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Gloucester County administrator presents FY2027 budget with $6.5M gap; board hears options including tax and fee changes
Summary
County Administrator Carol Steel presented the FY2027 proposed budget showing more than $96 million in requests against an $89.5 million revenue projection, leaving an estimated $6.5 million operating gap; staff recommended options such as using FMRR reserves, pursuing a meals tax increase, or raising select fees, and presented a proposed 13% water/sewer rate increase.
Gloucester County Administrator Carol Steel on March 9 presented the County'Administrator'proposed FY2027 budget, laying out a $96 million-plus request and projected FY2027 revenues near $89.5 million under an equalized real-estate tax rate. Using those assumptions, Steel said the county faces an operating gap of roughly $6.5 million.
Steel told the Board the presentation showed the full requests from departments and external agencies rather than a narrowed recommended budget. Major drivers include personnel costs (the administrator proposed a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment), implementation of a 1% step increase to address tenure/compression, a sheriff's step plan for law-enforcement retention and a career-ladder adjustments, and a projected health-insurance cost increase that staff estimated could be as high as 30% for the county (schools projected 15%). Steel said nine new positions were initially requested but one part-time position was removed, leaving eight new positions in the full submission.
The superintendent's recommended school budget is…
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