Gloucester residents and business owners will get a chance to have their say about the county’s draft budget when the board of supervisors holds a public hearing on the FY-2017 proposal at 7 o’clock next Wednesday night in the T.C. Walker Education Center auditorium.

The proposed $111 million budget, which includes a four-cent increase on the real estate tax rate, includes a 5 percent pay increase for both county and school staff.

Gloucester County Administrator Brent Fedors first presented his budget to the board of supervisors and the public March 1. In addition to employee raises, Fedors’s other priorities include full funding for maintenance of county facilities, giving the proper level of support to public safety and first responders, as well as taking on some high priority capital improvement projects.

If the proposed tax rate increase is accepted when the board of supervisors adopts its budget on April 18, it would change the county’s real estate tax r...