In Princeton, some say it’s a chance worth taking.

“I don’t mind biting the hand that feeds me,” said Janet Martin, 77, a retired university Classics professor and homeowner in the historically black Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood, where gentrification has pushed asking prices to more than $400,000 for modest homes. “The university could definitely pay a larger share.”

Merged Towns

Princeton, which is halfway between Philadelphia and Manhattan, was actually two municipalities with the same name until they merged in 2013 to help combat New Jersey’s highest-in-the-nation property taxes. Last year, the town’s average annual bill was more than double the state’s $8,353. Meanwhile, homeowners complain that the private university shoulders too light a local burden.

The university pays its hometown about $8 million in annual levies toward a proposed $61.9 million municipal budget. It kicks in another $3 million voluntarily, a boost for emergency services and public works. The rest, the freebies, make for what the school calls positive town-and-gown relations.

Beyond Funding

The school’s annual tax bill should be as much as $40 million a year, about 264 percent more than it pays now, according to Princeton attorney Bruce Afran, who represents the plaintiffs. That’s enough to cut homeowners’ tax burden by about one-third, he said.

“The so-called benefits the university gives are not real economic benefits that help the average person,” Afran said in an interview.

In a e-mailed statement, Bob Durkee, the university’s secretary and vice president, said the school is the borough’s largest taxpayer, helping the town maintain the county’s lowest tax rate.

“The university’s contributions go well beyond funding, as evidenced by the affordable housing it provides for community residents; the program it sponsors to allow university staff to serve as volunteer firefighters in Princeton; the students who help staff the first aid and rescue squad; the auditing program it offers to community residents; the intellectual, cultural and athletic events it makes available to community residents; and its support for entities like McCarter Theatre and the Garden Theatre,” Durkee said.