Montgomery Residents: Don’t Be Surprised If There Is a Tax Increase This Year

In a tough budget year, township committee members vote to increase their annual salaries

By Barbara A. Preston | Posted March 12, 2026 (updated at 6:30 pm)

CFO Michael Pitts recently provided an update on Montgomery's upcoming budget, which he said he anticipates to be one of the most challenging in recent history due to rapidly increasing expenses.

“The expenses just keep increasing at a pace where our revenues just cannot keep up,” Pitts said at the March 5 Township Committee meeting. ”The past few years we have been using surplus to help keep up. That’s what surplus is – a fund for a rainy day to help fend off some of these large increases. But, we are at a point now where we are not regenerating the surplus. 

“If we keep this up this pace … using $300,000 to $400,000 of our surplus every year, I would say that in eight to 10 years, we’re not going to have a surplus balance to use. The township needs to reduce the use of surplus."

Key Budget Concerns:

• Non-Discretionary Expenses: Mandatory increases in health benefits and police salaries alone are raising the budget by $500,000, not including any other salaries or other rising costs like utilities (15% increase this year) and pensions. 

• Limited Revenue: New ratables (the value of new property for tax purposes) are down by $5.7M this year for the first time since 2012. The township lacks the large commercial ratables (like warehouses) that other municipalities have used to offset expenses, making revenue generation highly constrained.

  • For perspective, Montgomery has more than $4B in ratables.

  • The township's largest tax payer, Kenvue, has paid annual taxes of about $1.4M. The property sold to E Kahn Development on Dec. 17 for $23.5M. Kahn has said he plans to appeal the tax rate, since there is no longer a viable corporation on the site.

    
    

• Montgomery Township Debt Service: Montgomery makes regular payments on $45.5M in bonds for capital improvement (roads, park improvements, etc), plus $31.5 M in loans and leases for the municipal building.

  
  

• Surplus Depletion: The township has been using its surplus (fund balance) to mitigate large expense increases. However, the surplus is no longer regenerating and is decreasing annually by $300,000 to $400,000. Continuing at this pace could deplete the fund balance in the next 8 to 10 years.

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Ratables

“Some municipalities have new ratables, in the form of warehouses and big commercial construction projects coming in," Pitts said. "These [types of ratables] help towns to offset expenses. But when you don’t have these ratables coming in, you don’t have that new revenue.”

Township Committeeman Dennis Ahn asked CFO Pitts if he calculated how much revenue the new Montgomery Promenade would be adding to the municipal budget.

Pitts said he would get back to township committee on this. He told the newspaper in a telephone interview that Montgomery Promenade will bring in new ratables, but officials do not want to guesstimate exactly what that will be, and it likely would not kick in until 4Q 2026 or even until 2027.

Deputy Mayor Vince Barragan interjected that some municipalities have money coming in from cannabis operations in their towns. Mayor Neena Singh quickly added, “Warehouse and cannabis dispensaries are two things we don’t want.”

Pitts suggested that Montgomery will have to find ways to cut expenses.

“Don’t be surprised if there is a tax increase this year, but the majority of that tax increase would be dedicated to covering mandatory costs: contractual negotiations; debt increase, and pension costs. The CFO stated that residents will see a lot of “zero percent increases" in other areas of discretionary spending.

Tax Increase and Trade-Offs

The Township Committee will face difficult trade-offs this year, balancing major initiatives (such as building more sidewalks) against essential and expensive maintenance, such as road paving, which must be done to avoid much higher full reconstruction costs later. 

The goal is to produce a fair budget that is financially sustainable and avoids "drastic, drastic moves" in the future, Pitts said.

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Budget Timeline

CFO will introduce the municipal budget at the Montgomery Township Committee meeting on April 16. The budget will be voted on for adoption at the May 14 Township Committee meeting.

Then the township must advertise the budget for 20 days before the township committee would have a public hearing on the budget, and then vote to adopt it.

Committeeman Barragan interjected, “So, it will be available online for people to review it. Sometimes I hear people say that we are not being transparent about the budget, or that the budget is not available. It is important for people to know that it is online for a whole month once we introduce it, as required by law.”

Visit www.montgomerynj.gov after April 16 to view the proposed budget. Contact CFO Pitts, who is also the tax collector, at Contact Michael Pitts, Jr. (Phone: 908.280.4941)

Deputy Mayor Vince Barragan, underscored the difficult financial trade-offs the township committee is facing in the current budget cycle:

• Balancing Capital and Maintenance: The challenge of funding new initiatives, such as the Orchard Road sidewalks, while still paying for essential, large-scale needs like paving roads and managing debt/interest payments.

• Headcount Decisions: The need to make "hard decisions" on staffing, including what positions to hire for and which headcounts may need to be held open.

• Transparency: A commitment to be "very transparent" with residents about the difficult choices and investments being made.

• Shared Services: Actively pursuing "synergies" and shared services discussions with the Board of Education (e.g., for IT and purchasing) as a critical way to find efficiencies and offset rising costs, calling the new openness from the school board "huge."

• Declining Revenue: Acknowledgment that the Township's financial situation is made harder by declining interest rates, resulting in less revenue from cash reserves.

Barragan concluded by thanking the CFO and affirming that the budgeting process reveals "how tough it is to balance the budget."

Township Committee Members Vote to Allow Their Annual Salaries to Increase by 53% to 84%

Township Committee voted unanimously on March 5 to allow their annual salaries to increase to the above new salaries.

Criticism of Elected Officials' Salary Increase

Former Mayor Devra Keenan said during the public hearing on an ordinance establishing a comprehensive salary plan for township employees that she was surprised by the the large salary increases for township elected officials, ranging from a 53% increase for Mayor Neena Singh to an 84% increase for Deputy Mayor Vince Barragan. In previous years, salaries increased only by the cost of living (from 2% to 2.5%).

"It's just weird," Keenan said. "You're talking about ... budget constraints and cutting or maybe not hiring staff, and yet, you are talking about giving yourselves raises."

The township committee salaries account for only $43,000 of the entire budget, but the large increases this year are "a little bit out of touch" and "pretty tone deaf," Keenan said. She also questioned one committee member who has a full tax abatement but still takes the salary.

Mayor Singh's Defense

Mayor Neena Singh stated the increases were needed due to the cost of living and were decided after looking at the compensation in surrounding towns. "It made sense," Singh said. She emphasized the elected positions are essentially volunteer jobs. A lot people and many residents do not realize how little the elected officials are paid, she said, and noted they did not look at towns like Edison where the mayor makes $200,000.

On the flipside, elected officials in towns such as Rocky Hill take no salary.

Keenan then asked, "Will the elected official who is getting a tax abatement consider not taking a salary, since they do not contribute taxes at the local level?"

Tax Abatement Clarification

Deputy Mayor Barragan clarified that he has a 100% disability, so he has an exemption from the NJ State Division of Taxation, specifically for veterans. "But, I still serve the township, just like everyone around here," he said.

• New Jersey offers a $250 annual property tax deduction for honorably discharged veterans with active wartime service, and a 100% exemption for those with a permanent, total service-connected disability. Eligible veterans must be NJ residents, own the property, and apply through their local tax assessor or municipality.

Personal Choice

It was noted that Committeeman Mike Martin declined his salary last year and plans to do so again this year, as taking the salary is a personal decision. "I am a pure and literal volunteer," Martin told The Montgomery News.

Township Committee unanimously approve the ordinance establishing a comprehensive salary plan for township employees, which allows for the following maximum salaries: township administrator/planning director $231,000; the police chief $221,000; and CFO/Tax Collector $203,000. There were no public comments regarding the salary plan for township professionals.

What Is the 100% Disabled Veteran Property Tax Exemption?

Honorably discharged veterans who are 100% permanently and totally disabled during active duty service, may qualify for an annual property tax exemption on their principal or primary residence (main home), according to the NJ Division of Taxation.

• Applicants must provide a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (Veterans Administration) certification of active duty service-connected disability stating you are 100% permanently and totally disabled.

Deputy Mayor Barragan served for four years on active duty in the U.S. Army Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade, reaching the rank of captain. During his service, he deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom and earned the Bronze Star Medal and Combat Infantryman Badge.

In June 2022, the Township Committee appointed Vincent Barragan to fill the seat that had been held by Kent Huang. He was re-elected in 2025. He worked as a finance director for Johnson & Johnson for 20 years, and currently works as senior director, Operations Finance, at Integra LifeSciences.