Spotlight
West Windsor Property Taxes
Every property owner in West Windsor received their ‘25/26 property tax bill in the week of 7/21 along with the Mayor’s letter. During the past few days, I have received a few complaints about the increase in property taxes with a demand to explain why there is such an increase.
In New Jersey the municipality is responsible for collecting all property taxes. The Township only keeps the municipal portion and distributes the rest to the other taxing authorities - namely the county and the school district. The Mayor and Township Council have no direct control over either Mercer County or West Windsor- Plainsboro School District taxes. The county taxes are determined by the County Executive and county commissioners. The school taxes are determined by the school administration and the school board.
The excellent fiscal performance of the municipal government is overshadowed by the county tax increase and the school tax increase. The effect is more pronounced because the municipal taxes account for less than 15% of the total property taxes.
As I pointed out in my tax letter, over the past 8 years municipal taxes on an average home in West Windsor have increased a total of $61.42 or $7.67/year. During the same time the county and school taxes have increased by $776.66 ($98/year) and $1438.73 ($180/year) respectively. In percentage terms the cumulative increase in municipal, county and school taxes is 2.7%, 15.3% and 13.2% respectively.
As I mentioned in my state of the township address, the indirect way I as mayor can control your county and property taxes is by controlling the development of new housing and increasing commercial ratables.
The warehouses at the edge of town on Quakerbridge roads, if and when completed would contribute $14 million dollars in property taxes helping ease the burden of county and school taxes. At the same time approval of the project saved West Windsor from a mandate of building over 2000 homes during the fourth round of affordable housing.
I have often faced criticism for the hard choices I have made on both fronts. I am happy to take the criticism from a few people as the majority of residents understand and appreciate the trade offs I have to make and are happy with the results.
