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OCEAN FREEHOLDERS APPROVE $358 MILLION BUDGET WITH 1.6-CENT TAX RATE CUT
By Bill McLaughlin
The board of chosen freeholders unanimously approved the 2008 Ocean County budget at the public meeting March 19.
The $358.9 million budget is about $15 million more than last year, or a 4.35 percent increase. The tax levy, or amount to be raised by taxes, is $276 million and the tax rate drops 1.6 cents to 25.37 cents, meaning the owner of a home assessed at $200,000 would now pay $32 less in property taxes next year, or about $2.67 less per month.
In explaining the budget, Freeholder John Bartlett said he had received "no letters or e-mails, except to put more money into each (department's) account."
Bartlett, who has been criticized in the past for not spending more surplus funds as a means to keep taxes down, said the existing surplus is $49 million, with $25 million of it being used toward this budget. Last year, the county government used $31 million in surplus funds.
The value in keeping a substantial surplus, Bartlett said, is in maintaining a high credit rating when the county goes out to borrow money. Only 48 counties in United States earned the highest rating from the three rating agencies, he added, with Ocean County one notch below AAA
in ratings by the three companies.
"The value of surplus," the freeholder said, "quoting a Standard & Poors report, is that it
represents stability and reserves sufficiently and largely maintained in a recession."
For the past two years, Bartlett has contended that the economic bubble couldn't last forever, and that revenue streams from new housing and housing renovations would decline as construction slowed.
There were a myriad of factors that buffeted the budget process, Bartlett explained, from a mandatory $44 million state pension contribution over the next few years, to a shortfall in state and federal grant reimbursements amounting to $8.3 million.
By far, the largest slice of the budget pie goes to operating costs at 72.52 percent, which includes salaries, retirement and health benefits. Debt service is next at 11.93 percent, while capital improvements account for another 9.26 percent, and deferred charges total 6.29 percent of the overall budget.
Although the county continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace, the future is cloudy, Bartlett said. Construction has slowed enough to force the county to furlough the entire construction/ inspection office at a savings of $1 million per year. County officials had noted that many larger towns had begun to offer the same services to neighboring boroughs and smaller towns.
The prospect of higher fuel, electricity and water costs have put all departments on notice to cut back on overtime, freeze hiring and consider more effective use of manpower.
Freeholder Gerry Little noted the dollarstretching going on at all levels of government, and praised Bartlett for reaching a budget balance "in an honest and direct way."
He added that "we could take the direction of Washington and Trenton and bury the people of Ocean County" in debt.
Little noted that the county had added $1 million for social services, as the growing lists of needy and homeless became apparent.
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