residents sought clarification on whether the savings would be limited to the municipal portion of one’s property tax bill, or the combined impact of municipal, county and school taxes. The addendum released this week took a deeper look into the structure of property tax bills, and found that all categories of property taxation would likely be reduced for both the borough as well as South Seaside Park in a post-merger scenario.

“Annexation may introduce certain municipal expenditures associated with extending services, staﬃng, and operational integration,” the addendum said. “At the same time, the Borough may receive additional non-tax revenues associated with the annexed area, including permit activity, beach revenue, franchise fees, and other sources.”

The report stated annexation would increase the borough’s total assessed valuation through the addition of ratables located in South Seaside Park, and the expanded tax base would then be used in calculating the resulting municipal tax rate. The addendum took into account municipal taxes, school taxes and county taxes based on current rates and a consultation with the school district’s business administrator to gather the most accurate information possible.

The report found that for Seaside Park residents, the local school district tax would fall by a staggering 52 percent, while the municipal tax would fall by 13.5 percent. County tax bills, including library and open space taxes, would fall by 15 percent as well. The only tax that stood to rise would be the regional school tax, by an estimated 6 percent.

For a residential home valued at $600,000, the total tax bill for next year without annexation would amount to approximately $10,641. With annexation, the same homeowner would see a bill of about $9,788, a reduction of 8.02 percent. Several charts below indicate the study’s findings:

“Further, the one-time transitional costs associated with annexation in the first year are estimated to be nearly $700,000,” the report found. “These costs represent upfront expenditures related to the implementation of annexation and would not recur in subsequent years. As a result, once these initial transition costs are absorbed, the projected per-household tax savings would be expected to increase in future years.”

Seaside Park officials, if they vote to subsume their southern neighbor, would do so by a supermajority vote of the borough council. A three-person committee from both Seaside Park and Berkeley Township would then meet to discuss capital improvement debt specific to South Seaside Park that would be transferred to Seaside Park. If no agreement is reached between the towns, a court would ultimately decide the matter by appointing an expert.

“It’s an odd process,” said Jean Cipriani, Seaside Park special legal counsel for the merger question. “The process of incorporating another section into town will be a slow one. We will provide essential services as quickly as possible, but it will obviously take some time.”

Seaside Park has already prepared for a potential merger by incorporating zoning for South Seaside Park into its code, since the neighborhood would become part of the borough immediately. Over time, the zoning and master plan would be modified to bring the entire newly-constituted town into a more cohesive zoning plan, though Seaside Park could elect to maintain special zoning for properties such as Midway Beach, which is uniquely developed along the oceanfront.

Kendra Lelie, a planner hired by Seaside Park to review the matter, said the borough could benefit from the addition of more full-time residents as well as a more diverse housing stock if the merger is approved.

“You would increase your household income 22 percent in your owner-occupied units and 12 percent in rental units,” said Lelie.

A vote on the matter has not yet been scheduled.