The federal government shutdown that began on Oct. 1 is creating more pain and anxiety as the days pass. Creative use of funds from a variety of sources have kept a number of government programs active, but the unused funds they have been depending on are drying up.
Military personnel, including the Coast Guard, received their mid-month check despite the shutdown, but the work-around employed does not guarantee continuation of pay in November if Congress fails to act.
As to the federal civilian workforce that could be affected in New Jersey, two federal government sources provide a glimpse of its size.
Most federal civilian employees, furloughed or working without pay, will continue to miss paychecks, and the pain will grow as the shutdown continues. The federal Office of Personnel Management says there were 22,684 federal civilian employees whose duty station was in New Jersey as of September 2024.
The Census Bureau provides data on the residences of federal civilian employees based on congressional districts. There are approximately 95,000 federal civilian employees who make their homes in the Garden State. Many of them have duty stations outside the state. For the 2nd Congressional District, which includes all of Cape May County, census figures show 9,271 employees as of 2024.
Department of Agriculture programs are also facing hard times if the shutdown extends into November. The USDA has warned that there may be insufficient funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in November. The program is running now on funds diverted to it.
In Cape May County there are 4,883 adults and 3,272 children relying on SNAP benefits. That amounts to roughly 8.5% of the county’s permanent population.
The WIC (Women, Infants and Children) nutrition program is also running low on unused funds that have kept the program functioning. The program provides supplemental foods, nutrition education and referrals to health care for low-income pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, and for infants and children up to age 5. State statistics show 1,009 individuals in the program in Cape May County as of the end of 2024.
Gregory M. Matuson, president and CEO of Sturdy Bank, said the shutdown prevents the bank from processing new Small Business Administration loan applications. While loan packages can be prepared, they cannot be submitted for government approval. If the shutdown goes beyond 30 days, he added, loans would be delayed in closing, which could have “real world consequences” in terms of postponed purchases and other business activities.
Matuson added that Sturdy has individual and business customers who are affected by the shutdown, “including federal employees, contractors, and local businesses that depend on government work.”
While real estate closings are still happening because flood insurance policies were settled before Oct. 1, that pipeline of prepared transactions is tightening. New policies cannot be issued, and the shutdown may soon start to affect and delay sales or closings. Renewals also cannot be processed.
The shutdown thus could soon have significant effects on property sales and closings, as transactions in flood hazard areas that depend on flood insurance and/or federally backed mortgages may start facing delays, causing some transactions to fall through.
Cape May County has 48,394 national flood insurance policies in force providing roughly $12 billion in coverage.
The five county shore communities with the highest number of in-force policies account for 72% of the total for the county. These towns – Ocean City, Sea Isle City, North Wildwood, Avalon and Wildwood Crest – all have more than 4,000 policies each, with Ocean City alone accounting for more than 15,000 active policies.
Other effects of the shutdown include delayed infrastructure funding, flight problems at airports like Newark and disruption of important projects like the Gateway tunnel in New Jersey and New York.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
