Mayor Madden's Weekly Message: Tax Time – A Guide For Residents

The quarterly tax season is upon us once again. Tax time can often cause some confusion and questions among our taxpayers.

Property taxes are the lifeblood that support municipal and county government operations, as well as the school district operations. The total amount of tax is determined each year to provide sufficient revenue to offset and balance the budgeted expenses of the activities and operations of these entities.

The municipality is responsible for collecting the full sum of all these taxes and then distributing a portion to the other entities.  The school receives their portion on a monthly basis, while the county receives their portion on a quarterly basis.

The portion of municipal taxes that the Borough has control over will be used to fund Borough wide expenses such as Garbage Collection, Bulk Pickup, Snow Plowing, Police & Fire operations, Salaries, Fire Hydrants, Street Lighting, OEM, Sewer operations, etc.  As a side note, many of our surrounding towns will outsource the burden of some of these municipal services, such as garbage, sewer and snow plowing, to an outside company.  This will cause an additional cost to their residents.  Middlesex Borough residents on the other hand enjoy these services through their property taxes without the additional costs.

The average assessed value of a home in Middlesex is currently 100,100 which translates to a property tax bill of $9,648.64 for 2021.

The distribution of those property taxes is as follows: 

Municipal/Borough	$ 2,715.71
County	$ 1,277.28
County Open Space	$105.10
School	$ 5,434.44
Public Library	$116.11

Tax Rate Breakdown Comparison

	2020 RATE	2021 RATE
Municipal/Borough Tax	2.721	2.713
County Tax	1.130	1.276
County Open Space Tax	0.095	0.105
School	5.372	5.429
Public Library	0.104	0.116

The Municipal tax rate was the only tax rate that saw a decrease between 2020 and 2021.

I want to thank Ms. Darcy DelVecchio, our Tax Collector and Ms. Caroline Benson, our Acting Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer for their efficient guidance and professionalism during tax time. 

Thank you, 
Mayor John L. Madden