FH Municipal Tax Rate Drops By 1.2 Cents

FAIR HAVEN - On Monday night the Fair Haven Mayor and Council adopted it's 2010 budget after adopting an amendment that lowered the tax levy even more than anticipated when the budget was introduced last March.

The introduced budget reflected a one-half cent decrease dropping the municipal tax rate to 46.5 cents per $100 of assessed value.

The adopted budget reflects a 1.2-cent reduction bringing the municipal tax rate down to 45.8 cents per $100 of assessed value.

"When we introduced our budget we had introduced it based on our debt payoff, our debt service being lower," Mayor Michael Halfacre said. "The state had advised us that we had a cap problem. The state actually penalized us for reducing our debt by counting the debt reduction against our cap. It looked like we were spending more than we actually were because we paid off all that debt."

According to Halfacre the borough had to take money from surplus to amend the cap problem. Since then, the state has amended its financial rules allowing Fair Haven to return that money back into its surplus.

"It was a technical rule that had unintended consequences," Halfacre said. "The state changed the rule and we moved money around and now we no longer have the problem."

The reduction marks the third consecutive year Fair Haven's municipal tax rate has been lowered.

In 2007 the municipal tax rate stood at 49.1 cents per $100 of assessed value and now stands at 45.8 cents per $100 of assessed value.

"We're pretty happy," Halfacre said. "We're pretty proud of it. It's an ongoing process. What people talk about all the time we like to think we've actually been doing."