Blackson, 73, was just elected to Borough Council in a town where property-tax rates are among the highest in the nation, despite a 1 percent wage tax.
"It's really, really hard," Blackson said. "I'm worried about our senior citizens."
Towns all over the region are confronting ugly recessionary realities as they prepare budgets for the new year. Those challenges are especially formidable in high-tax aging municipalities in Delaware County and South Jersey.
"Essential quality-of-life services are at risk," warns William Dressel, head of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities.
"It's brutal," said Jim Maley, mayor of Collingswood, next door to Camden.
The effective tax rates in parts of Delaware and Camden Counties - the annual property-tax bills as percentages of market value - well exceed those of even New York City, Detroit, and North Jersey, based on data from national tax-research groups.
The causes are complex and have been a century in developing.
The condensed version: Through the years, older towns have lost taxable property value and gained poorer populations, while the costs of basic services and public education have increased dramatically.
Tax experts cite several exacerbating factors: a balkanized network of local governments that force poorer towns and school districts to fend for themselves; an overreliance on property taxes; and rising fixed costs, particularly for salaries and pensions.
The rates are steepest in eastern Delaware County, bumped up by steadily increasing school taxes. Annual tax bills in some cases exceed 5 percent of home value, compared with 1.2 percent in Upper Merion, an Inquirer analysis shows.
"They are horrible," said Charlotte Walker, who lives in Lansdowne and works as a secretary in the William Penn School District, which is responsible for about $3,300 of her annual $4,600 property-tax bill.
