(WHITE TOWNSHIP, NJ, March 23, 2022) – A spending plan for 2022 that reduces the tax rate by 3 percent won approval tonight from the Warren County Board of County Commissioners.

The $99.5 million budget will result in a decrease of the tax rate from 62 cents to 60 cents per $100 of property. It also includes $7.2 million in capital projects – road and bridge repairs, building upgrades and more – all paid for without incurring any debt.

“We are a pay-as-you-go county. We do not issue debt,” Commissioner Director Jason J. Sarnoski remarked, adding later that the budget also puts away money for future project needs. “You have to save as you go, too,” he noted.

Sarnoski and his Commissioner colleagues Lori Ciesla and James R. Kern III all praised county Administrator Alex Lazorisak, Chief Financial Officer Kim Francisco, and all of the county department heads for their work to produce a fiscally sound spending plan.

Additionally, Ciesla, in her second year on the board, and Kern, who just started his fourth, credited previous boards with setting the county on a secure fiscal path.

“It’s been years of sound budgetary practices,” Ciesla noted, while Kern remarked that “smart policies and very difficult decisions” made by officials in the past play a large role in Warren County’s financial stability.

Pointing to the rising cost of living, Ciesla said, “People are going to be facing a burden, but it’s not going to be due to us.”

Noting the county tax rate will decline 3 percent with this budget, Sarnoski remarked, “Who else does that? I don’t know of any other governmental entities.”

The budget is available to the public and can be downloaded.