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Commissioners advance 2025 budget reading as administration outlines insurance and public-safety pressures
Summary
County administration told the Board of Commissioners that statutory accounts — especially public safety, psychiatric indigent care and health benefits — are driving budget increases as the board advanced the 2025 budget reading by roll call.
The Atlantic County Board of Commissioners advanced the county's 2025 budget reading on March 4, 2025, after the county administrator outlined factors driving higher expenditures, particularly in public safety and statutory accounts.
County Administrator Jerry explained that roughly $8.5 million of pressure appears in the budget due to several large accounts; he cited approximately $4.6 million attributable to public safety elements (prosecutor, sheriff, jail and related services) and noted psychiatric/indigent care payments had risen by about $750,000 this year. He also said health-benefit accounts are up, and that the county's practice of appropriating half of available surplus into the next year's budget has been a stabilizing policy.
Commissioners and the administrator discussed how the county's property tax rate can fall even as total revenue collected increases, because equalized property value (the denominator in the tax-rate calculation) has risen. Jerry said the county's equalized value has grown substantially over the last three years, which helps reduce the tax rate per $100 of equalized value even if the amount to be raised increases slightly.
Several commissioners praised administration's work during the budget process and asked for additional public-facing explanations. One commissioner requested that the county tax administrator provide a public presentation explaining equalized value and how municipal reassessments affect residents' tax bills.
The board recorded the reading by roll call and directed staff to provide more detailed budget charts and to schedule further briefings in subcommittee.
