Good evening everybody. Good evening everybody that came to our meeting. Hello Walter and good evening everybody at home. This is the Burough of Anel Mayor and Council work and regular session April
24th um uh 2025 7 p.m. Linda, will you please read the open public meeting acts announce announcement please and call the meeting to order. In compliance with the open public meeting act, the notice requirements have been satisfied. The meeting dates for the year are confirmed at the annual meeting, are posted on the
public bulletin board in the municipal building and on the burrow website, published in the record within the first 10 days of the new year, and copies are sent to the Ridgewood News and Star Ledger. Notice of this meeting by the April 14th, 2025 Sunshine Notice was sent to the record, the Ridgewood News,
and Star Ledger, and has been posted on the public bulletin boards in the municipal building and burrow website. Roll call, please. Councilman Yakarino, here. Councilman Oul, Councilwoman Homeman here, Councilwoman
Lisolo, Councilman Devisio here, Councilman Okonnell here. Mayor Wzinski here. Everybody please rise to salute the flag. I aliance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the stands one indivisible with liberty and for all. All right. So I am going to do a quick agenda review and then we
will go into our budget presentation. So, it is our big budget presentation and we have our auditor here, Paul Lurch. Um, next we have our approval of minutes. Actually, I'd like to make a motion to approve March 27th and April
10th working regular meeting. So, move second, please. Second, please. Second. Second. Councilman Yakarino. Yes. Councilwoman Hman abstain from 327 and
410. Council Mandel uh Council Mandelio. Uh yes, I I don't think I was there for one of those and I can't remember which one. Uh you weren't there for the April 10th. So I abstained from that one. Yes. On the other one. Okay. And Councilman
Connell abstain from March 27th. Yes. Through the 10th. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. We have our second reading for the uh ordinance to exceed the budget cap. This is something that we do um every year.
We also have our second reading on the um our code ordinance. Um we have a non our non-conforming structures. This is um oh this is um this is been to our land use. Sorry, it sounded funny on the
um on the title where um if if somebody is doing um a a structure that is a um an accessory structure that we actually changed the ordinance. So the sideyard setback is going to be the actual height of the structure versus
right now we have it at uh six feet and some of the structures now that are getting built are two stories so it's becoming very cumbersome to Wait, remind me where that is. So it's a second reading. Second reading and then we have inter um introduction of ordinance
258. So this is uh use of public places uh definitions uh recreational facilities fees and then we have our introduction to our budget. Then we have the consent agenda which some items to
highlight. Um we are uh well a couple things authorizing to release escrow funds that was for the building that's um downtown. We have um authorization for Crestwood Lake Saries. We're actually getting ready to open the lake soon as well as soliciting bills for our
concession stand which is also a very good sign because our concession stand is coming along quite nicely and we have our list of bills and appointment of a radio dispatcher. So before we go to our presentation, I'd like to open the meeting to the public
to see if there's any items that the public would like to comment on. Not seeing anyone, then now I'd like to call up our auditor, uh, Paul Lurch, to give us our 2025 municipal budget presentation. Thank you,
mayor. Um, okay. So, good evening everyone and um as the mayor indicated, uh we're here to discuss the 2025 budget um which was introduced at the previous meeting. Uh the budget went through a review at
the division of local governmental services um and so it is ready to be approved and voted on um by the council. Um, I want to start out by just talking a little bit about uh 24 and the
operations of 24 uh before we get into into the actual 25 budget document itself. Um 24 was a a very successful year for the Burough of Allenale uh fiscally speaking. Um a couple of highlights that I do want to
point out is that u the year end surplus increased from the year before by a million dollars. uh which is again a positive sign. Uh in 24 the council chose to pay off the COVID special emergency that still had
multiple years left. Uh that's really a sign that that you're doing financially uh uh that you are financially sound and you're doing well. Um normally most communities would not pay that off in advance. Um so that's a rare uh occasion to see. Um which is which is great. I
mean and I think that shows again how progressive you were. Um, one of the other items I did want to point out is that we also establish reserves. And one of the reserves that was established, but also was increased during that fiscal year, this is a reserve for tax appeals. So what happens is when tax
appeals are filed and if we're unsuccessful and we need to refund those taxes and as everyone here knows that when we refund taxes, we not only refund the municipal portion, but we refund the county and the school as well. So uh they do become costly from from a
municipal people actually don't realize that. Right. Right. So we're responsible to collect those taxes for those agencies and then of course if if the collection was in excess because of the values were disputed we have to refund all those components. So what happened
in 24 is that that reserve balance went from $400,000 to over $900,000. So that's wonderful. So now we our surplus went up at a at a higher amount. um our reserve for tax appeals for future appeals is now sitting at that
$900 um,000 number. One of the other reserves which we do like to see is the reserves for storm recovery. And so even though this particular year was a light year from storm's perspective, um the statute does
allow for municipalities to reserve money for a rainy day if you will uh dealing with specifically with storm recovery activities. So that reserve also increased up to almost $500,000 now. So not only did surplus go up, we
ended the year a million more than the year before. Um we've got this tax reserve for for that particular rainy day, we've got storm reserve now set up for that particular day. And really what that does, it gives you the ability, especially if you get caught in a in a in a situation from a a budget
perspective that it becomes difficult. So we know that we don't have to budget our way out of those particular expenses. We actually have money set aside uh for those particular um uh requirements. Um and one of the other things is also
we'll talk a little bit about when we go through the budget is a capital improvement fund. So the capital improvement fund is money that's set aside for facility improvements, capital improvements in the community. Typically what most municipalities will do is they would use that capital improvement fund
to fund only 5% of the total estimated cost. Well, you have the ability now because that that dollar value is increasing um and the fund balance itself once we get through the 2025 budget process um and add what is
budgeted to the existing balance that capital improvement fund number is going to be over $2 million as well. So that's going to provide you the opportunity to also pay as you go on some of these capital improvements. Again, you'll see that if you look at most
municipalities that are are are I shouldn't say struggling, but that are just getting by and making ends meet. They're just providing the minimum, which is only 5% of the total cost, and then we're borrowing the money and going out to debt. Something that certainly you don't need to be doing go forward looking at these balances. So fiscally
speaking, I think, you know, listen, Allenale is in wonderful shape right now. Uh, financially speaking, uh, 24 was a very successful year. Um, and, you know, that into 25 and 25's budget. And, uh, before I actually get into that, I
did take a look at the, um, the budget newsletter that was sent out, and I really think it was an excellent job, and I think that everyone who was involved should be commended. um our our wonderful CFO um Allison Alano, we um she she
uh sharpened up her canvas skills. We actually did it for the first time last year. Um we used to have a finance advisory committee and then we thought it would just be better to send more detailed information and be super transparent to the public. So, um I feel like we really last year was our first
year we tried to get the information out and and we want feedback from the public too and I think um this really was great information as clear as as could be. I think it is and and after I read it today again and I looked at it and I'm like well there's really nothing for me to say anymore because it was really
spelled out u very u eloquently and precise and um so I think listen you know it says everything for anybody who's really interested about the budget and what's happening. Um, some of the highlights for me is is that when we look at the revenue side, and again, I'm not going to belabor all the details.
Um, you know, revenues are solid. The budget on the appropriation side is very solid. You're not you're not seeing major fluctuations in one one area or the other. Um, obviously in the revenue side, the biggest increase now is the cell tower, which you now took over and you've increased and I tripled maybe the
the amount of cell towel. So, um, very difficult for municipalities to come up with new revenues as we all know, right? It's we're we're always trying to tap the same revenues and that's hard to do. Uh, especially when costs are escalating plus the living easily 4% or more, you
know, for the last four or five years since CO. Um, so, um, that's great to see on the revenue side. Um, state aid was down and that's just from the state of New Jersey, their allocation to us. Um that was actually a decrease of roughly that
$100,000. Um but really that's the major real issue or or or item to note. Um we've been rules the ARPA money from last year, but that ARPA money really wasn't used for operating expenses, which is exactly what you want to do. You want to use it for a capital expense, a one-time uh funding source.
So that really didn't affect us from a tax perspective. Um and then we look at the amount to be raised. It's, you know, call it 1%. um it's really almost um insignificant in that portion and when you look at your you know what you've done over the past 3 years it's really
effectively almost zero I mean you know obviously years before that it was a little more it was a different situation um but you know when you look at 23 24 and 25 effectively it's you know it's pretty pretty much almost a flat tax rate or or I should say tax rate it's a
flat dollar amount to an average house because we're doing rolling assessment so what happens is our values go up every year at the true value and our tax rate then typically decreases because those values are going up um compared to the dollar that we're actually trying to
raise. So from that perspective, you know, your tax rates constantly gone down, which what the newsletter shows, but the effect on an average house has really been flat for three years. Um so I mean that's pretty much all anybody would really typically want um going
through the process. And as far as revenue allocation, you know, as we have the presentation, but it really doesn't change it really. It's pretty much the same consistently where your dollar goes or where it comes from. Um, obviously in New Jersey, it's mostly taxation.
Roughly 70% gets through taxation. Um, tax levy, as as everyone probably knows, we have we have two levy caps. my opinion on two levy caps, but um we have a tax levy cap which which limits
the amount that you can raise in taxes. Um and believe it or not, if you chose to, you could actually raise another $3.2 million. So we can go from a tax levy of 11 million. We can go all the way up to $14.3 million and still be within the
limitations. Okay. So, um, you know, you guys are obviously doing a great job when we see that kind of that kind of banking or cap bank that's available. So, we are below the maximum that we can raise in tax dollars by over $3 million. You see that a lot in the municipalities
that you uh cover. Well, it it does fluctuate. Um, you know, I think the hardest cap is really the spending cap and and most municipalities do have some kind of leeway, but not 3 million compared to 11. I mean, you're talking 30% or more
here. So, um, you know, that's that's a large cap. Um, spending side, again, I think I kind of hit the highlights. I mean, your biggest increases are typically what what everybody's seeing, right? It's insurance. Insurance is going up dramatically everywhere.
Um and that's certainly something that um that you know it's hard to get your your hands on uh from a governing body perspective. Not many options on that particular side. Um so that that's you know that's really your biggest component. Of course then you have your normal salaries and wages
and then your pension numbers. Um but again from a from just looking at it from a comparative standpoint in 24 to 25 really all the pretty well flat really nothing really stands out. I mean, you know, the library contribution
is up a sizable percent because it's up $80,000. Um, you know, that could be partly due to the fact that we're doing rolling assessments, so always current. So, we're going to get a hit hit a little bit harder on the library side. Um, I'm seeing that as well. Um, and
then really, um, the other items really are pretty much for the most part kind of kind of flat, fluctuating a little bit here. Um, where does the money go? it really stays pretty constant. I think if you looked at it and I looked at last year's numbers comparatively percentage- wise,
how does it get spent between public service, insurance, uh you know, obviously insurance is is is it's is inching up because we keep having these 20 20% increases. So, of course, the police supply is constantly going up. Um it's just it's a tough scenario that's
just um it's it's worldwide. The reality of today insurance is is a problem. Yes. And then we get into the appropriation cap. This goes back to
uh 1970s, believe it or not. And um so, you know, the state of New Jersey, they come up with an idea. We have to try to limit taxes. How do we limit taxes? Well, they first attacked it on the spending side. Uh but in reality, it doesn't really matter how much you spend, right? It's how much you tax.
That's why this is kind of like to me it's it's it's an antiquated cap if you will. A lot of municipalities are now having problems on the cap. Like for instance, we talked about the the tax levy cap. You're three million under, right? But on the spending side cap, you're only 300,000
under. You know, to me, it's it's it's what's really relevant is what you're taxing the homeowners. What are you taxing the average house? It's not how much you're actually spending. Um, and I think you will see changes in this. I we we spoke to the division. They did allow some exceptions at the end and I think
they're going to try to permanently allow pensions, but in reality, you know, honestly, they should just do away with that appropriation cap. Um, but you're still under it. And then, as I indicated, you know, with your your total tax rate is is decreasing. Uh,
it's going to go, and I'm only going to focus on the municipal side. It's going to go from 0 549 to 0 518. Um, so that's going to be a decrease on on the actual tax rate and
[Music] your tax dollars we we looked at last year. It hasn't really changed again of that total dollar that each individual sends in or homeowner or a property owner sends in. 26 cents goes to the municipality. All the rest of it 63 goes
to the school. 11 11 cents of that $1 goes to the county. So, we're having our budget hearing. We're having our budget hearing. We're on 26% of the total tax levy. Um, and mayor, I think that's it. We'll
open for me. So, um, if you have any questions, the public has any questions, but again, an excellent job, uh, on the budget for for 25. And, you know, looking forward, I don't see why you this shouldn't continue really. I mean, I think you're in a position to continue with with, uh, stability. when you were
um when we were talking earlier, you said something about Allenale um having a reputation of having very high taxes. Well, I think that was that was a reputation probably doesn't exist or shouldn't exist anymore, right? When you look at it, um you know, Allenale typically was one of those communities
that people would associate with high taxes. Um but I think that you know when you look at the the zero practically a zero increase for three years in a row and the fact that I think looking down at the future that you know you have the the base and the ability to stabilize
this hopefully for a very long run. Um I think we're flipping that to a uh to a tax to a community that's not on the on the upper end of the echelon. And that's what's driving property values as well too, right? Because I think that it's that perception, right?
Yeah, it becomes a more desirable community because they know that, hey, listen, they're stable now. We're not we're not seeing these crazy, you know, increases. Yeah, it's true. Because people sometimes say that, oh, Allenale has high taxes. I'm like, take a look. Take a look at other towns. We don't anymore. And it didn't start just with this administration, the past
administrations, too. We've really buckled down and we're very serious about the budget. You know, you talked about spending. Insurance is something. It's one of those even though we only have 26, you know, percent and some some of that 26% there's not anything we could do. It's statutory, right? insurance obviously being one of those,
but we're still looking into that. We're looking into other companies. We're looking into other um things that we can do that are being offered with the state spending plan. We always go for grants. Always, always, always go for grants from like right now we enjoyed um a big grant for the community center this year
of um $750,000, but we also got another grant for $2,000 just for to help decorate, you know, and get historic pictures at at Burough Hall. So, and and everything in between. A $40,000 one for our firehouse. We are going for almost $300,000 for new tennis courts off the
Crestwood Lakes. So, we're constantly trying to um go to the county going to the state and utilize, you know, every opportunity that we can to help um save taxpayers money and spend money wisely. And we look at that throughout the whole entire year, not just when we're
actually planning to budget. So, I appreciate that. I like hearing all that. I I do have one question. Uh you said we had uh 900,000 or 500,000 in our rainy day reserve. Is there any cap on how high that can go up? There there's no
cap on the um storm reserve, storm trust. Um there's technically a cap on the tax appeals. It really just has to be certified from the assessor as long as the assessor certifies it. Um, I've never seen any cap apply to it, but it
just requires the assessor signature. So, that's the only caveat on that. Um, but I mean, I've seen I've seen tax appeals, not here, but in other communities that, you know, we're going down to Trenton and we're asking for forgiveness or permission, I should say
permission to spread out payments over five, seven years, you know, uh, it's unbelievable some of the, uh, some of the tax appeal, the commercial, right? It's all commercial because let's say at the end of the day I think you know um I think when you look financially you know residential properties the values if
they change and they change a little bit on appeals they're not high dollars. We can pay our way out of it. Now we have a million dollars in reserve we can get ourselves that's not an issue. It only becomes an issue when you have large commercial properties and if they're successful and if they're successful over multiple years um that's when it
becomes a problem. Um but we're sitting on a million bucks. Um I think you know you're doing well. So, I don't really see any real exposure, you know, from that perspective either. Yeah, I think the reassessments are definitely helping with that. Just keeps us right in tune. Um, yeah. And as far as just capital in
general, we've, you know, we've completed the community center. We're actually completing our new concession stand now. And after that, the next big project would be the tennis courts. And other than that, you know, I think a lot of our big capital expenses are um, you know, besides roads and infrastructure
ongoing, the ongoing, right? the ongoing capital. Yes, community center looks nice. I haven't been inside, but it looks nice from the outside. So, it's really nice. Nice to see 220, 230. Finally, finally, right? 210. Now, I had it was really hard for me. Now, it's
220. You know, they're like, we really should. Oh, and you just reminded me, right? So, we have the one pilot on on 220 230. Now, we're starting to catch the other one again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The pilots. And that's going to be going on for 30 years. Yeah. So, um, that's a nice little And we won the lawsuit, the
litigation lawsuit that we had when we purchased the property. Um, we had a contamination issue and even though we did our preliminary assessment and our phase one, so we went and we fought that and actually we're very happy that the judge agreed with us and we have a
$850,000 settlement. Yes, I remember that. And I remember how a runaway that was on a cost. It was like, you know, we thought, well, we're going to have all this profit from this sale. We're going to do the community center. we're going to be able to do this and do that and all of a sudden that became less and less a reality. Um, that's great and and that's a good reminder again uh, mayor
because that's also in the budget for the public that's in there as a revenue and you're not spending it on operating, you're putting it in for capital improvements down the road. So yeah, I mean I think you know financially again I don't want to beat a dead horse here but you know keep it up. Thank you. Does
anybody on the council have any comments or questions? No questions. Um, just compliments to the mayor, the finance team, Councilwoman Pullman, L Solo, Allison, and our auditor team. Great job. I work with other towns and seems like we're in pretty good shape. So, kudos to them. Anybody from the public
wish to comment on the budget? Walter, come on up. Thank you, Paul. State your name and your address for the record. 30 38 Hamilton. Curiosity. Sure. What's a delinquent tax?
What is a delinquent tax? Delinquent tax. Oh, that's for for uh that's what the fund that Paul was just talking about. If people don't pay their taxes, they we have to have a fund for delinquent taxes that because we still have to pay the schools and the
county. So, it's a fund I think. Do you have to put money in that every year by law? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. the mayors are going to the reserve for uncollected which actually funds the uncollected. Okay, you can explain it better please. Right. So what happens is is that at the end of the year inevitably not
everyone's paying their taxes. We wish they would but they don't. And as I indicated before I know, believe it or not, not everyone pays their taxes on time before the end of the year. And as I indicated before, we're responsible to pay the school all of their money, the county
all of their money. And then we have to run our own operation on it. And so what happens is we have this balance of delinquencies at the end of the year and we take a percentage of that balance and we realize in the subsequent years a revenue. So that's the revenue for
people that didn't pay us in 2024 that we're going to collect in 2025. So they still have to pay it. Walter, it's Yes, it's it will be collected to uh usually 100% if not quite 100%. It's very close to 100% but it does get
collected just a little bit late and then we collect a tremendous amount of interest on that as well. So yeah. Yeah, we're pretty good in Allenale actually but it's not too bad here. Yeah, we don't have we don't have that major issue. Anybody else from the public wishes to speak questions on the budget?
Well, I would personally like to thank um our CFO Alison Alano as well. Um you know she's just I feel very confident when we go through the budget with her. You know, we went through it lots of times. Um there's so many different ways of looking at it. There's so many ways of presenting it. You know, the tax
rate, the municipal rate, and um we really just wanted to try to make it as as clear as possible. And if anybody has any questions, you know, we're very happy to ask them. But um like I was saying, you know, we really try to um all year, you know, keep an eye on the budget. We um Allison sends budget
reports to each one of the departments. We ask them for reports on that um you know where they are in the budget compared to where they you know compared to the year. So we just track it all year long and um yeah and we're always looking for ways to um to get revenue.
We're actually Suzanne Lois and I councilwoman Lo are going to um a mayor's meeting down in um Atlantic City and one of the uh seminars that we're going to go to is actually going to be talking about different ways for municipalities to uh increase their revenue. So, always looking for creative
ways. They're out there. You never know. So, um I would also like to thank uh Councilwoman Lovolo and Council President Liz Hman on the finance team for all their work on this and um Paul Lir, our auditor for keeping us in straight and narrow and uh keeping us
all buttoned up. So, with that, we'll continue. Anybody else? Any other questions, comments? All right. Thank you very much. I will see you. You you don't have this day if you don't want. Yeah, you have. We'd love to have you. You
probably have a lot of uh I I've made sure there's one of the council members. Oh, yeah. We're in good shape. I was a little nervous. We had somebody last minute that is at a funeral.
Thank you, Paul. Take care. All right. Next we have second reading on ordinance [Music] 25-05. Will you please read that ordinance? The following ordinance was first read by title only on March 27th,
2025 and posted on the bulletin board of the lobby of the municipal building and burrow website. Ordinance 25-05, calendar year 2025, ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish
the cap bank. We have um do I'd like to open up to second reading open up to the public ordinance 25-05. This is the cap bank um that he was talking about. We are by law allowed to increase the cap cap bank to what it say three and a half. So, we
actually don't necessarily go there, but we want to at least have that opportunity and option if we if we need to. So, with that, I'd like to open it up to the public. Does anybody from the public have any comments on ordinance 25-06? Not seeing anybody. Do I have a
motion? So, move toman. I'm sorry. That was ordinance 25-05. Do I have a motion on 25-05? And a second, please. Second. Welcome. Councilman Yakarino. Yes. Councilwoman Homeman. Yes. Councilman
Delizio. Yes. Councilman Okonnell. Yes. All right. So, next we have um ordinance
25-06. So this is a code a code um uh infor a code ordinance. Uh this was actually brought up to the land use board last night actually and Monday. Oh no and yeah Monday and last night we voted on it. So um this is to actually
to really streamline the process for our um our our residents. So if there is um we have this kind of um uh altering sideyard setback. So the larger your square footage is it actually increases
the sideyard. So this makes it so some people don't actually have to come to the land use board if they are they are actually building within their their footprint because sometimes it's making the sideyards just too big and it really kind of doesn't make any sense. And this is actually
um in alignment with what a lot of other towns do. So I'd like to open up to the public ordinance 25-06. Uh not seeing anybody I'd like to bring back. And do I have a motion to approve ordinance 25-06 and Wait. So
move. Yep. And second, please. Second. Second. Linda. Um did I read that one? So yeah, the following ordinance was first read by title only on March 27, 2025 and posted on the bulletin board of the lobby of the municipal building and
burrow website. Ordinance 25-06, an ordinance to amend, supplement, and revise the code of the burrow of Allenale, additions to non-conforming structures, chapter 270-37A. Thank you very much. Next, we have introduction to ordinance 25
But we have to take the vote. Councilman Yakarino, I'm sorry. Councilwoman Hman, yes. Councilman Delawio, yes. Councilman Okonnell, yes. Okay. Next, we have introduction to ordinance 25-08. This is an ordinance uh
public p public places. Uh this is with regards to our community center. Um we don't have intentions of charging residents. However, there is some opportunity for revenue. Just recently, we had um a film crew that gave a
donation of $2,000 uh to our town because they wanted to use the community center for um for their lunch. So, we didn't have an ordinance in place to collect fees. So if there's any opportunities like that, again, we want to actually have something in place so we could actually charge, you know,
outside people, but it's not really going to be used as a place to, you know, get revenue and rent because we really want to keep it tight with our community. Um, but we're just having that just in case. So, um, so that's ordinance 25-08. Linda, will you please read the
title? Ordinance 25-08. Ordinance amending chapter 203, public places, article 3, section 19, definitions, and section 20, use of recreational facilities, fees, rules, and regulations of the code of the burrow of Allenale.
Do I have a motion? So move. Second, please. Second. Councilman Yakarino, yes. Councilwoman Hman, yes. Counciloman Delawio, yes. Councilman Okonnell, yes. Okay. Now, next we have a resolution for our
budget. Our budget is a resolution, not an ordinance because it changes every year. I'm just going to read um ordinance 25-08 has been introduced upon first reading and will be published in the Wednesday, April 30th, 2025 edition of the record and will be taken up for
further consideration and final passage at the meeting of the mayor and council on Thursday, May 8th, 2025 at 700 p.m. or soon thereafter. Thank you very much. And Linda, will you please read resolution 25-125 of the 2025 local municipal
budget? It's a 2025 municipal budget, municipal budget of the Burough of Allenale, County of Bergen for the fiscal year of 2025. That's my title. Okay. I'd like to open up the meeting to the public on any comments of the 2025
uh local municipal budget. Not seeing anybody. I'd like to bring that back in. Um, resolution 25-126. We need a motion for 125. Oh, for the just the title. Okay. May I
please have a motion for uh the reading of the title of resolution 25-125? So move. Second, please. Second. Councilman Yakarino. Yes. Councilwoman Homeman. Yes. Councilwoman
Leo, I'm sorry. Council, what I council Mandelisio, I'm not sure what I am, but yes, we need you. Councilman, no problem. Important.
I'm sorry. Not a problem. Okay. So, now resolution 25-126, which is the adoption of the 2025 local municipal budget. Do I have a motion? So moved. Homeman. Second, please. Second. Councilman Yakarino,
yes. Councilwoman Hman, yes. Councilman Deloio, yes. And Councilman Okonnell, yes. All right. Um, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Second, please. Second. Councilman Yakarino.
Abstain. 25132. Yes. On the balance, please. Councilwoman Hman. Yes. Councilman Deloisio. Yes. Councilman Okonnell. Yes. All right. Next, we have you of our reports. We'll start with our
staff reports. Um Allison Alano, our CFO, bureau administrator. I need another word for that. Flash like Yeah. Okay. So, I want to thank Paul for his budget presentation. I feel like there's not
much more for me to say about the budget. Um, but like he stated, you know, the bureau is in a great financial position. Our tax rate is continuously decreasing. We're constantly ensuring we're fiscally responsible. Um, the amount to be raised by taxation
increased only 1%. That really only comes up to, you know, as he was saying, we're collecting just over $11 million. We only increased at 41,000 from last year. I mean, pennies compared to what we're raising. Um it's largely due to
our increase in surplus as he discussed their increases in appropriations and our increases in other uh municipal revenues. Like he said, you know, the budget newsletter is filled with everything we possibly thought would be informative to the residents in terms of
anything large that occurred this year, anything that we're seeing moving forward. Um, I want to thank Mayor Wilkins and the finance committee, Councilwoman Lisa Solo and Councilwoman Hullman. Um, over the last two years since I've worked here, we've all worked
really hard together and diligently to really go through the municipal budget and the finances and I feel that all the work that we put together, we're going into 2025 with a very solid budget. And not just for 2025, but it's really set
us up for many years to come. between the capital, the reserve, we were able to accumulate this year, you know, we're really in a good place where when I started there were a couple places that I was like, "Oh, there's no like what ifs, you know, and we have that now." And that's a great feeling because, you know, we're not going to get into that
point where we have to play catchup one year. Um, so thank you to everyone again. And then lastly, I just want to thank Chief Dylan for organizing such a great bring your child to work day today. I called him at about 10:00 yesterday morning to arrange an event
and no hesitation he agreed and today him and his officers put together an amazing visit at the police department followed by a visit at the fire department and all the kids really enjoyed the thank you All right.
Thank you mayor. Um, Crestwood Lake registration opens April 29th and the municipal clerk's office will be open um until 900 p.m. on May 8th and May 20th um to accommodate the residents. We also
offer a notary service. We have um three of us in the office are notaries. Um and also uh most more importantly the financial disclosure statements are due April 30th. I did mine today. Next Wednesday. So there are 24 people who
haven't filed 23. I did mine. I'm on it. We're on it. Die sends out a second notice. Thank you. Thank you. A lovely email. Oh, I'm I'm glad you all got it because I only saw my name out. I'm like, am I the only one? Yours. She blind. No, I
got it. So, don't worry. Um, also the uh June 3rd is the deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot um by mail and uh early voting period is June 3rd through June 8th. And uh you can find more information on elections
um on our burough website. All right. Do I have anything else, Daddy, that I miss? Daddy, do you have anything to report? [Laughter] really nice tags for them. I saw that.
You just enjoy every day. I love it. Thunder. Funny. That's what I say to my students. Chief Mike Dylan. Well, thank you, Madam Mayor. So, we have our reacreditation inspection next week. That's a two-day event much like next week. Oh wow. So
much like uh the budget being audited, our entire department gets audited every three years and it's compared to best practices uh through the New Jersey State Chief's Association. So we have a mock assessment two days next week and then I'll be in uh somewhere in state uh
at a hearing at some point uh to testify uh you know or I guess respond to any inquiries the panel may have. Um usually historically it's gone smoothly, no issues. We work very closely with an accreditation agency, a project manager. So um everything looks good and
promising and will be good for another three years. It's a tremendous amount of work, but um I do think it it proves it worth uh with our insurance premiums and also operationally. Uh so we're looking forward to putting that behind us. And then on May 3rd at noon, uh Allenell
Recreation Commission's opening day ceremonies that begin for baseball and softball. and I'm happy to announce that Mark Dunn will be throwing out the first pitch. So, uh, I'm actually a member of the commission and they are very excited to
support Mark. So, we all look forward to that. That is great. Thank you. It's going to be a really nice day. All right, council reports. Councilman Yakarino. Thank brief. Oh, I forgot you TJ. I I All I'm saying is someone who had uh uh
two kids in my office for take your child to work day. I appreciate that you found something for them to do. Trying to get them on a Zoom call and to be quiet. You got your blue on even though they're not. She yelled at them a couple times for me. But uh congratulations on your budget. Um
honestly, it's it's one of the most important things you do. I don't need me to tell you that. But um you know, you're in great shape. you know, 26 cents of every dollar in the municipal side going um that that's a relatively low number compared to towns around here. So, congratulations to everyone. I know it's a lot of hard work. Um lots of
stuff going on. Um not much for open, but you know, we continue to um protect the burough from litigations and as the mayor indicated, um there we were successful at least in recovering some funds and some of the other litigations and moving forward. Um, Spell Tower was
for a long time a the bane of my existence, but um, now that the revenues have come in um, Spell Tower certified, cell Tower certified, and really it's, you know, it's something that, uh, will set you up. Um, we're still going to go out with another RFP, you know, eventually, but these are hundreds of
thousands of dollars in revenues that we didn't have before. So, there's a lot of work, a couple tax points, right? Absolutely. So, um, congratulations again. That's it for me. Thank you very much and thanks for coming tonight. Councilman, thank you. We'll keep it brief. Um, as you you and I chatted
before, the sighting is up on the concession stand. So exciting. Trying to find Stan, who apparently the the brain master of the building of the concession stand. So, we're we're still trying to Let me find Waldo. We're trying to find Stan. So, we are on track. Are we? We
are fully on track for a full open of the concession stand. We are going to be receiving bids on the Linda, was it the 20th? I think we're going to be awarding the bid for the concessionire. So, yeah, this one. Great. So, we are really in great shape with that. Alison's keeping
us all on track. Thank you for that. I keep sending I keep sending Alison text. I'm like, did I thank you this week for your help? Um, so really we're we're in great shape with that. We booked a couple bands already. We The Rift is going to be our showcase act for the year. I already got the set list and it
looks awesome. Um, Crestwood Lake, we talked about registrations are opening and other than that, we're in good shape. Field 3 is almost ready to play ball uh thanks to the total uh renovation and partnership with the recreation commission. So, things are really moving along and uh happy to report that. So, Tyler, the bid notice
for the concession stand will be in the um April 30th edition of the record. Great. Excellent. Thank you very much, Councilwoman. Council President Holden. Ah, thank you. Um well first of all about the budget I mean it is awesome. I
you definitely instill a lot of confidence in your thorowness and your care of what you put together. So it's awesome and as a bonus you're a pleasure to work with. So it's really nice. I mean I feel like I can say that when I you know coming into the burrow it
really is such a positive environment. So thanks to all of you for making it that way. And um while I'm thanking people, thanks to the Allenale Police Department for the program that you helped put on up at the high school um
you know before u these kids are out at some activities and it went through drinking and driving and um Officer Dunn also spoke there. So it really is Mark's car up there too in the front. Yeah, I don't really have mixed feelings about that personally. Uh I I think it was
very uh poignant to put it up there and it kind of probably brought the point back for you but uh you know just it's difficult to say. Yeah, it is. It definitely is, but it's such an important message and uh so everybody really did such a great job. So thank
you and to all of the um different departments that were involved in pulling that together. Um, from a water standpoint, it sort of falls under the water and sewer that, you know, our budget is is difficult to manage as a
whole. And we've also spent um a lot of money on managing some of the legal issues that we've had and continue to have around uh the sewers and how you know we can ensure that Allenell sewers are used appropriately
um by outside communities as they're being um urged and forced to build. uh but we have to make sure that we are using legal means to ensure legal and um engineering uh means to ensure that it's
appropriate for the Allenville infrastructure. Um and while we're talking about water today obviously was a challenge for uh the water system which is owned by Violia and we have
gotten an update just at 6:15 this evening that I want to read in its entirety but uh the boil water advisory remains in effect in Allenale. Customers should continue to boil their water until the advisory is lifted. The boil
water advisory was issued on Thursday, April 24th after a loss of pressure in the Allenell water system. Pressure has been restored. As a part of procedures set by the public health authorities, water samples have been collected and
testing is underway to prove the water is safe to consume. This testing process takes approximately 24 hours. Rushing the process could lead to inaccurate results. Our next update is expected Friday afternoon. We understand, this is
written from Violia, we understand that waiting for test results during a boil water advisory can be frustrating and we appreciate your patience. Please know that our top priority is your safety. We are working as quickly and as carefully as possible to resolve the issue.
Customers with additional questions can visit mywwater.violia. us or call Violia customer service at 8553676708. Thank you for your understanding and continued uh cooperation. So that was uh from Violia.
Certainly I can share with the public that from the burrow and our water and sewer committee that this is a very challenging scenario and it does happen. we have infrastructure. Nothing is in fact, you know, is there are going to be
problems and um we were on the phone immediately, myself, uh Mike Dylan, mayor, everybody trying to ensure that information was um disseminated and um we're definitely here to do the best
that we can for each and every one of our residents. We all live in Allenale and uh we appreciate everybody's communication and patience. Thank you very much. Thanks, Councilman Okonnell. Uh thank
you, Mayor. Uh thank you for everyone's work on the budget. Another great budget. Uh girls would be very proud. Um and Mike, the demonstration up at the high school, uh my kids came home and were moved by it.
to the point where he lived in that accident. I said, "No, he wasn't even in the car." Yeah. I said the car hit him. So, I'm hoping that touched everybody because uh I I know it was tough for you to say. I can see it. But uh I hope that touched all the kids. Thank you. And on
a side note, the scouts are wrapping up a little bit and uh there's getting some paint on uh the canisters for Crestwood Lake for the garbage and recycling. Oh, great. When are those gonna be done? I don't know yet. Okay. I saw some
pictures. They look really good. Let me know because they need help moving them because they are quite heavy, which is good. So, all over the place, but uh the we're doing the the red like the barn. Okay, great. That was really nice. Thank you. I think that's that's all I have,
Mayor. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Um Okay, so my report we also have Joe on the line. Oh, Joe. Joe Delawio. Councilman Delawio, your report, please. I'm still here. So, thank you. Thank you everybody. Uh, the
DPW committee, we did meet April 11th. Uh, we had our last meeting. Talk louder. Talk. What? Talk louder, please. I'm doing the best I can. Hold on. Is that better? Is that better? It's the same.
It's the AP. Yeah. All right. All right. We had a meeting April 11th. DPW committee. We talked about field restoration. Uh Councilman Yakarino mentioned a little bit about field three. DPW is still going to continue the process to rectify some of the other
fields that still need to be done as well as updating the other fields uh as time goes by. Uh we talked about getting Crestwood reopened and the process is underway right now. Get it back in in regular for the summer season.
uh ongoing pothole repair in various locations throughout the town. I want to thank Allendale police. I know they're taking a lot of calls and as they drive, they're also making notes of different things that they see on the road and relaying that back to our superintendent
Andy. So, I appreciate that. Uh it's a nice partnership. Uh we did speak about potentially hiring some seasonal employees to help out with the summer. So, that is ongoing and still being discussed. Uh some of you may have noticed the uh paving at the grandstand.
Uh looks really really good. Uh I want to thank the uh the mayor and our superintendent and our police department for coordinating that during our spring break shutdown to avoid any major issues with parents picking up kids. And uh
let's see. I'm trying to make this quick. Um that's pretty much everything I have. There is one I just want to say uh thank you. So, a lot of you know on West Maple there was a section of sidewalk that was uh deadended, right? So, the kids would walk up West Maple
towards Northern Highlands. They would hit a patch of dirt. They'd have to walk in a street for about 30 ft when they would get back onto the sidewalk at Northern Highlands. Uh Andy and some of the guys took it upon themselves to go up there and clear a section of dirt.
So, now the kids are able to at least walk continually without going in the street. And when school is out, the DPW will be addressing that and try to do more of a permanent fix. So that's uh that's everything. Hopefully everybody can hear that. And uh thank you for
accommodating my lowtalking voice. Oh, that's great. I didn't realize Andy did that yet. That's super. I know the school really wanted that done as well. So that's going to be um that's going to be great for the kids walking to school. Thank you, Joe. Um so my report um just real quickly on
affordable housing. Um it's it's ongoing. Um we did come to our settlement of 200 units down from 260 units. So the next deadline is June where we have to um figure out what our realistic development potential actually is and then find out where we're going
to build it and then figure out where what we're going to do with the unmet need. I feel like it's getting a little bit of attention. There was just an assembly woman from South Jersey that is talking to the DCA about how are we supposed to do this? How are these towns supposed to build when there is no land?
Um not really getting um traction that way because it really is in the legislature, but I do think that if enough people speak up, they'll realize that the plan is flawed. Not that anybody's against affordable housing, including Allenale. It's that we want to do it in a way that it doesn't ruin the
fabric not just of our town but of New Jersey. And and I I keep saying this if I say it once, I'll said a million times. It's not necessarily even just now. It's going to be in 10 years from now or 20 years from now because these unmet need numbers are in the hundreds. We still have hundreds from our third
round. We're going to have hundreds from our our fourth round. And if they think that those are going to get built, that means every developable land, every piece of land or house is going to be high density housing. Um, so it is
absolutely going to change the fabric of New Jersey. Um, infrastructure cannot handle it. We have flooding as it is. Uh, we're already having an infrastructure issue because Saddle Rivers's fair share housing happens to be on Allenale's border. Saddle River
does not have the infrastructure for multi- homes uh never mind 505. So they don't have a sewer system. They use septic tanks. So we are um very diligently working with them to make
sure that our infrastructure is um protected because they expect to come through um our sewer line. So that is something that is ongoing that we're talking about almost daily with elected officials, with attorneys, with engineers. So it's uh it's a big big
process that we've been going through. Um we met with New Jersey Transit and actually it was a very good meeting. Um in the next couple of days you will see new signs for our transit lot. We are redoing the whole entire transit lot. We are first starting with the first roll
out is going to be some signage. A lot of people do not realize that there is tons of um commuter, not just commuter parking, residential parking there for when people are shopping or people go to our restaurants. A lot of times on the weekends gets a little crowded. So, we're going to try to direct people
there. It does need to be paved, needs to be restriped. There needs to be better signage, but right now we have more decorative signs that are going to get people in there. And then we're going to work out um signage where um where retail people can park and then where the commuter people can park. So,
that's going to be um a good project. We um had a land use uh meeting, as you saw. We just changed two ordinances um on our on the books that are um we just felt weren't really in in um uh keeping up with the character of the town anymore. And we plan on um looking at
some more. We're actually going to be looking at the fence ordinance next. And we're also um going to actually be looking at Joe's land use packet. Joe, we've uh we have one version of it started and we're going to just meet and and pound that out, which it basically
is uh a land use packet, a user-friendly land use packet. So, when residents come in and they want to do an addition on their house, they get this big fat packet. It's very intimidating. It's very confusing. So, we want to make it super user friendly. So, thank you to Councilman uh Dawisio for starting the ball with us and we're going to take it
and try to make it um very easy for residents. So, um to accommodate them. Uh again, thank you everybody with the budget, especially Allison. And I just wanted to echo what council president um Homeman said about the water. It was definitely, you know, a challenging day
for us. We um we know that Violia is doing the best they can. I know sometimes the messaging does not seem to be as fast as we want it or what we want to hear, but um uh I do feel that our water system is in the best hands. we would be having the same issues or more
if Allenell still owned the water system. So unfortunately this is what's happening and we will get to the bottom of it and we are addressing you know the messaging that's sent out and the timing of it um as much as we can. So uh with that any new
business any old business? I'd like to open it up to the uh community to public one more time before we go. Anybody from the public wish to speak? Walters, come on up. Walter Wood is
Hamilton. Would you elaborate on that water factor? Boiling water. I'm sorry. Question about the water. Do you have a question or you want me to in your report? I thought I heard you say we were advised to boil water. Yes. As
of I think it was about 11:30 this morning, we were given a notification by Violia that we had since we had lost pressure that a boil water water advisory was in effect. Yes. So you
should have received a reverse 911 call as well as a constant contact. An email. Did you get an email? Email, which I signed you up for emails. You've gotten other emails. Email. I know. Don't check them every day. Yeah. And you should have if you're
you should have a reverse 911 unless you don't have your phone number registered. Well, should be registered. I'm here right now. I'm looking at it. Uh if you want to come over, I have the number that
ending in 8666. Negative. Oh, that's not your phone. Oh, that's your cell phone. This is it. You could your It only goes to your cell phone if you register, but it goes to your regular line if regardless. So, so Walter, you just want
to you just want to boil your water tonight and tomorrow till about hopefully around noon they'll lift it. It's a it's hopefully cautionary and everything will be fine, but they have to do this by by New Jersey state law from the D because the water pressure
dropped in some areas of town today cuz they drink it all the time. I know. I did too. I drank like a gallon today. So, that's funny. Next question. Did I hear anything about that? Yes. Um, at the last meeting, we approved the uh
solicitation to uh advertise for the uh grant through the county. We worked with our grant writer and our municipal engineer as of last week. and all of the necessary materials for which we needed to encumber uh were sent to uh the grant writer and that was submitted to the county as of last or actually this week
rather. Um so we are in good shape to hopefully receive that. So that will be in 2026 project the mural actually I was just down there looking at it. Um we're hoping to get it installed by June
because I I saw some activity going on on over there. Yeah, we're trying to get the wall and the wires kind of uh cleaned up. So, it's I I took a sneak peek some. It looks really cool. It's gonna be very very cool looking. I hope so. Me, too. Thirdly, not all of you are using this
thing adequately. Oh, boy. I mean, I can hear you because I'm close to you, but it's not over the speaker system. It's still loud. Yeah, it does. You can wave us down if we're not if we're not projecting when
you can't hear. Please, you can give us a wave. Wave at you. Yeah, I'd love to. Thank you. I do. All right. Anybody else from the public? Not seeing anybody. Motion to adjurnn. Second. Oh, wait. I had one
more thing to say. Sorry. I just wanted to say, no, I have to I thought the um take your kid to school day was so freaking cute today. Allison sent me pictures. And I just think it's so nice that all of the like from different departments, the police, the admin, the
DPW, your kids all got along. You went around. And I forgot to mention that also our construction code official Anthony Oh yeah. took the kids from the burrow hall to Crestwood Lake. My son really wanted to run in it because there was no water. So he ran around that.
Then he took them to the celery farm. They did see a snake. And then heighted Dairy Queen, but he called me. There was an issue because Dairy Queen's machine was still freezing. So he said, "But don't worry, we're going to wait the five minutes. I have them at the pickle factory right now and then we're going
to go back." Oh god. And that's why you're here tonight. You're took them outside. He got the food. So everybody really did it. I just thought it was good that like you know one big happy family. All right. Good night everybody. Have a good night. Thank you. You need one more
motion. So moved. So moved. We're journed. All in favor? I thought to say hi. What's up? Hurry up.