Monmouth County property owners will pay a total of $4.53 million more in taxes to support the operation of the county in 2015.
The impact of that increase on an individual commercial or residential property owner has not yet been determined by county finance professionals.
The Monmouth County Board of Freeholders has introduced a $488 million budget for 2015 that will be supported, in part, by the collection of $307 million in property taxes in the county’s 53 municipalities.
The 2014 county budget totaled $480.9 million and relied on the collection of $302.48 million in property taxes.
Officials said that until this year, the tax levy had remained flat since 2010.
Monmouth County Finance Director Craig Marshall presented the budget during a recent freeholders meeting.
The budget is tentatively scheduled to be adopted by the freeholders at a meeting to be held at 7 p.m. April 23 at Spring Lake Borough Hall. A public hearing on the budget will precede the freeholders’ vote on the spending plan.
According to the budget presentation, county taxes pay for the maintenance of 1,000 miles of county roads and 980 bridges and culverts.
County taxes also pay for 41 park, recreation and open space areas; five career academies; Brookdale Community College; aging, disability and veterans services; voter registration services and elections; public safety; a county library system; and a county health department.
The freeholders will use $40 million from surplus (savings) as revenue in the 2015 budget. In 2014, the freeholders used $43 million from surplus as revenue in the budget.
State aid to Monmouth County will be $50.13 million for 2015. State aid in 2014 totaled $46.32 million.
Miscellaneous revenues will increase from $43.68 million in 2014 to $45.66 million in 2015.
Expenses in 2015 will include: general government, $8.5 million; insurance, $63.75 million; human services and health, $60.36 million; public safety functions, $13.38 million; public works functions, $12.52 million; education functions, $36.96 million; statutory expenditures, $36.12 million; capital improvements, $2.25 million; debt service, $54.65 million; and salaries and wages, $175.1 million.
From 2014 to 2015, salaries and wages are up $3.2 million, capital improvements are up $1.5 million and debt service is up $1.4 million. Those three items account for $6.1 million of the total budget increase of $7.1 million.
Marshall said Monmouth County has maintained its AAA bond rating from all three major bond rating agencies.
“We are the strongest rated in the state and the only county in New Jersey with this rating,” he said.
Freeholder Serena DiMaso said it is important to keep the bond rating in mind when organizing the budget.
“We need to keep that AAA rating in our sights and allow others to save money,” she said.
The county’s workforce for 2015 stands at 3,131 positions, including 2,841 full-time employees, 118 part-time employees and 172 seasonal employees. In 2008, the county employed 3,781 individuals.