County taxes will rise by about $9.50 on the average assessed home of $466,000 if the Bergen County freeholders adopt the 2019 budget as proposed by Jim Tedesco, the county executive.

The budget includes bumps in funding for the county's community college and vocational schools, as well as increased spending on insurance policies to protect Bergen against cybersecurity attacks and active shooters, county officials said this week.

A tax levy of more than $419 million will support the $545 million budget, which Tedesco, a Democrat, presented to the Freeholder Board last week. The spending plan is about $17 million larger than last year's, an increase of about 3.2 percent.

It's the first county tax increase in two years — the county government cut taxes by about $9 in 2017 and kept them flat in 2018. County officials said this year’s 2 percent tax levy increase was driven mostly by fixed costs in areas such as health care, pension payments, debt service and contractual increases.

"It reflects our priorities," said Tedesco, a Democrat who is in the first year of his second term. "It's a responsible budget that meets our needs and makes Bergen County a better place to live and work."

The projected tax rate for 2019 is just below 24 cents per $100 of assessed property value, according to the county's budget presentation. Officials said this is the second-lowest county tax rate in the state, and will bring the average county tax bill to about $1,105 for the average home, assessed at $465,962.

The executive's proposal kicks off the annual budget process, which includes 20 hearings in which freeholders perform a line-by-line review of each department. When that’s done, the Freeholder Board will approve the budget and send it to the state for review. The freeholders, all of whom are Democrats, can adopt it once the state signs off.

Germaine Ortiz, board chairwoman, said Tuesday that Tedesco's budget already aligns fairly well with the freeholders' priorities, which include maintaining education funding and providing money for mental health and infrastructure initiatives.

"There's so much we're focused on, but I'm happy that we're addressing basically every area that we feel is important," Ortiz said.

Employee benefits, pensions and Social Security continue to eat up the biggest chunk of the county budget: Nearly $125 million, or 23 percent, is devoted to this alone, budget documents show. Law enforcement, which includes the Bergen County Sheriff's Office, absorbs 21 percent, or $113 million. The county's departmental operations account for $106 million, or 20 percent, and debt service costs about $93 million.

The Bergen County Sheriff's Office is expected to bring in the most money — the county believes it will earn about $23.7 million in 2019 — and the county clerk’s office will likely follow with about $17 million this year, to supplement revenue from property taxes, according to budget documents. The tax levy and a variety of other fees, grants, bonds and shared service monies round out the revenue list.

The county also expects to take in $16 million this year in return for housing federal immigration detainees at its Hackensack jail. The county collected more than $17 million for the service last year, far more than the $7 million it anticipated.

The county again benefited from a rise in its total ratable value, which officials estimated at $178 billion. That's $2 billion more than last year, and $13 billion more than 2015. Those higher property values help keep the tax rate down.

The budget also includes a $5 million bump, to $78.7 million, for educational facilities like Bergen Community College and county vocational schools in Hackensack, Teterboro and Paramus.

Rising revenues from investment interest, shared service contracts and fees collected from parks and golf courses have also helped the county amass $48.6 million in reserve cash, budget documents show. That's $15 million more than it had four years ago.

Email: janoski@northjersey.com

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