Brick Council to Hold Hearing on Proposed Tax Hike Tuesday

The Brick Township council will hold a mandatory public hearing before it votes on the proposed $97.3 million operating budget for 2014, which includes a slight tax hike for the average homeowner.

The council will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the township municipal complex.

The $97,338,613 budget, as proposed by Mayor John Ducey, will be supported by a $67,911,538 tax levy, amount to a $67 increase for the owner of a home valued at $258,000, the township's average.

While Ducey said he has cut more than $3 million from the previous year's budget, lingering financial losses from Superstorm Sandy as well as a harsh winter that brought a large snow plowing bill led to the rise in taxation.

Last month, the Board of Education adopted a budget that kept the tax rate stable from last year. The county's freeholder board is set to hold a hearing Wednesday setting its own small tax increase.