$127M county budget approved

The Sussex County Board of County Commissioners approved the 2025 county budget at its meeting April 23.

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

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

Jill Space, deputy director of the board, pointed out that $100,000 was added to the budget to help fund the county’s food pantry.

She said an anonymous “angel donor” has been donating $2,500 a week to the pantry recently, rather than the $10,000 a week donated previously.

Commissioner Bill Hayden has raised questions about those donations.

During public comments, Ken Collins of Andover Township urged Hayden to resign after he was accused of falsely claiming to be a U.S. military veteran.

Hayden responded, saying he was accused of stolen valor after documents were presented to the press with his Social Security number and signature.

When he showed those documents to the State Police, they said, “Wow, someone stole your identity and used fraudulent documents to try and do this,” Hayden said.

”It got turned over to the prosecutor’s office never to be prosecuted. I think when you find out what happened, you’re going to be like, ‘Wow, this place is really wacked,’ “ he added.

College funding questioned

During a public hearing on the budget before the board voted, Collins said, “We’re throwing money away on the county college.”

He pointed out that Jon Connolly, former president of Sussex County Community College (SCCC), will be paid almost $200,000 “not to work for a year.” That is about half of potential cuts to the college’s budget under the proposed state budget, he added.

According to a March 27 agreement outlining Connolly’s plan to give up tenure as a biology professor at SCCC, the college will pay him $193,700, his base salary while he was SCCC president.

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

Also during public comments, Alan Antaki, owner of Sussex Airport in Wantage, outlined complaints against the airport’s neighbor, William Gennaro, who owns a hangar there.

Antaki said Gennaro is violating the township’s zoning law by renting space in the hangar for a variety of items, not just ones related to aviation.

“I’ve been asking the Town of Wantage to enforce their zoning for 10 years. We’re not going to have an airport much longer if someone doesn’t step up to the plate and do what they’re supposed to,” he said.

Chris Carney, director of the commissioners board, said county officials don’t get involved in issues that are before municipal governments.

”It’s not about caring. It’s what we have jurisdiction over. We don’t have jurisdiction over a municipality,” he said.

At the beginning of the meeting, the commissioners recognized the 60th anniversary of Norwescap, one of 23 community action agencies in New Jersey that support low-income households through health, education, employment and community services programs.