The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders has approved a $376 million spending plan for 2002 that lowers the county tax rate by 2 cents per $100 of market value. Spending increases by approximately $24 million above 2001.
According to a press release from the freeholders, this marks the seventh consecutive year that the county tax rate has decreased. The tax rate for 2002 is 40.18 cents per $100 of market value. A home assessed at $100,000 market value will pay approximately $401 in county taxes, as compared to the 2001 tax rate of 42.18 cents. Last year the same house paid $422 in county taxes.
Despite the declining tax rate, Freeholder Director Harry Larrison Jr. cautioned his fellow freeholders and the public that in the future the county may have to sharpen its pencil if the county tax rate is to remain stable.
"It is no secret that revenues will be declining in the years to come," he said. "Freeholders will need to find new and innovative ways to fund the programs that our citizens have come to expect."
In addition, Larrison cited as an example the declining interest rates on investments.
"This year the county will earn about $4 million less in interest income than we earned last year, due entirely to the overall decline in interest rates," he said.
The county is anticipating receiving $40 million in state aid in 2002, the same as it received last year. The freeholders allocated $49.28 million for human services, $39.8 million for debt service; $32.17 million for education; $17.63 million for public works; $12.8 for public safety; and $2.48 million for county parks. The county payroll is anticipated to be $135.4 million.
Also this year, as a part of a six-year capital plan, the freeholders have undertaken a $47.4 million program to make some major enhancements to the county library system, roads, bridges and park improvements, according to the press release.
Approximately $11.3 million is earmarked for the expansion and renovation of the Eastern Branch Library in Shrewsbury. About 10,000 square feet of space will be added to one of the busiest libraries in the state. The current building was erected in 1968 and was expanded in the 1980s. The county received a $1.3 million state grant to help fund the project.
In addition, the freeholders will spend $6.85 million:
• to improve the intersection of Tennent and Taylors Mills roads in Manalapan.
• to improve the intersection of county Route 524 and Vanderveer Road in Howell.
• to improve the intersection of Adelphia and Squankum-Yellowbrook roads in Howell.
• to improve the intersection of Squankum-Yellowbrook and West Farms roads in Howell.
• to improve the intersection of Herbertsville and Allenwood-Lakewood roads in Howell.
• to improve the intersection of Old Tavern Road (county Route 21), Lakewood-Farmingdale Road (county Route 547) and Herbertsville Road in Howell.
• to improve the intersection of Smithburg and Oakland Mills roads in Manalapan.
• to improve Route 537 at Gibson Place in Freehold Township, and various other road and bridge improvements.
The freeholders approved several other projects including improvements to 10 bridges around the county, improvements to the police and fire academies, the prosecutor’s complex on Jerseyville Avenue in Freehold Township and several county vocational high schools, according to the press release.