Tax Hike In Proposed Essex County Budget (See The Latest Numbers)

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Essex County administrators have proposed a $874.1 million county budget for 2025, which would come with a tax increase for local homeowners.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. presented the county’s latest spending plan on Tuesday, saying it is “balanced and responsible.”

Property taxes in New Jersey are mainly made up of three parts: school, municipal and county.

If the county’s proposed budget gets a green light, the county portion of a homeowner’s taxes would increase 1.99 percent.

DiVincenzo attributed the increase to “ongoing national economic conditions and rising costs due to inflation” – the same factors cited for last year’s tax increase.

County tax increases have averaged 1.15 percent over the last five years. Over the last 22 years, Essex County has held the average increase in property taxes to about 2.03 percent, which is the third-lowest percentage rate of increase of all New Jersey counties behind Hunterdon and Monmouth counties, the county executive said.

“Our 2025 budget that we are presenting today increases Essex County property taxes by just 1.99 percent, which is lower than the state cap of 2 percent,” DiVincenzo said.

“This recognizes the financial hardships our residents have faced because of the rising costs we all are experiencing because of inflation,” he added.

The budget proposal has been forwarded to the Essex County Board of County Commissioners for review.

According to DiVincenzo, Essex County is “giving its taxpayers the best bang for their buck” by funding its annual operating budget with the lowest percentage of property tax dollars in comparison to the state’s other 20 counties.

DiVincenzo said the proposed budget relies on property taxes for 52.6 percent of its total revenue and that the other 47.4 percent is funded with “grants or other sources.” This includes funding for many recent construction projects – such as bridge replacements, intersection modernizations, the construction of community centers in the parks and other recreation upgrades.

Other counties rely on property taxes for an average of 72 percent of their revenue, DiVincenzo said.

According to DiVincenzo, he implemented a “debt diet” initiative in 2007 to stabilize the county’s debt service by refinancing existing debt without extending its maturity date and limiting the amount of new debt to a maximum of $20 million annually. In 2025, the debt service payment is $101.2 million, which will be reduced to $75.8 million in 2031, he said.

DiVincenzo’s office released the following additional budget highlights:

STAFFING – Staff layoffs have been avoided since 2004. However, the county’s workforce has been “downsized” by not filling open positions unless they are “essential to public safety and public health operations.” This includes positions such as nurses at the Hospital Center or Corrections Officers at the Correctional Facility. Over the last 22 years, Essex County’s workforce has been reduced from a high of more than 4,000 employees in 2003 to 3,593 in the 2025 budget proposal.

FUND BALANCE – The fund balance projected for 2024 is about $82.2 million. This reserve helps the county respond to emergencies, displays fiscal stability to bond rating agencies and has helped improve the county’s cash flow and avoid taking out Tax Anticipation Notes. According to DiVincenzo, $36 million in fund balance is being used as revenue in the 2025 budget.

RECURRING REVENUE – The 2025 budget is projected to have about $135.7 million of new, recurring revenue, which includes shared service agreements with other governments and government agencies and new fees.

PROPERTY TAXES IN ESSEX COUNTY

In total, the average Essex County property owner paid $13,448 in taxes on a home valued at $428,538 in 2023 – the highest in New Jersey. That amount is usually dominated by school and municipal taxes, with county taxes coming in third.

Some experts have pointed out that a high tax bill doesn't necessarily mean a homeowner is getting ripped off – it depends on what you get for the money.

“While no taxpayers in high-tax jurisdictions will be celebrating their yearly payments, it's worth noting that property taxes are largely rooted in the ‘benefit principle’ of government finance – the people paying the bills are most often the ones benefiting from the services,” researchers from The Tax Foundation recently wrote.

Want to see how much each town and city in Essex County paid in 2023, the most recent year of state data available? Check out the full list here: Essex County Homeowners Pay Highest Property Taxes In NJ

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