[See UPDATE below]

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank and Fair Haven property owners who pay their taxes directly, rather than through an escrow account, can hold off on pulling out their checkbooks for a few more weeks.

Bills have yet to be sent out for taxes normally due August 1.

• When it meets Monday night, the Fair Haven council is scheduled to vote on a due-date extension for third-quarter taxes.

As in Red Bank, a 10-day grace period usually applies, after which a late charge is imposed. Under the resolution, the “delinquency due date” for the third quarter will be “25 days after the bill was delivered or mailed.”

But the mailing date has not been set because “the Monmouth County Board of Taxation was delayed in forwarding necessary information for the preparation and mailing of final tax bills,” the resolution reads.

• In Red Bank, things are complicated by a late budget amendment that forced the council to schedule a special session for Thursday night.

As reported by redbankgreen last week, the amendment concerns the addition of $96,000 in “soft-cost” design expenses for repairs to the Senior Center.

According to Clerk Pam Borghi, the purpose of the meeting is to hold a public hearing and vote on the amendment, “and then a public hearing on the budget and a vote to adopt. No other business will be discussed.”

When will Red Bank’s taxes be due? From acting Business Administrator Darren McConnell:

It would be premature to say with certainty when the bills will go out as the budget has not been adopted yet. Assuming the budget is adopted on July 29th, the county has to certify the tax rate and then our vendor would have to print the tax bills. Ideally the bills would go out the first week of August.  The due date would be based on when the bills actually go out, so that remains to be set. If for some reason the budget is not adopted on July 29th, we could be in a position where we send out estimated tax bills but we are hopeful not to be in that position.

The 2021 budget, which is to raise $14.64 million from borough taxpayers, calls for no tax increase. Here’s the full spending plan, and here’s the user-friendly short version.

Meantime, the finance committee and administration are scheduled to hold a public presentation on the budget at 6 p.m. Tuesday via Zoom, according to the borough website.

UPDATE: As of Friday, July 30, the borough was awaiting Monmouth County certification of new tax rate, following the council’s adoption of the 2021 budget Thursday. “Once the tax rate is certified, the grace period date will be announced,” the borough said in a website post Friday.