County presents five-year CIP and proposed software purchase; staff flags tax pressure and borrowing for fire station

Gloucester County administrators presented a draft five-year capital improvement plan and an update on a proposed enterprise software purchase during the Board of Supervisors meeting on Feb. 4, 2025, saying the county faces a multi‑million-dollar gap in PAYGO funding and will likely need a mix of borrowing, use of reserves and a modest tax increase to meet near‑term capital needs.

County Administrator Steele led the CIP presentation and told the board the combined five‑year plan showed large capital requests that exceeded current PAYGO capacity. Staff and the county’s financial advisers have run multiple scenarios. Steele said borrowing for a proposed new Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Station would increase the real‑estate tax rate by “approximately a penny” and that, overall, the county would likely need a combination of postponed projects, use of a school‑sales‑tax reserve and a tax increase to close the funding gap.

Why it matters: staff cautioned that postponing capital projects raises costs over time and risks service losses such as playground replacements and other deferred maintenance. The proposed CIP…