No Response Yet: NJ21st’s Questions on Union County’s 2025 Budget

Two weeks ago (09/07/2025) we emailed the Union County Board of Commissioners questions on the executive budget. I know –  we’re a bit late but we’ve been kind of busy and better late then never.  We never got a response back (not surprised) but we figured it would be a good idea to publish the questions as a way of increasing awareness and maybe motivating folks to follow the process more closely next year.

They were as follows:

UCIA Lease Payments – These doubled from about $10.6M last year to $19M this year. What exactly is driving that jump and is this a long term increase?

Debt Service – Total debt costs rose to $81.2M, up from $75.9M in 2024. What specifically are these increased costs tied to?

Cornerstone Psychiatric Hospital – With Cornerstone no longer in the county budget, there’s a sharp drop in health and welfare spending. How are mental health services for residents being handled now, and does the county still have any oversight?

Geriatric Care – Jumped from $200k to $1.7M. Is this connected to Cornerstone’s closure, or is something new being added for seniors?

Property Taxes– With federal and state aid falling from nearly $97M last year to about $15M this year, taxes appear to be covering about 72% of the budget. How does the county plan to ease that pressure on county residents going forward?

Link to Budget

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