County Introduces $352.6M Budget; Tax Increase Is Proposed
Spending plan carries average $27 tax increase; budget hearing April 20.
Property taxes will be going up to support a $352.6 million Ocean County budget due to be formally introduced March 16, according to Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr.
The 2011 county tax rate is set to rise .9 of a penny, to 28.1 cents per $100, he said. That translates into a $27 county tax increase for the owner of a $300,000 home. Total taxes needed to support the budget rose $6.3 million to $293.3 million in the budget proposal.
The total budget is up $4.7 million from last year, but is $2 million less than the county’s 2009 spending package.
“The cutbacks we made in 2010… made the 2011 budget work,’’ Bartlett explained, pointing to the decisions to reduce the workforce through attrition and cut spending.
This year’s budget “makes provision for the future,’’ when there will be no surprises in the county spending plan, he added.
What about the hotly debated new state 2 percent budget cap? Bartlett said the plan the freeholders support is $3.7 million under that cap, and under the old spending cap the new one replaced.
There are no layoffs or vital services eliminated in the budget. This year 62 positions will be eliminated by attrition, as were 65 last year, Bartlett said. Other expense spending will remain where it was last year, down $10 million in the last three years.
Spending on salaries and wages is being pared by $1.3 but provides funds to honor all existing contracts and anticipates “every successful negotiations on new contracts,’’ according to the senior freeholder.
“We don’t have the money’’ for fat contract settlements, he insisted.
Cuts include $500,000 less to Ocean County College, $150,000 less to the Vocational Technical Schools, and a 10 percent cut in support to community groups.
Freeholder John P. Kelly said the $55 million addition to the county jail will open soon, meaning 28 more corrections officers are being hired and five vacancies are being filled.
That means $2.5 million more will be needed to run the jail this year than last.
He said nearly 20 years ago, when he took office, there was talk of building a new jail. He discovered 140 state inmates were being houses in the county jail, with the state paying the county to house them.
The decision was made to send the state inmates to state prison, buying time before the county needed more jail cells. Bartlett said the county’s population has increased 66 percent since then, and so has the need for jail cells.
Likewise, he said, a year ago there was a proposal to add more than 100 corrections officers to staff the expanded jail. He called in county officials, including the warden, and turned to technology and staffing options to pare that number of 28.
With the national economy still in tatters, Bartlett said spending for the county Board of Social Services will increase by $600,000, to nearly $20 million. Freeholder Gerry P. Little said that spending helps qualify the county for state and federal funds to help those being hurt by the recession.
Bartlett said the county will spend $17.2 million of its surplus to support the budget, $500,000 less than last year. Interest on county investments dropped a “staggering $2.3 million,’’ because of low interest rates, he said. The county also realized $300,000 less in canceled capital spending this year than last, he said.
Little said about a third of the tax hike this year was due to a $1.2 billion drop in property values across the county, which meant $3.1 million less in county taxes.
Property values in the county soared to $109.9 billion during the housing bubble, dropped $4.4 billion last year, and are estimated at $104.3 billion in the county budget.
A public hearing on the county budget is set for 4 p.m. April 20 in the freeholder meeting room of the county Administration Building at 101 Hooper Avenue, Toms River.
John
8:26 pm on Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Stop spending money on a trail from Barnaget to Toms River. Total of 20 mil was talked about to build this trail that only a few people will be using. No need to raise taxes if this trail was put on the back burners.
John M
9:32 pm on Wednesday, March 9, 2011
and I was just going to say thank you for the trail from Toms River to Barnegat. It's nice to see our tax dollars used on such a great project and can't wait for it's completion. Next is for me to get some of my scouts out to help keep it clean because people are people and don't seem to understand that you shouldn't just drop your trash.
Karen
7:18 am on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Omg im sick of trails and gazebos. In beachwood i was appraised ridiculously high cant afford taxes now we have yellow water that ruins clothes 1day garbage. Real scouts dont need man made tax dollar trail you make your own. Im also on board to cut school taxes parents who use the schools should pay as they do in other states. Between taxes and health insurance id like to sell but would take a loss.
Karen
7:21 am on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Speaking of taxes what up with rebates? I read they r using 2006 tax rates and credit second quarter yet some people mostly seniors say they got theirs. Some tr friends say their taxes went down mine up 400 more this year
dorym
12:34 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Christie cut them, now we only get a credit, when, I don't know. So disgusted with this damned state.
Helen
9:11 am on Thursday, March 10, 2011
How much are we spending for all the handouts to illegals?? Food Stamps, welfare, healthcare, rental assistance, heating assistance????? This has to stop and maybe they'll go back where they came from so Americans can work .
Jenna
9:17 am on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Our country is broke.....Our state is broke, our counties are broke. If the politicians don't stop spending now, we will never be able to save our nation. Soon we will be a third world country waiting in line for food when our Dollar is no longer the Reserve currency of the world! Do your research people & wake up!!
Helen
8:17 am on Saturday, March 12, 2011
glad to see someone know whats going on :)
bill clark
11:50 am on Thursday, March 10, 2011
the only way to stop this is to vote out EVERY POLITICIAN (GRIP) and keep doing it until they start to represent US. Get rid of everyone both democratic and republican alike stop voting for a party just because you have been doing so for so many years. Maybe they will feel our pain if they are unemployed
dorym
12:33 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Agree wholeheartedly.
apples&oranges
8:07 pm on Friday, March 11, 2011
I second that!
Helen
12:05 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Attend the hearing April 20 at 4pm - see article for details. Speak up about your concerns - let these politicians hear from you!
dorym
12:32 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
STOPSTOPSTOP!
Do those nut cases know that we are in a serious recession with thousands of people out of work in Ocean County? They raise the damned taxes every year, time to cut out the fat from the fat cats.
We do not need any more crap or building oir schools oir roads or anything until the people have JOBS! How about cutting out some of the fat in the county offices? Employees sitting around doing nothing, and do they really need to have every vacation day off? Who gets Martin Luther King Day and Presidents Day off in the private sector? No one that's who!
Helen
8:20 am on Saturday, March 12, 2011
3.95% increase for teachers in Lacey this year - haven't had a raise in this household in 6 years . . . .. and each year benefits costs have be raised actually skyrocketed.
Jose Deer
12:45 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
No difference between the republiCANTS or the democRATS......
borrow and spend OR tax and spend......spend, spend, spend and crony, crony, crony
when YOU finally realize this, you will be AWAKE !!! (sickened but awake)
Ricardo
2:35 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
I am proud the county is building the rail trail, no matter the cost. It's a tremendous asset to our towns, county and state. Future generations will be able to benefit from what we are doing today. Those posting negative comments should get out and use the trail. Maybe you'll lose some weight and stop putting a financial strain on the health care system. Get out and walk and stop posting on message boards.
Billabong
7:54 am on Friday, March 11, 2011
Your comments are laughable and selfish. We're in a financial crisis and you want a trail "no matter the cost?" And those who don't agree (and are much more fiscally responsible in doing so) must be obese people who are putting a strain on the healthcare system? What?! I regularly exercise and am in excellent shape and guess what, I'm not asking taxpayers to foot millions of dollars for my leisure activities. Dude, get a clue and try thinking about what may benefit the greater whole of our towns and counties during these rough times.
Helen
8:22 am on Saturday, March 12, 2011
we have parks and sidewalks to walk on. the trail will be a hangout for the hoodlums we're raisings today. How much you wanna bet Ricardo doesn't pay taxes or is on the public dole.
Jerry Harper
3:12 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Unless my math fails me the 0.9 cent increase far exceeds the 2% cap imposed by the state. (0.9/27.2)X100=3.3%
Maybe the county is using the NEW math to do its calculations. I am sure that there will be an explanation that will justify the increase and justify the expenses.
OceanCounty
3:48 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
I would like to see the county do a review of all the people who take vehicles home while the rest of us are apying over $3 a gallon.
Now I know there are instances where it's truely justified; however, there are many instances where it becomes a right of passage, or it becomes "we've always brought our vehicles home".
On the way to work in the morning I see numerous Ocean and Monmouth County vehicles driving into work, and it's simply wrong.
I also know it's not a big ticket item, but all these little items add up to tax savings.
Eric Thomas
3:58 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Ocean County is right-on! Many of our neighbors are out of work and on the verge of losing everything they worked for. Unless a vehicle is a bona fide emergency response unit that carries equipment to accidents, etc. there can be no viable reason for it being taken home.
Be it a public agency, state, county or local governmental department, this costly practice needs to stop - now.
Jose Deer
5:04 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
take away all cars, if you are not willing to use your own car , then quit and find another job
why do the taxpayers always have to back down.......it should be take it or leave it 100% of the time.......and whne no one applies for the job then and only then will we know we may have went too far
John B Taxpayer
7:54 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
The public speaks and buraucrat laughs! With technology today why does every police dept have so many gas guzzling SUV's? Why does every county vehicle seem to be a full size gas pig Ford? Fat? There's tons of it to shed and not sacrafice any services, although many services only benefit a small minority of the citizens. Where are the Tea Party at the County levels? If the people have to reduce thier spending why should the Town/County Government do the same? They revolution needs to start at the local levels before the states and feds wake up.
Ken Bank
9:54 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Oh what a surprise!! Republicans are raising taxes, again. Let's see, the Republican Governor took away my property tax rebate at the same time the Republican Township Committee raised my municipal tax almost 50%! Under Republican "leadership", at the local, county and state level, my property taxes went up more in one year than they did the previous 10 years combined.
As to the Republican County Freeloaders, they do so much double-dipping and triple-dipping at our expense they should be selling ice-cream on LBI!
Mary G
10:23 pm on Thursday, March 10, 2011
Take away money from the college and vocational school and put it into the jail. Thats a great message to our young people.
Mark Story Jenks
8:40 am on Friday, March 11, 2011
Mary G, That said, it is a sad, sobering, slap in the saddle of our society.
Dan
10:31 pm on Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Vote all incombunts OUT...... too many don't vote today and complain. Our kids and grandkids especially are in for a frightening future in the USA if this trillion dollar debt doesn't get under control. There is too much corruption in the government and these public sector employees. The MUST contribute towards benefits to start just like the private sector. Ocean county college pres. gets a quarter of a million in salary plus a 1,500 montly housing expense, a car, paid car insurance, life insurance, pension, and the list goes on. With his salary he can most certainly pay for his own housing. This is acounty college!! Times that by 21 counties in NJ!!! I am sure they all get the same deal. The people have been ripped off time and time again. Time to leave Jersey......