Sussex County is proposing reduced spending next fiscal year.
County Council unveiled its FY 2021 budget proposal this week. The plan would have the county cut costs by about 15% from the current year to a total of $157.8 million.
This leaves shortfalls in grant-in-aid and capital projects including the county’s stormwater program and Western Sussex Business Park.
There are no new taxes or charges to county residents in the spending plan, other than $15 more a year for water.
Sussex County Finance Director and COO Gina Jennings says the baseline proposal comes amid the fog of the pandemic.
“This is due to COVID,” said Jennings. “We do not know how it’s going to affect our local economy, so we’re just going to take a very cautious approach.”
Despite the pandemic, the county is projecting a 2% increase in revenue. And, as Jennings points out, the proposal allows for supplemental increases in spending if the county meets certain quarterly financial metrics.
“So each quarter I would look at the revenues and if we have projected revenues lower than what we actually bring in, we can then start doing additional projects that we pushed off because of the baseline budget,” she said.
In addition to keeping the lights on, the proposed budget would put $10.2 million towards capital projects and maintain the county’s $3.4 million contract for supplemental state troopers.
It also includes $1 million in engineering costs for a new public safety complex and funding for 12 additional EMS positions.
$750,000 would go towards expanding broadband to rural areas and $1.7 million towards preserving open space and farmland.
The county budget is due June 30th. A digital meeting for public comment is scheduled for June 23rd.
