At its April 4 meeting, the Barnegat Township Committee adopted a municipal budget of $33,139,000, an increase of nearly $3 million from the 2022 spending outlay. The budget resulted in a municipal purpose tax (which does not include school and county taxes) being increased by a penny per $100 assessed value. As a result, the owner of a home assessed at the township average of $266,000 will see a $27 increase in the municipal tax bill for the year.

But township officials also took shots at the proposed school budget, with Township Administrator Martin Lisella…