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Jersey Shore Mayor Selling Home Over High Property Taxes

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) - The mayor of a Jersey shore town is selling his waterfront home because he says he can't afford the property taxes.

Egg Harbor Mayor James "Sonny'' McCullough has lived in the Seaview Harbor section since 1974. He and his wife bought land and built their current home for $360,000 in 1985.

The property was valued at slightly more than $1.1 million during last year's township-wide revaluation that increased his property taxes by nearly 60 percent to $31,056.

"It's more than what I can afford," McCullough, 71, told The Press of Atlantic City. "It's kind of disappointing. I thought I would be able to live and die in my home, but it's gotten to the point where it's gotten up so high."

McCullough says he hopes to find another home in the township. But if he doesn't, the couple purchased a $150,000 waterfront condominium in Florida, where the property taxes are $2,569.

The Press of Atlantic City reported a big jump in property taxes for some of the township's residents over the past year. The average Egg Harbor Township residential property tax bill increased by less than 1 percent, tax records show, while Seaview Harbor property taxes increased nearly 90 percent, to $24,192, the paper reported.

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