Gloucester County officials typically use the annual reorganization meeting as an opportunity to announce a new project for the upcoming year.

With the economic downturn, however, that will not be the case when the freeholders meet tonight.

Instead, the focus will be on balancing the budget without raising the tax rate something the county has managed for the past decade.

"Eighteen months of a bad economy has affected everybody," said Freeholder Director Stephen Sweeney in an interview with the Times this week. "We are going to get our budget in line because we are not going to raise our tax rate. ... As a government, we have a responsibility and a moral obligation to spend the public's money efficiently, prudently and in a way that improves their lives."

Faced with a budget deficit in 2010 ranging from $5 million to $9 million, the county has vowed to continue shrinking government.

"We're going to do everything we have to do to batten down the hatches," said Sweeney, who will return as director of the board.

Freeholder Jean DuBois, who is up for re-election at the end of 2010, said there are projects that county officials would like to do, but will have to "put off or put aside" in this dwindling economy.

"We have an obligation to go through this budget line by line," said Freeholder Joseph Brigandi Jr., who is also up for re-election at the end of the year. "We need to continue to eliminate duplication. ... There are too many people who are out of a job or going through foreclosure."

The Gloucester County tax rate has not increased since 1999 and has actually decreased a couple of times. It is now at 51.04 cents per $100 of true property value.

The county will look for savings first in insurance costs and other financial obligations.

The freeholders have approved a plan to become "self-insured," which could shave up to $2 million off the budget.

The county would still have coverage, but would save on administrative and overhead costs.

Self-insurance would not impact employee benefits, officials said.

"We're pulling out all the stops to save money," said Sweeney.

The freeholder board will then look to its nearly 1,500 employees to see whether they would agree to any concessions.

"All of the employees work hard," said Brigandi, "but I hope they will work with us to give taxpayers a break."

The situation looming in Gloucester County is "not unique," according to Sweeney.

The last thing the freeholders want to do, they said, is call for layoffs.

"We're going to have to go to our work force at some point and say, ÔThis is the number we have to get to,' " said Sweeney. "We're all going to sacrifice this year."

The unions are willing to listen, according to Richard Dann, president of CWA Local 1085 in Woodbury Heights, which represents about 1,000 of the county's workforce.

"We are certainly looking at the situation to see if there is something that we really need to do to prevent layoffs," said Dann. "Nothing has been determined for certain."

The county has suggested furloughs and wage freezes, according to Dann, but he said it does not appear those are going to be "viable or necessary."

"We want to explore what else we can do to prevent layoffs," said Dann. "It's a tough time to get laid off. ... We're pretty confident this can be done."

The county has already worked to eliminate jobs through attrition.

Some 100 jobs were eliminated through attrition in the past two years, according to officials, who are not planning to replace another 35 to 40 departing employees in 2010. The move has already saved close to $6 million.

The board intends to focus on construction projects already underway.

For example, Sweeney touted the South Jersey Port Corporation's recently completed sale of $157 million worth of bonds for the Port of Paulsboro project.

Also, work will continue on the U.S. Route 322 bypass and road improvement project, as well as the expansion of the county Justice Center in Woodbury and the addition to the Gloucester County Institute of Technology.

"Anything we've started, we're going to complete, but now is not the time to start anything new," said Brigandi.