Monday, April 16, 2012
Most in New Jersey lost that right, but 10 Morris County municipalities are still holding April school elections.
This is a column about how important it is for everyone to go out to the polls tomorrow to vote for candidates for school boards and to vote on local school budgets. But it’s not very relevant for the vast majority of adults in New Jersey because most people will not get the chance to pick candidates or accept or reject the proposed tax bill for their local schools. In Morris County, only 10 municipalities will hold school elections tomorrow, and because some of those towns are in regional districts, it means only eight budgets are up for a vote. (In Patch-covered towns, votes will be held in the School District of the Chathams, the Morris School District, and Mendham Township — that's it). The bill that Gov. Chris Christie signed at the …
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
April 15 is just around the corner; where do you go to file your taxes?
April is often known for warming temperatures, blossoming plants, and the start of baseball season. It's also known as the month when taxes are due. With that in mind, Long Valley Patch wants to know which Washington Township-based accountant is the go-to person to help you file with the Internal Revenue Service. Here are your choices: Rahn J. Singer Highland Consultants, LLC Luke Wolters Tax Consultants Jonathan Stone, Attorney at Law (If we're leaving one off the list, please let us know in the comments section.) The winner will be selected on a point system based on poll votes and directory ratings. If there is a tie, a winner will be determined by the amount of positive comments posted on this article and positive reviews received on …
40.832124
-74.822679
Rahn J. Singer, C.P.A.
486 Schooleys Mountain Rd, Hackettstown, NJ
/articles/where-s-the-best-place-to-do-your-taxes
1343155
/locations/6695331
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Newest freeholder votes no on first budget.
The Morris County Board of Freeholders adopted a 2012 $317 million budget Wednesday that calls for a half-cent property tax increase. The budget sets the tax rate at 21.9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That does not include school and municipal taxes, which are set separately. The freeholders previously shaved one-quarter cent off the open space tax. The budget was passed by a 6-to-1 margin, with the newest freeholder, William “Hank” Lyon of Montville, casting the sole “no” vote. “When I ran last year I said I’d cut taxes,’ he said. The project that concerned him the most is the new county emergency management center under construction in Parsippany. The freeholders' own news release on the budget is as follows: The Morris County …
Monday, January 23, 2012
The bigger question: How would New Jersey pay for it?
In his State of the State message last week, Gov. Chris Christie proposed cutting income taxes 10 percent across the board for all New Jerseyans. What great news! Who wouldn’t want a tax cut? The average Morris County household, with a taxable income of $96,950, would eventually pay $402 less in taxes under Christie's proposal. The cut would amount to $118 in Passaic on $45,527 in income, and $210 in Sussex on $64,197. Those are the figures for the eventual annual savings after three years, when the full cut takes effect. The typical Morris household, then, could expect about a $134 windfall (a cup of coffee at Dunkin' Donuts or so a week) next year if the cut is approved, which is a big if at the moment. The full 10-percent cut would buy …
Monday, June 27, 2011
The state's fiscal mess is mostly not their fault.
Over the last few weeks, the battle over New Jersey public employee pensions and health benefits has been fierce. Last week, the workers wound up the losers. The issues often are portrayed as simple ones—the unions are bullies who strong-armed state or local employers to get cushy perks for their members, or the governor and Legislature are the bullies stealing hard won benefits and collective bargaining rights from poor workers. It’s actually much more complicated than that. Way back 20 or 30 years ago, there was pretty much no doubt that New Jersey’s public workers on a whole were low-paid compared with people in the private sector. If you went to work in a public job, it was for the benefits, particularly for a good pension. Then came …
Monday, June 20, 2011
You can be nosey, or you can use the data to become a better citizen.
Last week, the New Jersey Department of Education released its database of school salaries. This has become an annual rite, usually at the end of or soon after the end of the school year. The information includes years of experience, educational degrees, job titles and, of course, the salary for every professional public school employee in the state. That means teachers, principals, superintendents, librarians, guidance counselors and others. It provides fodder for news stories. It gives citizens specifics about how tax dollars are being spent. And it ticks off more than a few educators who are appalled that their salaries are being publicized for their neighbors, friends and all the world to see. Used to be, pre-Internet, newspapers would…
Monday, May 23, 2011
The new Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending is not the best place to find an answer.
Now it’s really on. The Christie administration kicked its anti-education spending campaign into high gear last Friday with the release of the Taxpayers’ Guide to Education Spending. This revised version of the Comparative Spending Guide that the state Department of Education has been releasing for more than a decade changes the way total spending is calculated to make it appear districts are spending almost a third more than in the past. Released Friday afternoon, the guide’s total per-pupil cost includes, for the first time, the money the state contributes on behalf of districts for teachers’ pension and social security payments. That’s an odd decision, given the state has paid the employer contribution to the Teachers Pension and …
Kevin Nedd
11:31 pm on Sunday, May 6, 2012
Tracy, Why stop at 70% of our property tax bill? Why are you not advocating to have municipal budgets put to a vote? Do you think 2005's 11.1% municipal tax increase would have passed had it been on a ballot? Your trip down a one way street seems a bit hypocritical don't you think? more ›