Passaic County budget calls for 2% hike in tax levy
Proposed increase would be 1st since 2018
Passaic County’s run of flat tax levies is likely coming to an end.
The county’s Board of Commissioners this week introduced its 2024 budget, which calls for a nearly 2% increase in the county tax levy. If approved after a public hearing scheduled for next month, the $493 million budget would bring the first levy increase since 2018.
The proposed $6.8 million increase to 2023’s $347.6 million county tax levy can effectively be credited to an expected $7 million increase in health care and prescription drug benefits, continued investment in parks and infrastructure, and a desire to replenish reserve and trust accounts, said second-year County Administrator Matthew Jordan.
“This budget does a number of things that in our estimation are responsible financial practices, and most importantly it protects the county’s credit rating, which continues to be the highest in our county’s history,” he said.
Despite the proposed increase in the tax levy, many property owners are unlikely to see an increase in their tax bills due to a trend of increasing overall assessed value.
The county’s equalized property valuations have been on a considerable climb in recent years and jumped more than 11% from 2022 to 2023, state records show.
The county’s fund balance, or unrestricted surplus, also continues to grow on the back of conservative budgeting, Jordan said. The fund balance grew about $8 million to more than $106 million in 2023, county records show. That is about triple the $34 million held in 2015.
“We’re putting the board and the county in the position to deal with anything,” Jordan said.
The 2024 budget reflects the ongoing downsizing of the corrections division to compensate for the closing of the Passaic County Jail and outsourcing of inmates to Bergen and Hudson counties. Still, costs continue to rise in many other departments, including the Sheriff’s Office and Police Academy.
Passaic County in 2023 had the sixth-highest average residential property bill, at $10,923. In 2023, 13 of the county’s 16 municipalities had average total property tax bills over $10,000, an increase of four since 2018, state records show.
County taxes in 2023 made up 21.5% of Passaic County’s total tax levy, which includes school, municipal and special district taxes, state records show. The average county tax was 17.8% of the total levy. In Morris and Bergen counties, the county tax was less than 12%. In Union County it was 18%, in Sussex County it was 19.1 and in Hudson County it was 19.9%.
Nicolino Gallo, the Board of Commissioners’ lone Republican, was the only one of six commissioners to vote against the proposed 2024 Passaic County budget’s introduction. The budget’s public hearing and possible adoption have been scheduled for March 26, at 5:30 p.m. in the county Administration Building on Grand Street in Paterson, said board Clerk Louis Imhof.