Articles Taxes and budget
Branchburg's 2026 Budget and Taxes, Explained: $28.4 Million, $16.5 Million and Two Different Totals
What Branchburg's 2026 budget appropriates and raises, how and when the Committee adopted it, how the property tax bill splits among school, county and municipal budgets, what the 2025 audit found, the debt and AAA statements, and the figures the records print differently — set side by side.
The short version
- The 2026 municipal budget appropriates $28,437,328.59 and raises the municipal-purpose levy to $16,504,732 — $1,497,931 (9.98%) more than 2025’s $15,006,801 — plus an open-space levy of $2,671,898.30.
- The Committee introduced the budget on March 23, 2026 and adopted it on April 27, 2026 by Resolution No. 2026-88, 5–0, after a public hearing at which no one spoke.
- The 2025 audit, dated Aug. 3, 2026, gave an unmodified opinion on the regulatory-basis statements, reported no material weaknesses, and printed “NONE” under Recommendations. The Committee acknowledged it on Sept. 14, 2026.
- The user-friendly budget’s total 2026 tax figure ($88,509,350) and the adopted budget’s levy worksheet ($87,056,045.79) differ by $1,453,304.21; neither document explains the difference.
How a Branchburg tax bill splits
Mayor James Schworn’s 2026 annual letter states the split “approximately”:
| Recipient | Mayor’s letter |
|---|---|
| Branchburg School District | 60% |
| Somerset County | 20% |
| Municipal government | 20% |
The user-friendly budget’s 2025 property-tax breakdown, at the 2025 rate of $1.709, itemizes it:
| Levy | 2025 rate | 2025 levy | Share | Avg. residential impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local school | 1.010 | $49,747,573 | 59.10% | $6,296.13 |
| Municipal purposes | 0.305 | $15,006,801 | 17.83% | $1,901.31 |
| County purposes | 0.277 | $13,666,050.55 | 16.24% | $1,726.76 |
| Municipal open space | 0.050 | $2,462,766.50 | 2.93% | $311.69 |
| County library | 0.037 | $1,837,576.91 | 2.18% | $230.65 |
| County open space | 0.030 | $1,453,987.74 | 1.73% | $187.01 |
| Total | 1.709 | $84,174,755.70 | 100% | $10,653.55 |
The two municipal lines together are 20.76% — the UFB keeps the open-space levy separate from municipal purposes. Both documents are kept as printed; neither is restated to match the other.
The 2026 budget
| Item | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Total General Fund appropriations | $28,437,328.59 | $27,430,306.63 |
| Municipal-purpose levy | $16,504,732 | $15,006,801 |
| Open-space trust levy | $2,671,898.30 | $2,462,766.50 |
The $28,437,328.59 divides into $20,004,341 within caps, $6,632,987.59 excluded from caps (including $3,600,000 capital improvements and $1,891,000 municipal debt service) and a $1,800,000 reserve for uncollected taxes. On the revenue side the budget uses $6,000,000 of anticipated current-fund surplus, $5,432,596.59 of anticipated miscellaneous revenues and $500,000 of delinquent-tax receipts, plus the two levies.
The UFB reports 2026 average residential assessments of $673,242 (2025: $623,379) but leaves the current-year municipal rate and average municipal tax-impact cells blank or zero, so no 2026 per-household figure can be taken from it, and the adopted budget does not print a certified 2026 rate.
The UFB also reports, on a different (multi-fund) basis, total modified appropriations of $37,121,726.89 across operating funds including the sewer utility and open-space trust — not the same measure as the General Fund total.
The adoption record
The Committee’s minutes record each step:
| Date | Action | Vote |
|---|---|---|
| March 23, 2026 | Resolution No. 2026-69 introduces the 2026 budget, with a public hearing set for April 27 (moved by Mrs. Columbus, seconded by Mr. Young) | All in favor |
| March 23, 2026 | Ordinance No. 2026-1510, the annual ordinance to exceed the appropriation limits and establish a cap bank, introduced | All in favor |
| April 13, 2026 | Ordinance No. 2026-1510 adopted after a hearing with no public comment | 4–0 (Owens absent) |
| April 27, 2026 | Resolution No. 2026-86, the 2026 budget, read by title | 5–0 |
| April 27, 2026 | Resolution No. 2026-87, authorization for self-examination | 5–0 |
| April 27, 2026 | Public hearing opened; no one spoke; hearing closed | — |
| April 27, 2026 | Resolution No. 2026-88, adoption of the 2026 municipal budget (moved by Mrs. Columbus, seconded by Mr. Young) | 5–0 (Aye: Young, Columbus, Owens, Beatrice, Schworn) |
Mayor Schworn described the cap-bank ordinance as an annual budgetary requirement that lets the Township increase its appropriations and bank the unused amount for possible use in future years. In liaison reports on April 27, Mr. Owens complimented the Budget Committee for its stewardship and for being prudent with taxpayers’ money; Mrs. Columbus agreed, and said the Township must be doing a good job since there were no questions from the public; and Mr. Young said staff had been developing a multi-year budget plan, that the Township is likely to be challenged in coming years with more stress on the budget from the affordable-housing buildouts, and that the Committee would work with the Board of Education on some of these challenges. See the April 27, 2026 Committee meeting and the March 23, 2026 Committee meeting.
On July 13, 2026 the Committee’s consent agenda (5–0) included Resolution No. 2026-142, a Tax Collector extension for third-quarter tax bills.
The two totals, side by side
| Line | User-friendly budget (2026) | Adopted budget levy worksheet (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Local school | $51,942,145 | $50,742,524.46 |
| County | $14,007,650 purposes + $1,882,925 library + $1,500,000 open space | $17,296,767.50 (county tax, not subdivided) |
| Municipal purposes | $16,504,732 | $16,504,732 |
| Municipal open space | $2,671,898 | $2,512,021.83 |
| Total | $88,509,350 | $87,056,045.79 |
The UFB’s school line is $1,199,620.54 higher, its county lines $93,807.50 higher combined, and its open-space line $159,876.17 higher; the three differences sum to $1,453,304.21. The UFB also labels $72,004,618 “Total Non-Municipal Tax Levy,” which exceeds its school-plus-county lines by exactly the open-space levy of $2,671,898. Neither document explains these differences; both are reported as printed. Separately, the adopted budget prints the open-space levy as $2,671,898.30 where the UFB prints $2,671,898.
The 2025 audit
Suplee, Clooney & Company LLC signed the audit report on August 3, 2026, and the Committee acknowledged it on September 14, 2026 (Resolution No. 2026-156, consent agenda, recorded vote 5–0; the 2025 municipal court audit was acknowledged with it as No. 2026-157). Key points:
- Opinions. An unmodified opinion on the regulatory-basis financial statements (the basis New Jersey’s Division of Local Government Services prescribes) and a separate adverse opinion relative to U.S. GAAP, because the regulatory basis differs from GAAP in ways presumed material. The report does not state that the regulatory statements are misstated.
- Findings. No material weaknesses in the limited internal-control review, no reportable noncompliance, and “NONE” in the Recommendations section.
- Fund balance. Year-end 2025 current fund balance $11,801,344.22 (from $12,056,537.71; excess from 2025 operations $6,254,470.51; $6,509,664 used as anticipated revenue). The annual financial statement’s year-end surplus schedule prints $11,802,344.22 — a $1,000 difference neither document explains.
- Tax rate and collections. Total rate $1.709 (2024: $1.804; 2023: $1.871); municipal component $0.305 (2024: $0.315). 2025 levy $84,959,605.69, cash collected $83,899,596.59 — 98.75% (2024: 99.02%). The rate fell while the municipal levy rose; rate and levy are not interchangeable.
- Contracts. The bid threshold rose to $53,000 effective July 14, 2025 by governing-body resolution; the minutes showed public bids requested for Neshanic Pump Station Mitigation and Provision & Planting of Trees, and the expenditure review found no clear-cut violations. The audit notes the payment system did not accumulate purchases by category.
Tax appeals
The UFB reports, for 2025: 6 appeals filed at the County Tax Board, 15 at State Tax Court, 2 County Tax Board decisions appealed to Tax Court, 23 pending State Tax Court appeals, and $0 paid out by the municipality for tax appeals. The property roll (Oct. 1, 2025) lists 5,809 taxable parcels (4,982 residential) and 263 exempt.
Debt
| Record | Basis | Gross | Deductions | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Annual Debt Statement (filed Jan. 27, 2025; CFO Diane Schubach) | Year-end 2024 | $56,405,000 | $20,754,635.38 | $35,650,364.62 |
| 2026 UFB debt section | Current-year disclosure | $46,430,000 | $30,169,635.38 | $16,260,364.62 |
The debt statement’s net debt equals 0.812% of its $4,387,921,011 equalized valuation basis; its full deductions include $11,910,000 of local-school debt and $2,550,000 of self-liquidating sewer debt. The UFB reports net debt at 0.34% of a three-year average valuation of $4,785,562,291, a 2020 population of 14,940, and per-capita gross/net debt of $3,107.76/$1,088.38. The audit’s year-end 2025 balance sheet lists $5,200,000 general serial bonds and $26,930,000 bond anticipation notes payable — categories that are not themselves net debt.
On March 23, 2026 the Committee authorized the sale of general improvement bonds (Resolution No. 2026-77, consent agenda, 5–0). On April 13, Mayor Schworn said the Township had recently completed a competitive bidding process for its general obligation bonds, which he said resulted in very favorable interest rates; he said this kind of financing, undertaken about every twenty years, lets the Township fund future capital improvements. In September 2026 the Committee adopted a bond ordinance for a new municipal annex; see the municipal annex issue.
The AAA statement
A Township release dated April 28, 2025 announced the adoption of the 2025 budget and said the Township maintained a Standard & Poor’s AAA rating “for the 22nd consecutive year,” with an SP-1+ short-term rating. An earlier Township page links an S&P rating letter and report dated September 2024. The UFB’s 2026 debt section reports the AAA rating with its “Year of Last Rating” field blank.
What the documents leave open
- The certified 2026 local-purpose tax rate and the average municipal portion of a 2026 bill, which the budget documents leave blank.
- Why the UFB’s $88,509,350 and the adopted budget’s $87,056,045.79 differ.
- Why the AFS prints a year-end surplus $1,000 higher than the audit’s schedule.
Next: the 2027 budget’s introduction and public hearing, in the spring of 2027.
What residents can do
- Read the record: the 2026 adopted budget, the user-friendly budget, the 2025 audit and the 2024 annual debt statement are on the Township website.
- Read the minutes: the Committee’s minutes are on the Township’s Agendas/Minutes page, which links its Documents-On-Demand portal.
- Ask the Clerk for the certified 2026 rate, the latest Annual Debt Statement and the explanation of the AFS/audit difference. The Clerk handles records and OPRA requests.
- Attend and speak at the Township Committee’s budget hearing each spring, or at any regular meeting (second and fourth Monday, 7:00 p.m., Municipal Building courtroom).