SCCC faces budget cuts

Sussex County Community College (SCCC) would have to cut its budget by $400,000 to $500,000 if Gov. Phil Murphy’s proposed budget is approved by the Legislature, interim president Cory Homer told the Sussex County Board of County Commissioners meeting Wednesday, April 9.

Murphy’s budget would cut about $64 million in county college funding statewide, down to the level of 2005, he said.

”That means higher tuition for our students. That means cutting programs, cutting faculty, cutting staff.”

Among the programs that could be affected are SCCC’s transition program for developmentally disabled adults, its program for adults returning to college to complete degrees, the hunger-free campus initiative and the dual-enrollment pilot programs with local high schools, Homer said.

SCCC representatives will be asking the public to write letters to legislators in support of retaining current funding for county colleges, he said.

Douglas Steinhardt, counsel to the board of commissioners, also is a state senator representing District 23, which includes parts of Warren and Hunterdon counties. He serves on the Senate Budget Committee.

He said his colleagues, including state Sen. Parker Space, R-24, are working to restore the funding to county colleges.

“It’s unconscionable to me that the budget in New Jersey ... has gone up in the last eight years almost $30 billion ... and they’re cutting from our students, from our kids, from the colleges ... and still finding ways to spend $2 billion more this year than last year.”

County administrator Ron Tappan said eight applicants for an opening on the SCCC board of trustees are being interviewed. A candidate is expected to be voted on at the commissioners’ meeting Wednesday, April 23.

Steinhardt reported that a judge has ordered the state to turn over documents related to the Andover Subacute nursing home during the coronavirus pandemic. The matter has been in litigation for more than three years.

County budget hearing

The commissioners will hold a public hearing and final vote on the proposed 2025 county budget at its meeting at 6 p.m. April 23.

The proposed budget, which was introduced March 26, is about $127 million with a tax levy of about $104 million.

The tax levy would increase slightly less than 1 percent. The budget is about 3.2 percent more than in 2024, partly because inflation has increased the value of ratables in the county to about $26.1 billion.

Taxes provide about 82 percent of the budget, grants provide about 4 percent and state aid about 2 percent. About $8.8 million is from the fund balance, money not spent from the budget the previous year.

About 22 percent of the budget goes to capital debt and statutory expenses, such as capital improvements and pension payments; 19 percent for public safety; 19 percent for insurance; 13 percent for public works, such as maintenance of county buildings, snow plowing and mosquito control; 10 percent for education, including SCCC and Sussex County Technical School; and 5 percent for health and human services.

The proposed 2025 capital budget is $13.7 million. It covers improvements at SCCC, Sussex Tech and county libraries as well as bridge improvement projects and vehicle purchases.

Tappan pointed out that the county’s AA+ credit rating is the highest rating possible for its size. “That’s a credit to all the department heads, the commissioners, everybody watching the budget.”

The commissioners also introduced bond ordinances providing about $8.5 million for capital improvements and equipment purchases for the county, about $3.7 million for the Sussex County Vocational School District sewer treatment plant project and about $1.2 million for improvements at SCCC.

Public hearings and final votes on those also will be April 23.

At the March 26, the commissioners voted to eliminate the telework policy for county employees as of April 1.

Jail for sale

At the board’s meeting Feb. 26, Chris Carney, director of the board, said a potential buyer toured the former Sussex County Jail, which is for sale.

The commissioners approved resolutions:

• Approving $189,969 for Van Cleef Engineering to provide construction management and inspection services on the Mudtown Road bridge over Clove Brook in Wantage.

• Authorizing an agreement allowing Elizabethtown Gas Co. to install a natural gas main on, over, under or next to the county bridge on Main Street in Sparta.

• Allowing Elizabethtown Gas to set up temporary traffic control measures as it expands its gas line along Main Street and Glen Road/County Route 620 between Celia Drive and East Mountain Road in Sparta.

• Appropriated $170,000 from the opioid settlement fund for as-needed substance use and prevention services by community-based organizations.

• Authorizing $160,000 from the opioid settlement fund for substance use and prevention services by Insite Health through February 2026.

InSite Health, which opened in Andover Township nearly a year ago, provides mental health services. The firm was awarded $300,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds by the Board of County Commissioners in July 2023 and used the money to prepare its facility and to hire staff.

The commissioners observed a moment of silence in memory of Aldon “Aldo” Sayre of Frankford who died Feb. 21 at age 103.

The World War II veteran provided the rooster call at the beginning of the Sussex County Farm & Horse Show for many years, Carney said.

Commissioner Bill Hayden was absent from the April 9, March 10 and Feb. 26 meetings.