Stabilizing Essex County’s Finances
Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. has transformed Essex County from a struggling financial agency into one that has received its highest ever bond rating and a $90 million fund balance.
Under DiVincenzo’s leadership, Essex County’s bond rating improved from junk bond status to its highest rating ever. This is evidence of having a strong and stable financial foundation. It demonstrates the confidence Wall Street has in Essex County’s ability to pay its debts and will result in the county receiving significantly better interest rates when taking out bonds.
During the last five years, DiVincenzo has kept budget increases to an average of just 1.15 percent, which is significantly lower than the 2 percent property tax increase cap allowed by the State. Over the last 23 years, he has kept budget increases to an average of 2.03 percent, which is the third lowest percentage increase of the 21 counties in New Jersey. The Executive has stabilized the budget by eliminating unnecessary contracts, cutting costs, identifying new recurring revenue sources and streamlining the workforce from a high of 4,200 in 2002 to about 3,500.
In 2007, DiVincenzo implemented an initiative to stabilize the County’s debt service by refinancing existing debt without extending its maturity date and limiting the amount of new debt to a maximum of $20 million annually. This “debt diet” has enabled Essex County to gradually reduce the amount it pays in debt service each year.
Under DiVincenzo’s leadership, the amount of debt owed by the Essex County Utilities Authority and the Essex County Improvement Authority also has been greatly decreased. The ECUA paid off all of its $102 million debt in 2021 and is now debt free. The ECUA’s obligation has been reduced from over $1 billion to about $350 million.
Except for his first year in office, Essex County has introduced its budget by the January 15th state statutory deadline, which enables a framework to be in place at the beginning of the budget year.
When DiVincenzo took office in 2003, Essex County had a $64 million budget deficit and a bond rating that was one step above junk bond status. Essex County was being compared to Orange County, California, which previously had declared bankruptcy.