The 2026 budget for the Borough of Manville was introduced at the Council Meeting held on Monday, April 27th.

The budget calls for an increase of $363,668 (not including grants). The main drivers of this increase are police salaries and health insurance.

The assessed value of Manville for 2026 is $1,569,143,600 which is an increase of 6.97% from 2025 which was $1,466,862,700. The average assessed home is now worth $426,736, an increase of 8.83% over last year's value of $392,103.

The property tax "rate" has increased from 0.699 in 2025 to 0.707 which is an increase of 1.02%. This number only represents the municipal portion of the taxes and does not include the school district and Somerset County tax rate at this time.

As ManvilleToday has previously reported, the school district is proposing a tax levy increase of 6%. According to their calculations, this will result in a tax increase (school side of tax bill only) of $334/year on the average assessed home value of $427,000, or approximately $78 for every $100k assessed. You can read more about that here.

The municipal property tax summary information shows there will be an annual monthly increase of approximately $22.73, or $272.77 per year, on the average assessed home in Manville. Depending on the assessed value of your home, your cost could be less or more. Again, this only accounts for the municipal side of the property tax bill. It is not known at the time of this article what Somerset County's tax rate will be.

A year-over-year comparison of the amounts to be raised by property taxes show for the year 2026, Manville needs to raise $11,088,291. In 2025, they needed to raise $10,260,623. This is an increase of $827,668. For context, last year the increase was $200,286.

Residents will recall that during the 2023 Mayoral Election, Mayor Richard Onderko "promised" no municipal tax increases for 5 years following the sale of Manville's sewer utility. This appears to not be the case, as Manville's taxes continue to increase year after year.

CFO Michael Pitts focused on the continued use of surplus and how that is outpacing sustainability. In 2026, the balance after budget use is the lowest it has been in recent years. According to CFO Pitts, the rising budget use is driving down surplus reserves and continued reliance on surplus is not sustainable long term.

It is critical that Manville maintain a healthy surplus to help cover the Borough in the event of emergencies, i.e. natural disasters, and to maintain our Aa1 Bond Rating, which allows the Borough to borrow money at lower interest rates if needed.

Further, it was noted that the State of NJ still needs to review Manville's budget. Despite no longer being under DCA control for receiving Transitional Aid in prior years, one requirement remains where the State must review the municipal budget prior to it being adopted by the Borough.

Once Somerset County finalizes their tax rate, residents can get a better understanding of how much their property taxes will increase this year. It was noted during the meeting that as Manville's value (specifically our assessed value) increases, that impacts the amount the County tax will increase.

For the 2026 budget cycle, both the municipal and school sides will increase. It is unknown at this time what will happen with the County part of the tax bill. (County tax, Open Space, and County Library).

The public hearing and adoption of the municipal budget is scheduled for Monday, June 8th. This is when the public can ask questions specific to the budget prior to its formal adoption.

A copy of the 2026 Budget Presentation can be found HERE.
Presentation Credit: Michael Pitts, CFO, Borough of Manville