Freeholders Approve Budget, Average Home Sees $18 Tax Hike

The Morris County Board of Freeholders Wednesday approved a $313.038 million budget for 2011 that drops the overall tax levy $1.8 million from 2010.

But due to a $4 billion drop in the value of all taxable property in the county, upon which the county bases its budget, the county tax rate will see a slight rise to 21 cents per $100 of assessed value, treasurer Glenn Roe said.

For a home valued at the county average of $458,000, county taxes could rise to $961.80  from $943.48—but that increase varies across the county’s 39 towns because of differing local property assessment rates, a process called equalization.  

That tax increase is independent of the taxes levied by local communities and local school districts; those are decided in each community.

The 2011 county budget has a lot of moving parts—the state-mandated 2 percent tax levy cap, the decline in property values, increases in state pension and health insurance costs, and efforts by the county to consolidate emergency dispatching services at the county’s communication center.

Tax Levy Cap

The 2011 tax levy initially was set to increase by $3.99 million, the amount allowed under the 2 percent cap. That cap law also allows the county to add the value of new development to the tax levy, or $688,650.

But the freeholders cut the county’s open space tax by .5 cents, to 1.5 cents per $100. That cut trimmed $5.87 million from the overall county tax levy, resulting in the $1.8 million drop.

In a meeting with some mayors before the public hearing on the budget, Riverdale mayor William Budesheim questioned the open space tax cut, expressing concern that the county “might run out of open space money.”

Freeholder Gene Feyl said that the open space tax has been cut for three years in a row because there is less open space to purchase. The tax still generates $15 million annually, he said.

Contributions to the Pension System

The county’s contribution to the state pension system increased a total of $2.6 million over 2010, and the health insurance bill rose $1.35 million over 2010. County employees are scheduled to contribute $1.35 million to their health insurance costs in 2011, meaning the county cost is $34.45 million.

Losing Employees

The 2011 budget includes a net cut of 31 jobs.

As the county has added towns to it's communications center’s dispatch system, 26 new employees were added there, and new shared service agreements with Warren and Sussex counties for medical examiner services added several employees to that office.

In addition, bargaining units representing 1,722 county employees agreed to a salary freeze for this year.

As a result, the county’s overall salary and wage cost dropped 1.04 percent this year.

Freeholder Margaret Nordstrom earlier commended the employees.

Since 2005, 384 county government positions have been eliminated, representing a 16.4 percent reduction in staff.

More Revenue

The addition of towns to the county’s dispatch system, now up to 21, will generate $2.8 million for the county, and the changes at the medical examiners office will generate $453,000 for Morris this year.

Shared services agreements with several counties for the use of Morris County's Juvenile Detention Center and the Morris County Youth Shelter will reduce costs and result in more than $1 million in revenue to Morris this year.

Budesheim questioned the value of the dispatching change to the county, but Feyl and county administrator John Bonnani said that the county only charges a town for the cost of the dispatchers needed for that town’s service. Bonnani  said the new dispatchers receive advanced training and the shift reduces the cost of local police coverage, one of any municipality’s largest budget items.

Needs of the County

Freeholder Ann Grossi said the 2011 budget includes more than $41 million to fund human services programs. It provides approximately 540,000 meals under the county nutrition program for senior citizens, and 82,100 rides to senior citizens and the disabled under the county's MAPS program. It executes 69 agreements with community-based agencies and municipal alliances to provide a wide array of programs for the elderly, disabled, veterans, homeless and youth, as well as drug abuse rehabilitation and mental health services.

The human services budget also includes more than $15 million to meet the increased requests from those in need of general assistance programs such as those that provide food stamps, and $2.8 million in grant-in-aid funding with various services providers recommended by the Human Services Advisory Council, the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Advisory Board and the Youth Services Advisory Committee, Grossi said.

Other highlights of the 2011 county budget include:

• $27.5 million for the operation of the Morris County Correctional facility.
• $20.6 million for public works.
• $19.6 million to fund the Morris County Prosecutor's Office.
• $15 million to fund the Morris County Sheriff's Office.
• $13.7 million for the Morris County Park Commission.
• $11.6 million for the County College of Morris.
• $6.24 million to fund the School of Technology.
• $5.8 million for library services, including the Morris County Library, which counted 312,243 patron visits last year, a 6 percent increase from 2010.
• $1.9 million for the Mosquito Commission, which provides mosquito control, stream dredging and clean-up to all 39 municipalities.
• $1 million for the training of all local emergency first responders.
• $801,776 for the Office of Emergency Management, which provides emergency and coordinating services to all Morris County municipalities.
• $627,283 for the health services provided by the county's Health Management Office. Those services include environmental compliance, responding to hazardous materials spills, monitoring for outbreaks of infectious disease and supporting other public health agencies in the county.