By Stephen Appezzato
FREEHOLD – County officials introduced their $526 million budget for 2024. A public hearing on the matter is slated for the April 25 county commissioners’ meeting when the budget will most likely be adopted.
The proposed budget – approximately $30 million greater than last year’s – reflects a number of revenue and expenditure changes. During the county commissioners’ meeting March 28, county chief financial officer Joseph Kelly provided a budget overview, spoke about the county’s financial goals and touched on long-term financial patterns.
“This budget provides adequate funding for both down payment money for bonds and also pays for direct capital projects,” Kelly said.
Central to the plan is investing in infrastructure and services while also protecting the county’s AAA credit rating, which is a delicate balance, he said.
“We talk about the county infrastructure and how great it is. Well, the only reason, the only way that stays great is by investing in infrastructure and capital improvement,” Kelly explained. To maintain the nearly 1,000 miles of roadways, bridges and culverts, the commissioners looked to allocate about $39 million and $7.7 million to the public works and capital improvements budgets, respectively, a combined $4 million increase from last year.
Kelly said protecting the county’s AAA credit rating is “paramount.” “Our rating is actually higher than that of the State of New Jersey, and also the United States,” he said. That benefits municipalities as the county can extend that rating to local governments, schools, fire districts and other public entities that need financing. Factors other than debt servicing and infrastructure investment account for the $30 million budget increase over last year. County funding is subject to state guidelines, which means funding for certain programs inevitably rose this year. One example of this increase is in the funding for psychiatric facilities ($3.157 million in 2024), which increased 33% from last year ($2.360 million in 2023).
“We can’t control that. They (state officials) just hand us the bill and say, ‘Pay,’ ” which Kelly called “challenging at times.”
Similarly, this financial year will be the final year the county receives funds from the American Rescue Plan – a $1.9 trillion pandemic-era federal stimulus bill that supported local governments and small businesses.
Kelly also reported overall county salaries were $5.6 million higher this year, saying there was difficulty recruiting and retaining employees.
“The county proactively negotiated labor contracts that increased starting salaries and also made some adjustments to compete with that wage inflation from post-COVID and also the work-from-home-type economy. We require a place to come to work and it’s tough to find folks that want to get a job” working in an office every day, Kelly said.
The new budget also funds MedStar, a full-time emergency medical service operated by the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, which received $3.8 million in initial funding as well as new ambulances and a building.
To offset these costs, as well as inflation – which Kelly said rose 18% in three years – the governing body searched for new revenue sources. 2024 is the first year the county will generate income through a Hospital Fee Program, which allows hospitals in the county to leverage Medicaid funds. The county will receive 9% of these fees, totaling roughly $6 million.
Additionally, smelly landfill gas generated at the county Reclamation Center will be converted to an asset and sold to New Jersey Natural Gas, which is expected to generate $3 million.
Financial year 2024 is the 10th consecutive year in which the county tax rate will drop. The rate is estimated to be .76 cents less per $100 of property value than in 2023, and 8.29 cents less than it was in 2013. With this Monmouth County has the lowest general county tax rate in New Jersey.
Lastly, Kelly mentioned property values in the county continue to rise. In 2013 the total assessed value of homes in the county was $110 billion. Now it’s $182 billion.
“Inflation has been a challenge for everybody. We see it in our personal lives and government is not immune from it,” Kelly said. But, “I’m happy to say that the county’s budget has not tracked anywhere near that.”
The article originally appeared in the April 11 – April 17, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
