County Has No Debt For 8th Consecutive Year
Freezing the county tax rate at the 2018 level for the fifth year, Hunterdon County’s Board of Commissioners, at the Board’s May 17th meeting, officially adopted the $101,880,378 budget for 2022 that continues the county’s no debt policy for the eighth year in a row.
Commissioner Shaun C. Van Doren, a member of the Board’s Budget Committee, stated, “I suggest that maintaining the tax rate of 31.5 cents per $100 of property valuation in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and now 2022, is a significant accomplishment worth recognizing, particularly in light of the demands of the pandemic and rising inflation rate.
There are very few items, if any, today that can claim to be the same cost as four years ago, particularly in this time of massive inflation. And I also wish to point out that while holding the tax rate frozen, the County continues to effectively deliver all the key government services mandated by the state and expected by our public.”
The County’s 2022 budget has no debt payment and has had no debt payments since 2014.
Van Doren credited recently retired long time Hunterdon Commissioner Matt Holt with setting the stage for the county’s fiscal stability. “Please allow me to extend credit where it is very much due, to our recently retired colleague, Matt Holt, who led the way in our conservative fiscal approach and for whom this budget is part of his financial legacy for the taxpayers of Hunterdon County.”
Board of Commissioners Director John E. Lanza said, “The hardship on taxpayers, individuals, families and businesses, resulting from the devastating inflation rate, is worse today than it was just one short month ago when the Board introduced this budget.
While the Board of Commissioners cannot influence prices of food, gasoline, and other necessities, the frozen tax rate is an island of fiscal safety in the stormy seas of inflation.”
Lanza added, “As we continue to deliver cost effective and efficient government for the public, I agree with the acknowledgement that the budget bears the imprint of retired Commissioner Holt and believe that all members of the Board, as well as our entire county workforce, deserve recognition for this achievement.”
A copy of the adopted budget can be found here: https://www.co.hunterdon.nj.us/pdf/finance/2022BUDGETINTRO.pdf