Seaview Harbor is still trying to leave Egg Harbor Township and become part of Longport. Can ya blame them? EHT taxes are brutal.
Seaview Harbor is on the causeway between Longport and EHT, Somers Point / Ocean City. The waterfront village started a petition process to leave EHT back in 2014.
EHT wants to keep the taxes that come from the 92 homes within Seaview Harbor.
Note: Emergency services come from Longport.
If successful, residents of Seaview Harbor could see lower property taxes if they ultimately join Longport.
Longport leadership is quiet for now. But Longport Mayor Nick Russo has considered putting this issue to a public referendum vote.
Former EHT Mayor, Sonny McCullough, once lived in Seaview Harbor. He now resides in Atlantic City. Sonny was not happy paying over $34 grand per year in EHT property taxes.
Seaview Harbor features 92 homes on the bay and back waters. That’s millions of tax dollars each year that EHT could lose, and Longport could win.
Longport has no school district, but enjoys a very reasonable, school tax rate. Egg Harbor Township on the other hand, has some of the highest school taxes.
It’s not easy to break away from a town. But we’ll soon see how Judge Julio Mendez decides that court proceeding, which starts on May 28.
According to WIKIPEDIA: Within Seaview Harbor, there are currently 92 single-family homes, two vacant residential lots, a utility lot, and Seaview Harbor Marina. The namesake marina has 300 slips, a restaurant, a store, a fuel dock, and a private beach. The properties of Seaview Harbor, representing an area of 70.9 acres is assessed at over $100 million.
In 2012, a tax reevaluation rose taxes in Seaview Harbor by 60%. In 2014, 69 residents of Seaview Harbor submitted a petition to leave Egg Harbor Township and join nearby Longport. This represented about 80% of registered voters in the community. Among the concerns was confusion and lost mail, due to uncertainty whether the area was a part of Longport or Egg Harbor Township, as well as the high taxes.
Over two years, Egg Harbor Township held 25 meetings exploring Seaview Harbor’s deannexation.
A 500-page report released in January 2016 concluded that Seaview Harbor did not meet the criteria to secede from the township. The report cited the lack of continuity with Longport, as the only connection is NJ 152.
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EHT believes a secession would negatively impact Egg Harbor Township, mainly by losing $505,000 in taxes. On November 30, 2016, the Egg Harbor Township Committee voted 4-0 to deny the deannexation.