Hunterdon County 2019 Budget

Hunterdon 2019 Budget: Tax Rate Flat Again

Hunterdon County’s Board of Freeholders, on April 16th, introduced the 2019 County budget that for the fourth time in the last five years holds the County’s tax rate steady.

The $88,491,725 budget calls for a flat County tax rate of 31.5 cents per $100 of property valuation, the same rate as in 2018.

Freeholder Matt Holt, a member of the Freeholder’s Budget Committee, in a statement, said, “This is a budget that remains $12 million less than the nearly $100 million County budget of 12 years ago.

It meets the operational costs required to achieve both the public’s expectation for services and those required by state mandates.

And it does not increase the tax rate for the fourth time in the last five years. I would put Hunterdon County’s record of fiscal prudence over the last five years up against any other County in the state.”

Freeholder Board Director Suzanne Lagay, presiding member of the Board’s Budget Committee, thanked the entire Budget Committee, County Chief Finance Officer Janet Previte and Budget Committee colleague Matt Holt for their guidance, hard work and continuing to honor the Freeholders’ fiscal conservative platform, in service to the taxpayers of Hunterdon County.

Freeholder Susan Soloway, who previously served on the Franklin Township Committee, stated, “As someone who can proudly be labeled a fiscal conservative, I believe proposing to expend taxpayer dollars is serious business, no matter the level of government.

We took it very seriously in Franklin and, I am pleased to learn through my experience with this initial budget process, the same degree of importance is applied here at the County.”

The County’s Chief Finance Officer, Janet Previte, told the Freeholder Board, “The 2019 budget is still less than the County budget in 2012. It continues the County’s pay as you go capital financing by budgeting $10.5 million for capital expenditures and, once again, there is no debt service.”

The 2019 Hunterdon County budget provides funding for key service areas including economic development, shared services that provide savings to municipalities, parks, health services, and public safety, including the 9-1-1 communications center that serves all emergency response services in the county.

Additional new state mandates that have affected the budget include state requirements for the expansion of the vote by mail program and meeting state’s code blue law requirements for protecting the homeless during winter weather.

The public hearing on the Hunterdon County Budget is scheduled for Monday, May 6, 2019, at 5:30 pm, at the Freeholders’ Meeting Room, County Administration Building, 71 Main Street, Flemington.

Budget information can be found here by copying and pasting the following address into your web browser: http://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/pdf/finance/INTRODUCED%20HUNTERDON%20BUDGET%202019.pdf