COUNTY BUDGET HAS 3% TAX HIKE

"But parties clash on debt proposal"

March 12, 2010
By Richard Cowen

The Passaic County Freeholders are in the final stages of drafting the 2010 budget, which as written would raise taxes less than 3 percent on the average home.

The Democrats on the board are touting the 3 percent rise as relatively good news for property owners. But there's a catch.

The proposed budget also contains what freeholders Finance Director Pat Lepore calls a "bonding component". In other words, preserving that relatively small 3 percent tax hike depends on the county balancing its budget with new dept.

Lepore says the freeholders need to come up with at least $8 million this year to replenish both a county pension fund and the workers compensation pool. Both funds are just about exhausted and due to run out of money this year.

Democrats are pushing a bond worth at least $23 million to plug both this year's gap and put the pension fund on solid footing for the next decade. But Republicans are against taking on any more dept. Instead, they want to find money in the 2010 budget to fund this year's pension and workers' compensation obligations, which add up to $8 million.

"If you do not want to bond, you're going to have to have to come up with $8 million in budget cuts," Lepore told the freeholders earlier this week. He estimated that $8 million worth of cuts would likely result in more than 100 layoffs of county workers.

Throughout the budget process, the Republican opposition has been asking county department heads to submit budgets that slashed spending.

"It's just not happening," Republican Freeholder Deborah Ciambrone said Thursday. I've asked that department heads revise their budgets, but instead I've been accused of micromanaging."

Ciambrone has frequently clashed with Lepore, who favors the bonding approach as a way to limit tax increases by "spreading the pain" over many years. But Ciambrone says government is just kicking the problem down the road.

"That $23 million bond will wind up costing us $35 million [including interest] by the time we pay it off," she said. "We'd be bonding for everyday operating expenses, and it makes no sense."

It takes five votes in order to approve a bond. Democrats have only four seats on the board, and the three Republicans have remained steadfast in their opposition to taking on new dept to solve the county's pension problem.

In an attempt to end the impasse, the freeholders have called a special public workshop for Thursday at 4:30pm. The budget is scheduled to be introduced on March 23.

E-mail cowen@northjersey.com