Dear Editor:
I’ve been following the Parsippany mayoral primary race, reading all of the mailings, watching the debate, and examining the candidates’ claims.
I happened to go back to the presentation of the 2025 budget, where it appears that Parsippany had among the lowest taxes in Morris County.
When I saw that Mountain Lakes and Mendham were at the top of the list and Victory Gardens was at the bottom, I knew something didn’t seem right.
Then I realized they showed the average taxes paid, not the tax rate.
I downloaded the exact numbers used in the presentation from the NJ Division of Taxation and calculated a tax RATE for each community.
Parsippany now has the fourth-highest residential tax rate in the county, well above the county average, along with towns such as Netcong, Victory Gardens, and Dover.
I believe that taxes are the price we pay to have a good government and a healthy, secure community. I feel good about supporting our town. But I think that the presentation shown to the residents of Parsippany was misleading, hopefully not intentionally, and that people should be given a more accurate picture of how Parsippany ranks among our neighbors in Morris County.
Mark Philhower
