Monmouth Freeholders Cut Spending and Taxes
Monmouth County Freeholders Gary Rich, Lillian Burry, Director Tom Arnone, Deputy Director Serena DiMaso and John Curley
The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders introduced a budget on Thursday that reduces County spending by $18.2 million and reduces the property tax levy on County residents and businesses by $4.5 million. The tax decrease is the first in 21 years and maybe ever, according to County Finance Director Craig Marshall.
The budget for the next fiscal year rolls County taxes back to 2008 levels and reduces spending to less than the 2007 budget. The tax cut reverses an increase, the only one since 2007, that the County imposed in the current year.
“This is a real cut,” said Freeholder Director Tom Arnone. “There is no fiscal gimmickry or raiding of trust funds or utility balances in this budget.”
“This reduction in the tax levy is just another example of the Freeholders putting our residents first and why Monmouth is the best place to live, work and raise your family,” said Freeholder Deputy Director Serena DiMaso.
Since 2008, the all Republican Freeholder Board has reversed a trend of increasing spending by approximately $20 million per year. The average spending increase since 2008 was .03% and the County government employee count has been reduce by about 1/3, over 1000 employees, through attrition. The Republicans continue made good on their commitment to improve efficiency while improving the quality of services and maintaining their AAA bond rating.
In addition to the spending decrease, the Freeholder Board is replenishing the surplus fund balance which was depleted by $12.9 since 2013.
The good budget news is attributable to the Freeholder’s decision last year to sell the County nursing homes, which were a $6 million drag on the budget and a $405,0000 reduction in fixed costs like pensions, insurance and servicing the AAA rated debt.
More from my site
Arnone Report: Freeholders continuing to cut budget
The Arnone Report: Promises made, promises kept; a tax cut for Monmouth County
Freeholders approve $35 million in bonds for Fort Monmouth acquisition
PBA Local 240 Endorses Golden, Arnone and DiMaso for Reelection
PBA 314 Endorses DiMaso for reelection- Arnone Report: Kicking off 2018 with gratitude and vision
Monmouth Freeholders Cut Taxes and Spending
Freeholders Reduce County Spending By $18.2 million
Middletown Township Reduces Spending and Property Taxes In 2017 Budget- Arnone Report: Paint the Town Pink, Shared Services, Repaired Bridges Opening
assume the $30 mil from the nursing homes sale helped a little bit, this year?
Math question?
If the nursing homes that were sold were a $6 million dollar drag on the budget, why was the tax levy reduced by only $4.5 million dollars?
More importantly, the County has not increased its budget in many years. That tells me the Larrision decades we were getting a bloated budget with way too many employees, including bridge inspectors that were full time chauffeurs for freeholders.
the”Larrison decades,” you would absolutely NOT have Brookdale College, the best library system and parks system in this state, and you would not have the finest vo-tech high schools, consistently rated among the best, nationally.. You would also not have the convenience of the Belford ferry, the park and marina in the Bayshore, and, you’d be paying hundreds of dollars more, to take your trash away every week to out of state, rather than to our own landfill.. Was he human and did he make a few mistakes? Who among us all hasn’t??.. And finally, as the county grew, more people were needed to get the jobs done: plus, many people and families had careers, worked hard at them for the taxpayers, and earned their living and retirement.. Ask anyone who was around in those days: they believe it was just better and kinder.. But the main, absolute thing is: the guy was a true visionary, who loved his county, busted his butt at the job, cared about everything and everyone of all types and political parties,and basically,was the major driving force who made it “the place” many want to be/ stay/ come to!.. Only ignorance of actual performance,reality,and fact,would dwell on a couple of jerks the man was too good to!
Harry Larrison was a crook that abused the public trust.
He may have done some positive things just like most crooks, but he will be remembered as a crook.
More politicians that abuse the public trust should be concerned about destroying any legacy when they succum to the temptation to cheat the public they took an oath to serve by acting in their self interest and becoming a simple crook.
or someone you know either lost to him, or didn’t get something you wanted from him, or, perhaps, had something before, and didn’t get it back.. go ahead and continue to try and revise actual history, and loudly and jealously bash someone who is now dead and cannot respond: anyone who can demonstrate more progress, success, and victories in this county, in the last 100 years, needs to step forward and list them, right now: it can’t be done!
I’ve met him, but no he didn’t ever do anything specific to me. I feel exactly the same way about public corruption no matter what official commits the crime. There is not a way to trade some apparent good work, for a certain amount of corruption. Corruption is just wrong in any amount, and corrupt crooks should not be put on a pedestal. They should be vilified.
what “corruption” are you talking about? (John? Art K? Amy?)..UNproven innuendo, accusation, gossip, and defamation are p/ were actionable: in this era of Facebook, Twitter, Utube, and other instant media, people can say and smear anyone they want: unjustified and not adjudicated.. lucky the poor man is dead, and his family wants nothing to do with the unfair trashing he took while dying, and the ingratitude of many he helped..
Larrison was an absolute criminal. Plain and simple. No innuendo. A crook. The “good” he did does not override that.
A CROOK
And no I did not loose anything to him other then my Stolen tax dollars.
Give me a break.
The Freeholders have also taken head on the Sandy Restoration, the loss of Fort Monmouth (the largest failure of our congressional delegation in my lifetime) and the financial crisis which decreased property values and the tax base.
Monmouth County and her people have changed much in the last 50 years and in my view the current Freeholder Board Members are proactive, able and willing to address the issues of the next 50 years.
My fear is that increasingly, Monmouth and a few other Counties are becoming the ATMS for the failed policies of Trenton and the CORRUPT DEMOCRAT MACHINE who have pillaged and plundered every large city in NJ. Like the locust they are looking for “green fields”.
I recall Larrison was indicted and died before the case was resolved, right? I also recall he was at an advanced age when charged, and it was entirely possible that he was being taken advantage of by a hanger-on while his mental state was diminished. That was my impression solely from what I read in the papers. I wouldn’t assume that he was guilty.
I didn’t know Harry well, but he was a terrifically effective public servant. He did many great things for Monmouth County, which we all enjoy and benefit from today. I always appreciated his commitment to open space preservation in alliance with Judy Stanley. And I remember Democratic county employees whom he always treated with grace and kept on while the Rs controlled the board. Back when I was an active Democrat, I’d always vote for him in the booth.
Dan Jacobson
we can always count on you to call it as you see it, taking into account actual facts, rather then innuendo and character assassination. It is sad that many people are simplistic and so judgmental today, and so few remember how long and how much effort it took to get the county to be the great place it is: Harry used to say, each time a new improvement or addition came into fruition, they were doing it for ” the little guys and gals coming, 40,50,60 years down the road.” That,folks, is vision, and planning, and smarts. May the leaders of today treat our county with as much reverence and forward-looking, as opposed to quick- fixes and personal agendas. Thank you, again, Dan..
This is election year non-sense. This is called the Doherty – Cantor tax cut. The Rs are scared big time that this is the year they will have a big fight on their hands. These cuts are long over due and should have been made years ago but they did not do it. Now that they face getting beat they do this. The credits for these cuts belongs to Doherty!
The board has not been all Republican since 2008, in fact in 2009 it had a Democratic majority! And this is all one shot gimmickry, no matter what Tommie Arnone says. Nursing homes sold, not only do we get the bump from the sale, the county never has to pay for them again. There’s your cut. And how did they keep it level “scince 2008?” Deferred maintenance, deferred payments. While there may be less employees today and that’s a good thing, there’s still plenty of nepotism, favoritism and double dipping going on.
One more thing, about the Larrison years. You had some real bad characters towards the end that’s true. But you also had the “vision thing”, where they looked to the future and planned ahead. None of that today, more like crisis management.
There is no controversy here, he was a crook who was indicted and dies before he was brought to justice.
This public employees who one poster claims loved him are those who got their jibs BECAUSE of who they knew and were protected. Yea, they had careers, families and high paying jobs – probably way too high paying, and they retired on the public dime and continue to laugh because they know the truth.
But I want some. Tom Arnone said on ReOrg Day at the beginning of January to expect a tax cut, before Doherty or Cantor even got into the race. Let’s look at Doherty’s debt service in Belmar, if his Clerk (who just happens to be his lobbyist wife’s best friend) ever releases the numbers. Talk about nepotism. Wonder what the hold up is on this year’s budget in Belmar. Something the good mayor doesn’t want us to see, perhaps?
And I wonder if “At Steve Adams” and “Don’t know what Tim H is smoking” is the wannabe GOP Chairman of Neptune Township who used to dominate the comments of this site with his crazy rants.
Mr. Tom Arnone,
Please read below. Just some facts.