One of the biggest challenges Gloucester County will face in the coming year will be its budget. 

“Development of the fiscal year 2014-15 budget will again challenge county resources, as state and federal funding sources shift and reduce, especially with the increase in debt service resulting from the borrowing for the new Page Middle School,” according to county administrator Brenda Garton.

The Gloucester County Board of Supervisors reached a consensus during its meeting earlier this month to ask that Garton prepare next year’s county budget with the assumption that there will be no tax increases and no additional borrowings.

Garton said she already knew of an anticipated three-cent increase on the real estate tax rate because of the debt service on the new middle school. She said if the board will not allow a tax increase, the $1.2 million will have to be absorbed some other way.

To add to the challenge, the county&...