LONGPORT – The Board of Commissioners April 22 held a public hearing and adopted its 2026 municipal budget with a 2.7-cents tax rate increase.
When the budget was formulated three months ago, the tax rate increase would have been 6 cents, municipal auditor Mike Garcia of Ford-Scott Associates of Ocean City said. However, the commissioners, department heads and Chief Financial Officer Jenna Kelly were able to whittle the increase down to 2.7 cents.
The 2.7 cents tax rate increase amounts to an additional $270 a year for the average home assessed at $1 million.
Total budget appropriations increased $646,000 over last year. Factors that drove the increase include a 5% increase in the cost of health insurance benefits for municipal workers. The $45,000 increase for insurance was low compared to other municipalities that are still in the NJ State Health Benefits Program, and are dealing with increases of more than 35%, he said.
Overall, salaries are up $200,000, pension costs up $123,000 and as a result of bonding for capital improvements, such as road repairs and flood reduction projects, is up $300,000, which increased the tax rate by 1.5 cents.
The increases are below the state-mandated caps on spending and tax levy increases, he said. The budget is $244,000 below the spending cap and $433,000 below the tax levy cap.
There were no comments or questions from the public during the hearing, and the budget was adopted unanimously.
The board also discussed planned road reconstruction projects that will change the traffic pattern in the bayside area. Work is being done this spring and fall.
The Bayfront East Drainage and Traffic Calming Project will start soon and pause for the summer months until fall when residents return to their year-round homes, municipal engineer Ed Dennis Jr. of Remington & Vernick Engineers, Inc. said.
The project includes one-way traffic from Amherst Avenue coming out of Margate; reducing stop signs to just one stop at Monmouth Avenue; and eliminating a short section of Manor Avenue, which will be turned into a landscaped traffic island surrounded by a sidewalk.
Work on Amherst Avenue from 36th Avenue to 33rd Avenue, and Sunset Avenue from 33rd Avenue to 32nd Avenue, which will commence in fall, will convert the roadway from two-way travel to just one way traveling toward the Longport Bridge. Improvements will be made to the intersections of Sunset and Manor avenues and Sunset and Winchester avenues. The improvements include installing raised crosswalks at intersections and striping a bicycle lane.
Motorists are advised to follow temporary traffic control devices when necessary. Although there will be short delays during construction, access to homes will be maintained, Dennis said.
The project is designed to slow traffic, improve pedestrian safety and enhance use of the roadway.
Following a discussion with a resident who lives in the neighborhood, there is no validity to rumors circulating in the community that Winchester Avenue would be turned into a dead-end street, officials said.
Dennis also noted that construction of a concrete bike lane along the seawall on Atlantic Avenue from 22nd Avenue to 17th Avenue will begin next week. The inbound and outbound lanes of traffic to and from Longport Point will be shifted to the ocean side of Atlantic during construction. The improvements being made at Longport Point should be completed within a week or two, he said. A ribbon cutting ceremony is in the planning stages.
Dennis also reported that long-awaited repairs of the Centennial Room on the second floor of Borough Hall have begun. Various municipal departments, including the Police Department and Longport Public Library, which is providing funding for the repairs, were involved in designing the room for use by the municipality and the public.
The Centennial Room in Borough Hall, which was built in the 1920s as the Betty Bacharach Home for Afflicted Children, has been closed for several years due to a mold issue that developed in a power outage following a stormy weekend in August 2019 that caused the HVAC system to fail. The mold was remediated, but the room has been off-limits for public use since then.
The Longport Library Board, which has need for more space to conduct its well-attended library programs, has funded design plans and will pay for the renovations through its capital improvement funds.
“It’s a unique project and it will be cool to see it updated,” Dennis said.
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