Posted on March 8, 2010

Reposted from The Press of Atlantic City on February 4, 2010

TOMS RIVER - The Board of Chosen Freeholders introduced the 2010 budget Wednesday, and members of the public alternately praised and bemoaned its accompanying 1.8-cent tax rate increase.

The government cut $9.7 million from 2009's budget to create the $347.9 million spending plan, but the freeholders said they had to increase taxes about $25 a year for the average county homeowner to make up for plunging revenues and rising costs.

The board members spoke in somber and sometimes angry tones for nearly a half-hour as they discussed the issues that led them to the current situation, pointing to an additional $8 million they must pay in pension and health care costs to the state as unfair.

The county's revenues also declined $16.6 million, with a decreased surplus and less money coming from interest on investments, the County Clerk's Office and state grants.

"You can hear the passions in everyone's voices," said Freeholder Director James Lacey. "It's very difficult to introduce a budget that's actually 10 million less than the previous year's and fulfill all the obligations."

"Shrinking government is hard to do, especially after good times."

The budget requires no layoffs, and despite there being 65 fewer filled positions this year than last year - equivalent to about $3 million - the salary and wage budget remains the same as 2009, at $115 million.

Ocean County College, Ocean County Vocational-Technical schools, the Board of Social Services and the Office of Senior Services will all receive the same amount of funding they did last year as well.

"We have never settled for mediocrity," said Freeholder Joseph Vicari, "and no one can do it better, can do it more efficiently, or more effectively than this board has done over the years."

Some at Wednesday's meeting were quick to criticize the freeholders, however, for increasing the tax rate when so many residents are in dire economic times.

"I think it's unconscionable that you're proposing ... a tax increase," said Larry Reid, of Brick Township. "It really doesn't seem like there's any sacrifice on the county level."

Robert Bianchini, a Democrat from Toms River who ran against freeholders John Bartlett and Gerry Little in the recent election, briefly spoke at the meeting about road improvements but also criticized the budget in a written statement.

"At a time when so many families are struggling to make ends meet and bankruptcies and home foreclosures are skyrocketing, our freeholders should be ashamed to even suggest raising property taxes," he said.

Others spoke in the board's defense.

Debra Versheck, of Little Egg Harbor, said she thought the public realized that the county simply had to fund the various services it needed to provide.

"Just like anybody else, you have to meet ends meet too," she said.

Joseph Rullo, of Toms River, who plans to run in the Republican primary for the 3rd Congressional District seat, also said the Republican freeholder board should be praised for its fiscal management while the state is to blame for its poor situation.

He talked about his elderly mother and father who died of brain cancer, and said the senior services provided in Ocean County are exemplary.

The budget does cut capital improvement funds $8.9 million from last year, and the freeholders have said that any program funded entirely by state money will also be cut, since the county cannot make up for the difference.

In response to criticisms about the county work force costs, Lacey said much of that is due to overtime costs, such as the major snowstorm in December, and a storm expected this weekend.