Warren Government and Budget
Warren Township is run by a five member Township Committee that picks a mayor from its own membership each January. The Committee adopted a $27,058,363 municipal budget for 2026, of which $16,545,271 is raised by property taxes. That municipal budget is the smallest of the three local budgets on your tax bill. The two school districts together account for about 82 percent of local government spending in Warren. Updated August 21, 2026.
The three budgets on your tax bill
| Body | 2026-27 budget | What the figure is |
|---|---|---|
| Warren Township Schools, K-8 | $74,432,329 | Adopted 2026-27 grand total across all funds |
| Watchung Hills Regional High School | $51,502,743 | Approved 2026-27 total operating revenue and expenditures |
| Township of Warren, municipal | $27,058,363 | Adopted CY2026 total appropriations |
The three figures total about $152,993,435, but they are drawn on different bases and should not be treated as a single audited number. The K-8 figure is the adopted grand total including debt service, special revenue and a capital reserve transfer. The high school figure is total operating revenue and expenditures. The municipal figure is total appropriations. Somerset County levies a fourth share that is set by the county budget and is not in this table. The authoritative combined figure on your own bill is the certified general tax rate, covered on the property taxes page.
The municipal budget, year over year
The 2025 budget was $25,492,526 in appropriations with $15,812,533 raised by taxation. The 2026 budget was introduced by Resolution 2026-108 on April 16 and adopted 5-0 by Resolution 2026-132 on May 14, after a public hearing. The Township estimated the municipal portion of the 2026 increase on the average assessed home at $64.
This is the number residents most often get wrong. In 2025 the Township Administrator estimated the all in increase on the average Warren home at roughly $460, of which $68 was municipal. The municipal budget is the part of your bill the Township Committee actually controls, and it is well under a fifth of the total. When a tax bill jumps, the school budgets are usually the larger cause.
Coverage: the 2026 budget as introduced, the adoption and the ballot question, and the 2025 budget.
The school budgets
Warren Township Schools, kindergarten through eight. The 2026-27 budget puts Fund 10 at $59,275,566, funded by a general fund tax levy of $53,179,465, state aid of $3,682,887 and other budgeted revenues. Adding $446,209 in special revenue and $8,861,779 in debt service brought the tentative grand total to $68,583,554. The budget adopted April 27, 2026 added a $5,848,775 capital reserve transfer for debt, bringing the adopted grand total to $74,432,329. The levy did not change between tentative and adoption. Advertised enrollment for October 2026 is estimated at 1,734 students, up from 1,692.
Watchung Hills Regional High School. The Board approved a $51,502,743 budget on April 28, 2026, up 3.7 percent from $49,658,323, with a tax levy of $37,659,870. Warren's regional school tax rate fell from $0.3597 to $0.3470 per $100, a cut of 3.52 percent. The average assessed Warren home still paid $3,546, up about $58, because the average assessment rose 5.38 percent to $1,021,852.
The regional high school rate went down 3.52 percent and the average Warren home paid more anyway. That is not a contradiction and it is not a trick. A tax rate is applied to an assessment, and Warren assessments rose faster than the rate fell. Any time you hear that a rate was cut, the question to ask next is what happened to assessments.
Coverage: the two school budgets side by side and the K-8 tentative budget. District structure, enrollment and calendars are on the schools page.
Capital spending and what is on the ballot
Money committed outside the operating budgets, each with a contract, an ordinance or a ballot line behind it:
| Item | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Town Hall restoration, third floor | $1,444,389 | Contract awarded, insurance proceeds applied |
| 2026 road program, 24 streets | $945,800 | Contract awarded, paving underway |
| Dealaman Trails and Pond improvements | $1,140,160 | Appropriation ordinance, with a $570,080 Green Acres matching award |
| Hofheimer House restoration | $7,500,000 | Non binding public question, November 3, 2026 ballot |
The Hofheimer House question is non binding. A yes vote does not authorize borrowing or spending. It tells the Township Committee what residents think about restoring the building. The full project list, including private development, is on the development pipeline.
Who decides what
Township Committee. Five members. Adopts the municipal budget, passes ordinances and resolutions, awards contracts, appoints board members. Selects a mayor and deputy mayor from its own membership at the January reorganization. For 2026 that is Mayor Shaun Fine and Deputy Mayor Vanessa Kian.
Planning Board. Subdivisions, site plans, conditional uses and the master plan. Where a conforming project goes.
Zoning Board of Adjustment. Variances, including use variances. Where a nonconforming project goes.
The two school boards. Separately elected, with their own budgets and their own line on your bill. The Township Committee does not set school spending.
Board composition, class structure and 2026 leadership are covered on the zoning and development page and in the reorganization report.
How to follow it yourself
Township Committee meetings have no fixed monthly pattern in Warren, which is why this site adds dates to the Warren calendar as agendas are posted rather than projecting a schedule. School board dates for both districts are on the same calendar and are set a year ahead. Agendas, minutes and adopted ordinances are published by the Township and by each district. Budget documents are worth reading in the original: the User Friendly Budget each district publishes is written to be read by residents.
- Township of Warren, adopted CY2026 municipal budget, Resolutions 2026-108 and 2026-132, and the adopted 2025 budget, Resolution 2025-124.
- Warren Township Schools, tentative 2026-27 budget approved March 23, 2026 and adopted April 27, 2026.
- Watchung Hills Regional High School District, 2026-27 budget approved at public hearing April 28, 2026.
- Township contracts, appropriation ordinances and the November 3, 2026 public question, as covered with citations in the linked reporting.
Updated August 21, 2026. Refreshed as budgets are adopted and contracts awarded. Where this page and a Township or district document disagree, the document governs and this page is wrong.
Warren Township resident and full time broker, licensed in New Jersey since 2002. Warren, Local. is written from live Garden State MLS data, township records and primary sources. Every figure is traceable to a source listed above.