Union County approves $58.4 million bond ordinance and $10 million capital ordinance; officials answer public questions

The Union County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday adopted two capital measures authorizing county spending and borrowing and responded to public questions about project details, useful-life assumptions and legal and construction costs.

Bond ordinance No. 858‑2025 passed on final reading by a 9‑0 vote; it appropriates $58,443,808 for various public improvements and authorizes the issuance of $43,186,098 in bonds and notes. The board also adopted capital ordinance No. 859‑2025, a $10,000,000 appropriation funded from the county capital surplus, by a 9‑0 vote.

Bruce Patterson of Garwood used the public hearing on ordinance 858‑2025 to press officials for more detail about the projects in the bond ordinance, questioning why some items listed as "Class B" public buildings were assigned a 15‑year useful life rather than 30 years, and asking why the county would pay $1.5 million to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for land connected to an ice‑rink expansion at Warren Acre Park.

"Paragraph l, why are we paying $1,500,000 to the NJDEP for land for our ice rink expansion in Warren Acre Park when it is already our parkland?" Patterson said. He also raised concerns about a $7.5 million…