A public commenter at the Bergen County Board of Commissioners meeting on Aug. 5 proposed a surtax on part-time payroll for large employers, arguing the surcharge would discourage employers from dividing full-time positions into multiple part-time jobs to avoid providing benefits and would raise funds to offset community costs tied to uninsured care.

The speaker said the surcharge would ‘‘dissuade the large employers from doing that’’ and also ‘‘raise money to compensate the county for what it's costing us as a community’’ because unpaid medical bills from uninsured part-time workers are passed on through higher hospital charges. The commenter added, “These companies are doing really well here, and it's not gonna chase them away.”

Nut graf: The proposal frames part-time payroll surcharges as both a labor-market incentive and a community-revenue mechanism; the speaker tied the idea to local health-care cost-shifting but did not present a draft ordinance, fiscal estimate, or legal authority for implementation at the county level.

Discussion: The speaker described the problem as employers reducing employees’ hours to avoid benefit obligations (healthcare, vacation, sick leave). He argued the county benefits that attract businesses create consumer spending that makes local operations profitable and said a surtax would both discourage the practice and compensate for shifted costs. No county staff member offered a response during the public comment segment recorded in the transcript, and no motion or vote on the idea was presented.

Decision/direction: There was no formal action, referral, or staff direction recorded in the transcript tied to this proposal; it remained a public comment.

Ending: The proposal was part of the public comment period and was not referred to a committee or placed on the meeting agenda during the session covered by the transcript.