A week after Gloucester County Administrator Brent Fedors presented his proposed budget that called for a 1.5-cent increase on the real estate levy, supervisors were talking about a way that the tax rate could instead go down by a half-cent.

During a budget work session Tuesday night in the colonial courthouse, Fedors informed the board that the county will realize a $225,000 reduction in health insurance costs for its employees next year.

That, along with a 1-percent reduction in the proposed compensation fix for county and school employees, may allow for a half-cent reduction in the real estate tax rate for fiscal year 2019.

Fedors said that human resources director Pat Michura was able to negotiate the cheaper rate for health insurance costs over the past week with the county’s insurance carrier. This, he said, “could serve to reduce the rate.”

York district supervisor Phillip Bazzani picked up on Fedors’ analogy last week of the proposed budget being lik...