County Rejects Furloughs, More Surplus Spending as Options to Reduce Proposed Budget

Ocean County officials will not furlough workers or dig more deeply into their surplus to reduce the ninth of a cent increase in the county tax rate resulting from the proposed 2011 budget, Freeholder John C. Bartlett Jr. said Wednesday.

He was reacting to questions from Ray Kalainikas of Manalapan about the spending plan, just minutes after it was introduced by the five-man freeholder board.

Kalainikas quizzed Bartlett about options to reduce spending, including using more surplus and furloughs.

Bartlett said the freeholders are using $17.2 million of their $34 million surplus to offset spending in the proposed budget. He pointed to the county’s AAA bond rating, calling it the "highest in the world,’’ and saying to keep it "you got to have some money in the bank. If we use more we will lose that AAA rating, and this freeholder board is not going to let that happen.’’

He said the freeholders also will not "tinker with furloughs,’’ explaining Ocean County is a civil service county, making it impossible to furlough individual employees.

"We’d have to furlough the whole department. That may work for the parks department, but it won’t for the jail,’’ he said.

Tax Impact, Fixed Costs, Spending Proposals

The proposed budget increased $4,731,104 from a year ago. Taxpayers are asked for a bigger increase in the amount they will pay to support the new budget, up $6,276,286 to $293,278,750. The tax rate hike will increase the property tax bill for the owner of a $300,000 house by $27.

Bartlett said the spending increase was less than last year’s 1.4 percent inflation rate and blamed a third of the tax rate increase on property values that fell $1.1 billion to $104.3 billion because of the real estate bubble. Because of that drop, a third of a cent increase in the tax rate was required to raise the same amount of taxes as a lower rate a year ago, he explained.

The opening this year of the 140,000-square-foot, $55 million addition to the county jail added $2.5 million to the budget, Bartlett said. While 90 county jobs were eliminated by attrition, he said 28 new hires were needed to staff the expanded jail.

Social service spending is up $600,000, to $20 million because of the bad economy, he said. Pension and health benefit costs are up $3 million. There is a $1.3 million increase in salaries and wages, he said, leaving little room for pay hikes in contracts now being negotiated with the county’s law enforcement unions, according to Bartlett.

"The public does not have any more money,’’ he added.

Funds to Ocean County College are cut $500,000 in the proposal, and community groups got a 10 percent cut in their support from the county.

Still up in the air is a proposed $150,000 cut in funds for the county vocational-technical school. Bartlett said the freeholders and the vocational-technical board approved the cuts, but the state Department of Education refused to approve the cut.

"It’s at the lieutenant governor’s desk. We expect a resolution,’’ Bartlett said.

Income to the county from interest on investments dropped $2.3 million because of near record low interest rates, he said.

A public hearing on the county budget is set for 4 p.m. April 20 in the freeholder meeting room, 101 Hooper Ave., Toms River.