Calling it stable and fiscally responsible, the Ocean County Board of Freeholders was prepared this week to approve the county’s 2006 spending package which comes with a decrease in the property tax rate and funds the programs and services needed for a growing population.
According to a press release from the county, Ocean County’s population grows by about 1.8 percent annually or more than 9,000 people – the equivalent of a municipality the size of Plumsted Township, said Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr., who serves as liaison to the Ocean County Department of Finance.
Combining the percentage of growth with the rate of inflation – 4.1 percent – is the formula under which the freeholders developed the 2006 county budget.
“Any financial expert would recognize the formula as appropriate,” Bartlett said. “It reflects the board’s commitment to providing an annual budget that is stable and stresses our ongoing conservative fiscal policies.”
The budget was expected to be adopted April 26.
The new tax rate under the budget will be 28 cents per $100 of equalized property value, down 4 cents, and representing the largest percentage decrease in the history of the county.
“This is the sixth consecutive budget cycle that Ocean County has cut its property tax rate,” said Freeholder Director Gerry P. Little. “If we had not lowered the tax rate, an additional $36 million in tax revenues would have been collected. But this board chose to continue on the course of reducing the tax rate and maintaining a stable debt. This budget meets the needs of this county.”
With the new tax rate, a homeowner owning a $200,000 house will pay $562 in county property taxes under the new budget, a decrease of $80 from 2005.
“This budget provides the funds necessary to continue all county programs and services and will allow us to begin, and in some instances complete a number of ongoing projects,” Bartlett said.
The budget totals $324,578,668 up $18,503,750. The budget includes funding for 34 new full-time positions including six new sheriff’s officers and five new corrections officers. The amount appropriated for the new positions totals $1,156,811.
Two additional employees will be added to the road department in order to assist in implementing the county’s storm water management program.
“The program is necessary to help maintain our waterways in Ocean County,” said Freeholder James F. Lacey. “The program comes with a price but it is essential to this county.”
Freeholder John P. Kelly, who serves as chairman of Law and Public Safety, noted the increase in sheriff’s officers are needed to provide security in a growing court system, while new corrections officers are needed in the current jail and will be necessary for the jail expansion program.
Bartlett noted the budget reflected the county’s ongoing program of continuing to pay for capital projects that do not have a “long life” like dump trucks, buses and other equipment with cash, and to bond those capital projects like road projects, park facilities and other projects that have a long life.
“This method has allowed us to distribute our debt evenly among project users, now and in the future,” Bartlett said. “This financing program also provides us with the bonding capacity we need to take on larger projects in the future and not have a negative affect on the taxpayer or our bond rating.”
Bartlett said the budget includes about $30 million for the long-term capital projects and about $25 million for the cash financing of projects.
New projects funded in the proposed budget include the feasibility and design of expanded facilities at the Ocean County Training Center in Waretown, the construction of the new fishing pier at the old Mantoloking Bridge, upgrades to the election system, roof projects, redevelopment of Tip Seaman County Park, replacing of windows and other maintenance upgrades at county facilities.
Some of the capital projects that will be funded in the new budget are: the reconstruction of Massachusetts Avenue in Dover and Lakewood townships; the reconstruction of Lacey Road in Lacey Township, the reconstruction of New Prospect Road in Jackson and the reconstruction of Adamston Road in Brick Township.
Funds also will be available for the replacement of the terminal at the Ocean County Airpark, new classrooms at the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Center, the design of the jail expansion, new recycling facilities at the county’s northern and southern recycling centers and new road, garage, transportation and vehicle maintenance buildings in the county’s southern complex in Stafford Township.
The budget also includes an additional $1 million for the county’s vocational technical school system, which is scheduled to open a new marine and environmental sciences academy in September. Meanwhile state aid to the county’s vocational technical schools has remained flat, according to the press release.
“Education remains a priority with this board,” said Freeholder Joseph H. Vicari. “We continue to financially support the county’s community college and the vo-tech schools, often assisting where the state does not.”
The amount to be raised by taxation is $251,548,008, up $12,323,109. The amount of surplus earmarked for the spending package is $29,400,000, up $6 million.