Bernards Township Introduces $50M Budget With 3.44% Tax Increase

Bernards Township rolled out a proposed 2026 municipal budget Tuesday. The plan weighs in at just under $50 million and carries a 3.44% tax hike. Chief Financial Officer Sean McCarthy pointed out that this matches last year's bump.

The average home assessment in 2026 stands at $931,637.26. That's up from $871,769.11 in 2025. What does this mean for homeowners? The average assessed home will shell out $2,601.09 in total municipal taxes for 2026, compared with $2,484.54 in 2025 — a jump of $116.55.

"The budget reflects a continued commitment by the governing body to maintain high service levels while managing some pretty significant external cost pressures," McCarthy said to Patch.

Employee health benefit costs are climbing by 22%. Meanwhile, the library tax levy is rising by 8.77%. McCarthy singled these out as major drivers pushing the spending plan higher.

"Without question, the single biggest cost driver this year is health care. So we are looking at this year as a one-year increase of nearly $550,000, up 22% over 2025. This has unfortunately been a point of pretty significant budget pain for us over the last few years. It does appear to be getting worse at this point, and really no indication of any relief coming from the state program, unfortunately," McCarthy said.

He tacked on that the township is "starting to run out of tools in our toolbox to address that."

Public safety gobbles up the biggest chunk of appropriations at 14.18%. Capital improvements trail close behind at 13.96%, while reserves for uncollected taxes claim 9.62%. Public works rounds out the top spending categories at 9.22%.

The township's tax base kept growing. Total assessed value of homes is inching toward $10 billion — an increase of 6.12% over 2025.

McCarthy said this marks the fifth consecutive year of assessed value increases, with the trend kicking off in 2022. He also unveiled the township's golf utility budget, which is proposed at $642,234.88, up from $569,312.69 in 2025.

The golf course runs as a self-liquidating utility. This means its operating costs get covered by user revenue rather than taxation. A public hearing and adoption of the budget are slated for Tuesday, April 28.