Gloucester residents will have an opportunity to voice their opinions to county leadership about the county administrator’s proposed fiscal year 2019 budget and proposed tax rate increase on Wednesday, March 28. The public hearings will begin at 6 p.m. in the T.C. Walker Education Center auditorium. 

The $115.2 million proposed budget currently calls for a penny-and-a-half increase on the county’s real estate tax rate per $100 of assessed value. The proposed increase would equate to an additional $27.67 per year increase on an average real estate tax bill. The proposed budget is up about $1.95 million, or 1.7 percent, from the current year.

Calling his proposed budget lean and aggressive, Fedors said the tax rate increase is designed to tackle a very large challenge, which is the $3.04 million compensation deficit that county and school employees have seen building over the years.

The proposal provides a $1.86 million increase in local transfer to the school system,...