FLEMINGTON – Jeff Kuhl, the new director of the Hunterdon County Board of Commissioners, said at Tuesday’s reorganization meeting that while the county’s property tax rate will “freeze” in 2024, the county will embark on new programs to aid local municipalities.
Kuhl, who previously served on the Raritan Township Committee, said, “I am calling a new era of partnership to assist and support our local governments, with the goal of building a stronger future for all residents of the county.”
He said the commissioners will “leverage” the county’s financial condition to create two $1 million funds for grants to Hunterdon’s 26 municipalities.
One fund will be earmarked for road projects, safety signage, stormwater management and other infrastructure work.
The other fund will go toward local parks improvements, he said.
“Having served on a local governing body, I know that our municipal governments are the ones on the front lines in protecting the quality of life and keeping Hunterdon County a great place to live,” Kuhl said.
![Hunterdon County officials gathered for the annual reorganization meeting on Tuesday. Front row from left, Commissioner John Lanza, Deputy Director Susan Soloway, Commissioner Director Jeff Kuhl, Commissioner Shaun Van Doren and Commissioner Zach Rich; Back row from left, Sheriff Fred Brown, Clerk Mary Melfi, Surrogate Heidi Rohrbach and Prosecutor Renée Robeson.](https://investorminute.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/72099566007-reorg-group-2024.jpg)
This year will be the sixth in a row the Hunterdon County property tax rate will remain flat.
However, that does not mean overall property tax bills will stay the same as well.
The county tax is just part of the overall quarterly tax bill that also includes taxes for schools, both local and regional; municipalities, which funds police protection and local roads among other services; libraries and open space.
The county tax, depending on the municipality, usually ranges from 10% to 15% of the total property bill.
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In 2023, the county tax rate to fund the $108.3 million county budget was 31.5 cents per $100 of property valuation, the same rate as it was in 2018.
Kuhl also emphasized that “preserving land has been and will continue to be a priority.”
“I am the sixth generation of my family on the same farmstead in Raritan Township,” Kuhl said. “And I have been a lot of places in my life, but I have never been anywhere else that I would want to call home but Hunterdon County, God’s country as my father called it, and I am sure many of you feel the same.”
Kuhl’s father, the late Henry Kuhl, served as chairman of the Hunterdon County GOP for 35 years.
Kuhl said the county will come to the aid of farmers “by challenging some of the onerous state restrictions on farming.”
Susan Soloway was elected the board’s deputy director and Shaun Van Doren was sworn into a third term on the board.
Later this month Van Doren will also be sworn in as the 83rd president of the New Jersey Association of Counties.
Hunterdon County’s new surrogate, Heidi Rohrbach of Clinton Township, the wife of former Representative Leonard Lance, was sworn into office by retired New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Jaynee LaVecchia.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.