Monmouth County is expected to maintain its tax rate for the upcoming year.

L to R Freeholder Deputy Director Gary J. Rich, Sr., Director Lillian G. Burry,
Thomas A. Arnone, Serena DiMaso and John P. Curley (Monmouth County Website)
L to R Freeholder Deputy Director Gary J. Rich, Sr., Director Lillian G. Burry,
Thomas A. Arnone, Serena DiMaso and John P. Curley (Monmouth County Website)
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A budget set to be introduced by the Board of Chosen Freeholders this Thursday promises to have no increase in the tax rate.

“This will be a flat tax rate for the fourth year in a row so what this means is the amount to be raised by taxation has not increased since 2011,” said Monmouth County Freehold Deputy Director Gary Rich.

While the county has practiced austerity measures through attrition and shared services, Rich said technology will be used to continue to save money. Noting new software which collects information.

“For example, we’ll be able to look and see in purchasing because it’s customized to the way Monmouth County does it with RFP’s and RFQ’s. On the finance side we now have the ability to look at how much we’re spending and where we’re spending. On the HR side it allows us to see where our people are as far as their contracts are. So it gives us a lot of data.”

He noted Superstorm Sandy would not have as large of a role in this year’s budget since many of the costs were paid off with reserves from the previous year.

“We paid a lot of our Sandy bills from the money we had in 2011. It’s not going to have a huge impact [this year], we’re just like everyone else, we’re trying to get the FEMA money.”

The budget will be announced on the 13th and will feature a chance for public comment. An additional public comment meeting will be held on 27th. He expects the budget to pass in April.

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