TRENTON: Mercer County struggles with shortfall

By Greg Forester, Staff Writer
   Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes has proposed an increase in the county tax rate and the expenditure of over $13 million in county surplus funds to balance the 2009 budget, a plan that has drawn fire from county Republicans.
   The $296.5 million budget represents an increase of $3.7 million over last year’s version.
   It means that taxpayers in Mercer County will see their county tax rate increase by 2 cents to 45 cents per $100 of assessed value, said Mr. Hughes, a Princeton Township resident and Democrat. For a home assessed at $349,400 — the 2007 average for Princeton Borough — the county tax would go up by $70 to $1,568.Mr. Hughes, who announced the budget at Thursday’s Board of Chosen Freeholders meeting, said the tax increase and the use of over half of the county’s total surplus were needed because of a $20 million budget gap, first announced last month.
   This year’s shortfall and a larger shortfall projected for next year were caused by labor costs that outpaced the growth of taxable property, according to county officials.
   The total value of taxable property in the county increased by 1.5 percent in 2008, while increases in salaries, health care, and benefit costs for the county’s 1,900 employees outpaced taxes and other revenue.
   Prior to the economic downturn, Mercer County experienced increases of 10 or 11 percent in total taxable property in the county. The amount of total taxable property in Mercer County is expected to be flat or go into decline next year, officials said.
   County officials are considering layoffs, salary and hiring freezes, furloughs, decreases in health benefits, and other measures to deal with the budget issues.
   Mr. Hughes, during a Monday interview, said the county has had two “very productive meetings” with the county’s union leadership, although layoffs that could begin as early as July remain a very real possibility.
   ”We all have in mind the same thing, to try and get through these two budget seasons with as little job dislocation as possible,” Mr. Hughes said.
   The county is expecting a $23 million shortfall next year, according to Mr. Hughes, who said his administration built up the county’s surplus from $11 million in 2004 to $26 million this year. A little over half of the $26 million is earmarked for use in plugging the 2009 budget gap. The county expects to receive over $3 million in federal stimulus funds.
   Roy Wesley, the Mercer County’s Republican Party chairman, said the county’s fiscal woes indicated a need for more Republican participation, especially on the all-Democrat county freeholder board.
   Mr. Wesley pointed to the budget shortfalls, a new, less lucrative contract with the Trenton Thunder baseball team, and the arrest of county clerk’s office employee Ishmael Raines, charged with stealing passport information, as evidence that change is needed in Mercer County.
   ”We need new blood,” said Roy Wesley, the county chairman. “You need two parties to make this work.”
   Mr. Wesley, who made budget suggestions and called the county “broke” in a written statement, said the party viewed the 2009 election as an opportunity to get some Republicans back into a position to help govern Mercer County.
   Three freeholder seats will be up for grabs in the November election, according to Mr. Wesley, who said the party is already grooming potential candidates.
   Mr. Wesley said the county should eliminate Mr. Hughes’ chief of staff position and its $140,000 salary, restrict the use of county cars, and slash every county department budget by 10 percent, among other fiscal measures.