Published 7:39 AM EDT Apr 7, 2020Monmouth County is poised to approve a $452.8 million budget for 2020 that includes room for a roughly 30% pay bump for the county freeholders.Those same elected officials are poised to vote on the budget Tuesday at 2 p.m. during a meeting that will be live-streamed on the county's YouTube and Facebook pages.The 2020 budget shows $179,845 in the line item for freeholder salary and wages, which was up from the $136,900 budget last year. That's $42,945 above last year, a 31.4% increase.Freeholders make $27,000 a year with the freeholder director, the head of the board, making an extra $900.

Monmouth County is poised to approve a $452.8 million budget for 2020 that includes room for a roughly 30% pay bump for the county freeholders.

FREEHOLD, NJ – The Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders held a press conference on Friday, March 20 to announce the signing.

Those same elected officials are poised to vote on the budget Tuesday at 2 p.m. during a meeting that will be live-streamed on the county's YouTube and Facebook pages.

The 2020 budget shows $179,845 in the line item for freeholder salary and wages, which was up from the $136,900 budget last year. That's $42,945 above last year, a 31.4% increase.

Freeholders make $27,000 a year with the freeholder director, the head of the board, making an extra $900. That's been the pay since 2009 when the freeholder board at the time cut their pay 10% amid the Great Recession when they were forced to make severe cuts to the budget.

The county considered, but backed away from increasing freeholder salaries in 2018.

It's not clear if the freeholders will keep the line item increase for their salary and wages in place when they vote on the budget. The budget was introduced March 12, a day before the county shut down its buildings as a precaution to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

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Monmouth County Counsel Michael Fitzgerald did not respond to an email questioning the budget item. Freeholder Director Tom Arnone did not immediately return a message requesting comment.

About two-thirds of the budget — $311.5 million — will come from property taxes. That’s up about $6 million from the $305.5 million generated from taxing in 2019, an increase of just under 2%.

Of that $6 million, about $2.3 million will come from taxes on new construction, Monmouth County Finance Director Craig Marshall said in his March 12 budget presentation.

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It’s not clear what the tax increase will mean for individual taxpayers. County taxes are doled out proportionally based on the total property values of the towns.

So, if your town increased or decreased in value relative to other towns, you individually could be paying more or less in county taxes than last year. While the freeholders determine how much money they'll collect in property taxes overall, they don't get a say in how the county taxes are split among towns.

The budget is about $3.2 million higher than the 2019 budget with much of that increase coming from debt service and pay raises for all county employees.

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Pay raises for county employees, most of which are negotiated in union contracts, will cost about $4.9 million overall. That is largely offset by savings of about $4.5 million in other operating expenses, including reductions in:

• workers compensation costs;
• health care costs, which are down nearly $1 million;
• continued declines in the contract for youth detention services;
• lower pension costs;
• completion of renovations at the Seaview Square building in Ocean Township, which will eliminate the need for the county to rent space.

Susanne Cervenka covers Monmouth County government and property tax issues, winning several state and regional awards for her work. She's covered local government for 15 years, with stops in Ohio and Florida before arriving in New Jersey in 2013. Contact her at @scervenka; 732-643-4229; scervenka@gannettnj.com.

Contributing: Alex N. Gecan