Mayor in South Jersey taxed out of his home

A New Jersey mayor is being taxed out of his own home, but like many, he’ll be downsizing.

Egg Harbor Township Mayor James “Sonny” McCullough says a reassessment made his property tax shoot up to almost twice what he earns as mayor.

“I don’t know if there is any time in my life that I could afford a $31,000-plus tax on my home,” he said. “If someone wants to buy a beautiful home on the waterfront and can afford paying $1.5 million, whatever it’s going to go for, they certainly will have the ability to pay the taxes.

“And the first thing they are going to ask you is ‘what’s the taxes,'” he said.

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The mayor says he’s putting his home on the market soon. Gov. Chris Christie says McCullough is just another victim of New Jersey’s increasing property taxes, a problem that he is trying to curtail.

“You can’t stop a train that’s going 100 miles an hour in one movement,” Christie said. “In the last two years, property taxes have gone up an average of 1.5 percent, so that’s a significant change.”

McCullough isn’t moving out of town; he’s made an offer on a more affordable townhouse.

 

 

 

 

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