Taxes Increase In Berkeley: Mayor Explains Breakdown

BERKELEY, NJ — If you're seeing your tax bill go up, you're not alone. Berkeley Mayor John Bacchione took some time at a recent township council meeting to explain why property taxes are increasing in the township.

Costs are rising across the board, Bacchione said. Business Administrator Jay Delaney noted that all four taxing entities - the county, the township and the two school districts - imposed tax increases in their 2025 budgets.

Municipal tax rate is only one piece of the pie. In Berkeley, roughly one-quarter of your taxes is for municipal purposes. Around half is for the two school districts and the rest goes to the county.

But "we take the heat" in the township, Bacchione said.

Health insurance has increased, but the township shopped and reduced their premium, Bacchione said. This helped, he said, though the township has more than 300 employees, so health insurance is still costly.

Another move was introducing robo-cans to the senior communities, which Bacchione hopes will reduce workmen's compensation claims. Most of the claims come from workers on garbage trucks, and each claim has a deductible of $50,000.

"So you get 10 claims, it's half a million dollars," Bacchione explained. No jobs have been lost through this change.

"We look out for the taxpayer as best we can," Bacchione said.

The township has also reduced capital spending, Delaney said.

No new jobs have been created, though the police department was brought back up to 79 officers, which was where they were a few years ago.

Councilman Jim Byrnes suggested combining the two school districts to save taxes - something that the districts are exploring. Read more: 5 Districts Could Become 1: Central Regional To Study Merging

Byrnes said he gets calls from residents wanting their lagoon dredged or roads paved.

"We cannot afford to do this stuff in the budget," Byrnes said. "And we can't keep taxing the hell out of people."