Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

RED BANK: PROPERTY TAX UP 4.7 PERCENT

menna-ballard-110717-500x375-8991071Michael Ballard, who heads the finance committee, with Mayor Pasquale Menna at left, on election night last November. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

taxes-220x219-4107330Red Bank property owners may see a 4.7-percent increase in the local portion of their tax bill this year under a budget introduced Wednesday night.

The hike was driven by a drop in revenue, said Councilman Michael Ballard, including a halt by Riverview Medical Center of its customary payment in lieu of taxes.

According to borough Chief Financial Officer Eugenia Poulos, the owner of a property assessed at the estimated average of $366,000 would pay $100 more this year in support of the local government.

The tax does not reflect levies by the borough school and regional high school districts, nor those imposed by Monmouth County.

Ballard, a Democrat who’s heading the finance committee in his first year on the council, said the increase was necessitated by “a deficiency in revenue.” Riverview, whose tax-exempt status is under challenge by Red Bank in a pending lawsuit, is withholding the $277,000 it gave the town last year under a Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILOT, agreement, he said.

“That’s about a third of the deficiency,” he said. “We’re having some conflicts with them.”

A Riverview spokeswoman declined comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

Auditor Chuck Fallon told the council that the borough’s pension costs were up $100,000 year, while operating expenses were unchanged from 2017. Overall revenue faces a $480,000 decline, he said.

Mayor Pasquale Menna laid part of the blame for the increase on “extraordinary tax appeals” that have sapped the town. They have additional adverse impacts, he said, because the borough can’t recover funds it has already paid to school districts and Monmouth County.

“It comes directly out of the taxpayers’ pockets,” he said.

 

In response, the borough has initiated “very aggressive, proactive steps” to counter the tax appeal trend by suing nonprofits for holdings it believes should be taxed, and by using “reverse appeal” litigation against commercial property owners for land and buildings that are undervalued, he said.

“What they’ve been doing to us, we’ve finally turned on them,” Menna said, “and I think we will be very successful in that.”

The increase follows a 2.9-percent hike in 2017. The average increase over the last six budgets, including the 2018 spending plan, is 1.5 percent, Fallon said.

Ballard noted that the council has approved the hiring of a grant consultant to focus on pursuit of available government and foundation funding.

Councilman Mark Taylor said he was disappointed that the spending plan does not allocate funds for a Master Plan update, “which I think is an oversight,” he said.

The budget is available on the borough website here. A June 13 adoption vote is expected, with a public presentation by the finance committee to be scheduled in the interim, Menna said.

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
redbankgreen Classics
Partyline
JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION
Performers at Red Bank’s Juneteenth community celebration Sunday at Johnny Jazz Park. (photo by Brian Donohue)      
BUTTERFLIES LOVE THE WEED
Save the monarch, plant butterfly weed. (photo and text by Partyline contributor Roseann DalPra)  
LANTERNFLY PARTY
An invasive ailanthus tree sprouting in front of the US Post Office on Broad Street is covered with invasive spotted lantern fly nymphs Wedn ...
STREETCORNER SERENADE
An Irish doodle named Cheddar listens to native New Jerseyan, singer/songwriter and former Houston resident Tom Foti, (identified in the hea ...
Red Bank 5K Fun!!!
Red Bank Classic – June 14th, 2025 (photo by Partyline contributor Adam Kaplan)  
RAINBOW OVER RED BANK
Saturday, before and after the storm that rolled through town. (photo by Partyline contributor Thomas Doremus)    
Mini Ballers Bring the Heat at Fusion Basketball School
As the temperatures heat up, so does the competition in the mini baller clinic at Fusion School of Basketball. These little tykes are intens ...
DOZENS OF PLEIN AIR ARTISTS “PAINT RED BANK”
Plein air artists take over town for first ever "Paint Red Bank" event. (click to read)
RED BANK: SIGN ON ICONIC DANNY’S STEAK HOUSE COMES DOWN
The sign hanging from the shuttered Danny's Steak House comes down ten months after a manager reported Danny's Steakhouse would be back "bet ...
FOR YANKEES FANS, GOOD TRASH PICKIN’
A collection of framed photographs of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and other New York Yankees greats was placed curbside along with a ...
RED BANK: NEW HANDICAPPED PARKING, WEST SIDE MEETING PLANNED
New handicapped parking sign West Side advocate had pressed for is installed, with meeting planned to discuss other concerns. (click to read ...
SUNSET AT SUMMER’S START
Crazy sunset clouds shot from Monmouth Boat Club on the Friday evening at the start of Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. ...
SIDEWALK GOES FROM WORST TO FIRST
P (photo by Brian Donohue) What had been, in our estimation – and apparently in the eyes of the several people who have emailed and te ...
RED BANK: PEERING FROM ON HIGH, ACROSS THE DECADES
Roofers on the Azalea Red Bank top off the project in the shadow of a sculpture depicting another generation of construction workers who toi ...
BRICK FACELIFT CONTINUES ON MONMOUTH STREET
A million-dollar brick sidwalk makeover of Monmouth Street in Red Bank continues.
JAY AND SILENT EAGLE
A very loud blue jay squawks at an indiferent bald eagle in a treetop alongside the Swimming River in Red Bank this week. (Partyline photo b ...
PIZZA LOVING SQUIRREL SPOTTED IN RED BANK
Pizza squirrel spotted in Red Bank. (click to read)
GET YOUR MA SOMETHIN’ NICE AT THE RED BANK FARMERS MARKET
It’s a beautiful and sunny Mother’s Day for the first instance of the farmer’s market, held every Sunday, beginning in May ...
SIGN? WHAT SIGN?
Folks in Red Bank Wednesday exercising their riparian rights to access tidal waters first encoded into Roman law in 500 AD and later adopted ...
FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Partyline contributor captures photo of backyard fox.