WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=uBoI8vU4t0k

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: uBoI8vU4t0k):
- 00:00:01: Meeting Commences: Roll Call, Pledge, and Housekeeping Items
- 00:02:14: Council and Mayor's Reports: Updates and Local News
- 00:09:33: Council Reports Continued: Honoring EMS and Somerset Committee
- 00:16:02: Opening Public Comment: Waldron Drive Fence Concerns
- 00:21:33: Authorizing 2026 Budget Reading and Addressing Amendments
- 00:26:29: Public Hearing on Budget Begins: A Resident's Perspective
- 00:32:48: Council Responds: Surplus, Bonding, and Addressing Residents Concerns
- 00:40:02: Council Member Comments: Broken Jello Mold Metaphor
- 00:47:46: Budget Adoption: Presentation and Council Comments Begin
- 00:57:55: Detailed Budget Insights: Collaborative Effort and Future Vision
- 01:08:04: Municipal Budget Approved and Introduction Of Ordinances
- 01:14:18: Authorizing Temporary Parking Subject To Specific Conditions
- 01:15:25: Resolutions: Waiving Fire Permit Fees and Housing Trust Fund
- 01:19:59: Authorizing Contract for Professional Appraisal Inspections Services
- 01:25:04: Authorizing Three-Year Lease Purchase For Vehicle Acquisition


Part: 1

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Good evening everyone. Uh, in compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act of New Jersey, adequate notice of this meeting was provided on December 5th, 2025 by sending written notice and electronic notice to the Courier News, the Breeze, posting on the website and the bulletin

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board in the municipal building and filing with the township clerk. Can I have a roll call, please? >> Councilman Bako, >> here. >> Councilwoman Isla, Councilman Kersh, >> here. Councilman Ring, >> good evening. Here. President Geger >> here. Um I just want to note that uh

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Councilwoman uh Isla is at at a conference in Colorado with 30 inches of snow. Um she probably would rather be here. She's also sick, but she could not be here and that was the reason why. If we could all stand for the pledge of

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allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

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>> Okay. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes from April 23rd, 2026, the regular session? And I we'll do the closed session separately because I have to actually I have to um >> abstain from all of them. >> Yeah, >> you don't have to.

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>> So moved. >> Typically you do. >> Okay. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes for uh for from April 23rd, 2026? >> So moved. >> I have a second. >> Second. >> Second. All in favor? >> I I

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>> Okay. Um I'm abstaining just for the record. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes from April 23rd, 2026 with respect to the closed session done separately? We don't vote on them. >> We're signing >> close session. >> Okay. We don't vote on approving.

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>> No, they passed around, didn't we? Initial. >> Oh, I remember that. I remember that. Hello, mayor. >> Okay. Um, township council reports. I'll go first. I never make myself go first, so in fairness, I'll go first. and it's

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a short one today. Um, so I attended a meeting with the representatives from the state of New Jersey and the Federal Small Business Association at Dominic's Pizzeria on the Circle. I think everybody's familiar with that. I'm going to let Councilman

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Kersh, who was there before me, um, and I think knows more about it than I do. I came in at the tail end. I'm going to let him fill you in on the rest of it. Um, but I do want to note that township administrator Papis was there and deputy administrator

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um, uh, Field was also there. Um, I was on vacation for the past two weeks, so that's why I was not here last week. Um, I do want to note that it is teacher appreciation week and I I think the mayor has a proclamation prepared for that. I think

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>> I think on on that one we're going to wait and see if somebody from the um teachers uh unit could be here and it was too short notice. >> Perfect. >> We will do that at either a future council meeting or if we can't schedule it on a council meeting then we'll do something uh off cycle but we'll have everybody

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>> Perfect. But we did we we I just want to note the mayor and I talked about it um and and we are intending to do something. Um I did want to just read an email that was sent to me by um Haral Desai who is the um Bridgewater she's

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she serves on the Bridgewater Raritin um middle school PTO board and she wrote um as a parent teacher appreciation week is a meaningful reminder of the incredible role teachers play in our children's lives. They are there for the big milestones and the quiet moments

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offering patience, encouragement, structure and care each day. I am deeply deeply grateful for the teachers who help our children feel seen, supported and capable and who partner with families in such important ways. Their impact reaches far beyond the classroom.

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And this week gives us a special opportunity to say thank you. And I think that expresses the sentiments of all of us on the deis. I think all of us on the deis have had children or grandchildren. um in the school system. So, um thank you to all of our teachers

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and we look forward to honoring you further um when we when when uh someone from the schools can be here to help us do that. Um, and my fun fact, my fun historical fact, on August 30th, 1781,

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the first brigade of the French army marched through Bridgewater past the Van Vectton House in Findern under the command of French General Comp Dash andBo on the way to Yorktown, Virginia. The second brigade followed the next day. And I just thought it was

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interesting. We don't normally think of French troops as marching through Bridgewater and especially Finn Durn, but they did and they have and they helped us win the revolution. And that is my report. Councilman Kersh, I never pick on you to go second, so you're second.

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>> Sure. Uh I have a a brief report. You had alluded to Dominic's I'd provided some level of detail at our last meeting there. Uh that was a very collaborative conversation uh with representatives of the Small Business Administration, many of whom Mr. Papis uh had known in a

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previous life. Uh and really the the message is that you know Bridgewater continues to be open for business. Uh we are thriving. Uh there are many existing businesses and some new ones and everything in between. Um and certainly you know our our administration, our

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town is here to help small businesses be as successful as possible along with the SBA and um council president. I guess you can you can vouch for the fact that the pizza was pretty good that day. The pizza was pretty good >> at Dominic's. The >> the pizza was really good. The food was

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very good. The food's always good at Dominic's. >> All right. Good. Um, so just two other items uh to mention. This past Saturday, I had the privilege uh of giving a very brief welcoming remarks uh for the let me just make sure that I have there uh

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proper name, New Jersey center for Tourett Syndrome and Associated Disorders. Uh so that was a walk over at Duke Island. uh a little cool but otherwise a beautiful day. Uh um you know over 100 participants on 28 teams raising uh in excess of $30,000. Uh so I

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I appeared there uh with um Commissioner Graer and with uh Assemblyman Fryman from District 16. So a successful event there. Uh and then uh the other thing I just wanted to acknowledge um is the um environmental commission is working hard

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on our behalf. Uh I see a couple of members. It looks like they're finished with their work for the evening. Um but just wanted to acknowledge that uh you know that that that group has been reconstituted. They meet the first Thursday of every month. So there is a bit of an overlap with our schedule. Um

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and you know a couple of just quick highlights and and areas that we expect them uh to focus on. Uh they are they do review as a matter of course uh planning board and zoning board uh applications uh from an environmental standpoint. um you know as there are uh applications

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that have particular concern from an environmental standpoint, they're certainly ready to step in and and and um you know, look into those. Uh also, they have relationships with um you know, the state and various grants and and things like that. And um uh they are

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in the process of uh writing and adopting a a a bylaw a bylaws document. And um uh perhaps we can plan maybe in another month or two to bring them in for an a you know you know a quick item on our agenda to update them on their work so far. Maybe a midyear check-in.

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>> That would be great. >> And that's my report. >> I think that would be very much appreciated by the residents, too. That's good suggestion. Mayor, you're here to give us your report. >> Uh my report is relatively brief. I'll say my comments on the budget when we

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get there. Um, I uh as as well probably everybody here knows one way or the other, I have a young kids. So, I'm in the middle of basketball, soccer, and dance season. So, if you see me running around and trying to figure out which kid is going to which location, uh that's and I look like I'm confused.

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Well, that's probably true as we try to figure out how to get the kids to all their places. Um, it's been uh a busy couple weeks. uh most of it involving you know the budget previously and then working through any questions that the council had or the public had uh with

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regard to that. Um I did want to comment that I was able to we signed the ordinance on snow removal um that the council had passed previously. So that will get in you know in place for enforcement for next year to address some of the concerns that Councilman Bucko had raised and council had uh

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moved on. So, um, other than that, I'm happy to be here with all of you this evening and, uh, I look forward to discussing the budget. >> We're happy to have you here. And I I would assume town administrator Papus is really happy to have you here, >> but if he gets to hard questions, I'm

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still going to make him answer them. So, >> um, okay. >> Would you, um, like me to give a report? >> I would, and I forgot you. I'm How can I forget, Mr. Ring? very it's very easy to forget quiet shy me

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>> as quiet and shy as you used to be. >> I I don't have uh actually a lot. There's only one item but uh it is I think something passionate to me and worth mentioning. Next week is um National EMS week, a week to recognize

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uh all the EMS uh folks uh across the United States. And uh since we don't have a meeting next week, just wanted to point that out so that the public is aware. Thank you. That's my report. >> That was really important to point out. Thank you. Um okay, we do not have any

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proclamations. We do not have any presentations. Oh, see I go away for two weeks and look what happens. Councilman Bako, I apologize. I'm going in order from now on and then I won't forget anybody.

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>> Thank you very much. Um so it's okay. Um, in the uh past uh uh two weeks, I uh attended the Somerset County Community Development Committee uh where we made

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recommendations for uh funding uh public facilities and public improvement grants u for various organizations and municipal municipalities that were uh uh submitted uh throughout Somerset County.

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um a uh a group of residents in the area of East Main Street uh created a a petition uh asking that the speed limit along East Main Street uh

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from Finder Avenue to the Somerville border uh be reduced. And it's currently uh that stretch of road is is currently uh the speed limit is 40 miles per hour, but once you cross into Somerville, it goes down to 25 miles per hour. So

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there's a a fairly uh significant almost 50% reduction in in speed there. Um, so, um, I I did, uh, make some contact with, uh, county officials to ask what, you know, what would the process be to, uh,

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um, uh, reduce the speed limit if it, if it was, uh, deemed warranted. and uh had some uh got some information about that and and we'll probably uh see that come up um in the uh in in the future um as a

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as a potential uh uh way to improve public safety. Um I'd also like to mention in in uh honor of teacher appreciation week, uh it's already been mentioned. Um, I'm have a a a child in

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the uh uh schools here in in Bridgewater. And and one of the things that um I I learned from uh from teacher appreciation week is that um uh while the primary teachers

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for our children often get recognition, uh sometimes the u specials uh subject teachers uh don't always get the same level of recognition for teacher appreciation week. So, I want to make sure that all of the teachers in uh the

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Bridgewater Ridan School District uh who are teaching art and music and gym and library, the librarians in every school um and technology. And I'm sure I'm missing out on on a subject that I'm

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trying to make sure that I I recognize all the teachers for, but uh they they deserve just as much recognition because uh they are working uh just as hard to uh make sure our our children get a a a good well-rounded education.

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Um and uh on a on a personal note, uh I'd also um like to um uh thank the the uh take a step back. Uh earlier this week, I um had to have a uh a small

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surgery to remove my gallbladder. And I'd like to thank the um the care team at uh uh RWJ Barnabas Health, uh Bridgewater Family Medicine, um Somerset

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uh uh Surgical Associates, uh University Radiology and the Robert Wood Johnson uh University Hospital Somerset for the the great care that they uh provided to me. And um that is why I might sound a little bit horsearo. Uh but um because

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of the great care, I am back up on my feet and able to uh be here tonight um after uh after uh that uh earlier this week. So um thank you to all of them.

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And um just as a as a as a note um I started in in having issues with um things that I thought, well, you know, I'm getting a little bit older. Maybe what I'm eating is just not

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agreeing with me. And uh I assumed that was just the case. and I I I didn't bring it up with my doctor and right away until it became u more of a significant problem. So my uh message

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to everyone in the public is that if you aren't feeling right, make sure you talk with your care team about it because if you're not feeling right, it's it's probably a good there's probably a good reason for it and it's not just um you know something you should you should

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ignore. Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. Um, >> on the issue of East Main Street, um, we did, uh, I sent a letter to county administrator Colleen Maher, uh, in response, you know, on response to the petition to ask about, uh, raise the

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concerns about the speeding and to talk about that process and what may or not be able to be done. So, um, just wanted to comment on that. And also uh since my wife is an art teacher, if anybody asks who made the comment about thanking the special teachers, uh please just let it,

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you know, we don't have to point out it was Councilman Bucko and not myself that made a special note for the thanking the special teachers. >> Oh, we can say that they were recognized. >> That's right. There we go. >> She could watch us on the video, too. >> Yeah, >> she probably doesn't bother.

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Probably sees enough of her husband. Um at any rate. Okay. Um, can I have a motion to uh open the meeting to the public? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> I >> Members of the public wishing to address

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the council on any matter will have three minutes to speak which may be extended in the discretion of the council president. An additional minute will be allotted for responses to comments from the deis. And I just want to uh let you know there is going to be a separate

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um portion of the meeting open to the public to specifically reference the budget. If anyone wants to address it um at that time they may do so. So is would anyone like to address the council at this point? At this time

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and you if you would sign your name and give your address and then when you appear at the podium it would be appreciated if you would state your name and just indicate whether or not you're a resident of Bridgewater. You don't have to give your address if you don't want to.

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And if anyone else wants to um address the council, they can sign ahead while um someone else is speaking if they want to sign ahead in advance so they don't have to wait. Welcome.

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Thank you. Um my name is Susan Dorward and I am a resident of Bridgewwater. I live at 3 Waldron Drive in Martinsville. So, greetings town council members. My husband and I have lived in Bridgewater Township for 29 years. I previously

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served on the Bridgewater Environmental Commission for many years. So, it's happy to hear that it's been reconstituted. Um, we thank you for your service to our town. Our street, Waldron Drive, has 12 houses on it. Behind our house and our two

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neighbors, the town owns a detention basin and drainage culvert. Public works maintains the basin and it functions well. However, the fence around the basin has fallen down over the years and needs to be removed and replaced. Chain link is laying on the ground and metal

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posts are bent sticking out of the ground at odd angles. It is both an eyes sore and a safety hazard. Our neighbors at five Waldron Drive have two young children and I fear they may hurt themselves playing this in this area. For the past three years, public works

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has included the fence removal and replacement project in their budget request. I am here to request that you prioritize and fund this project which Superintendent Richard Shim has estimated to cost approximately $20,000 though he notes this will likely need to

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go out to bid. Thank you for your consideration. >> Thank you Suzanne. Um, and I just want to say when we do talk about the budget, um, it's not perfect and we know that and and I think that one of the things that all of us on the deis would agree

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is that, um, our priority is going forward. We we couldn't put as much into the public works as we wanted to this year. Um, but if money comes in, and there are reasons to believe that we may get extra money, we're aware of the fact

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that just in general, the public works department needs more funding, needs more help. Um, and I and the other thing is the surplus. I think we're all aware of that. Um, but it really is very helpful when members of the public come and bring specific issues to our

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attention. you know, this is a more expensive one than a lot of them, but we don't want a kid, you know, stepping on a piece of rusty fence or getting hurt or whatever. So, thank you for bringing it to our attention. I don't know if

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anybody else wants to address it. Uh can can we ask that the um uh public works um put this towards the the top of the list of items that >> Yeah, there's there's money in the budget in different in different areas. Some of it's in public works

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specifically, some of it's in capital improvement, some of it's in, you know, maintenance areas. So, um you know, the budget doesn't go down to the level detail of identifying specific projects like this. So, this is one of these things where um after the budget gets approved and as we continue spending

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throughout the year um this is a project that could be considered um depending on you I hate to say it this way. I mean competing priorities in terms of where the dollars are and what's what's the most pressing thing. This doesn't sound like um a major uh undertaking where a lot of times drainage issues involve

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significant significant money because it's re dredging the the drainage basin. We got to get D involved. Uh I can guarantee you that we will make sure that um you know it's it's not forgotten about and um sometimes there's projects that take us a little bit longer than the residents would like but um we have

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some drainage projects that I know we're doing this year that were resulted from something like this where we had to wait a budget cycle but we got it in. So between this year or next year we'll get this done. >> Hopefully sooner rather than later. >> Is there anyone else that wishes to

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address the council? Can I have a motion to close? >> Second. All in favor? >> I I >> Okay. So, now we move on to item 10, which is passage or regarding the 2026

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municipal budget. There is a resolution to authorize the 2026 budget to be read by title only as permitted by statute NJSA4A 4-. Can I have a motion to >> Oh, just a question before we vote on

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that. If we don't pass this, you have to read this verbatim. >> Yes. >> No, that'll >> be the last meeting I attend in a while. So, >> I would I would ask Councilman Ring.

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>> No, no, no. You're the chair. >> The answer, I believe, is yes. But the entire budget is available for anyone uh any member of the public who wants to review it. It is >> I'll move 10 A. >> You you'll move it. Okay. Second. >> I have a second. All in favor? >> I I

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>> uh B a resolution to amend. >> We need to we doing the You want We need to do these individually. >> You want to do all You want I I was going to do them individually, but you think I can do >> Can we do 10 A and B together, Christopher or Sarah?

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I would do this individually. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Do the roll. Do a roll. Roll call. >> Okay. So, being a resolution to amend the 20 >> We need to do a roll call on 10 roll. >> Yeah. I thought we did. >> No, we didn't. We didn't. >> Well, we need to do a roll call as opposed to Okay, I see what you're

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saying. Okay. Um, Grace, can I have a roll call, please? >> Councilman Bako, >> yes. >> Councilman Kersh, >> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. >> President Gger, >> yes. B. resolution to amend the 2026 municipal budget. Can I have a motion to amend?

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>> Could we just get a >> Yeah, we there's um >> little summary first. >> Yes. So, there's three uh three main areas that the budget amendments represent here. Uh the first has to do with the difference between the school district's fiscal year and ours in relationship to some of the shared

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services that we have with them. uh to make sure that we are budgeting uh the payments that we make to the school district when we collect taxes and the money that they pay back to us for certain things is all it's matched up. So in past years we've had to true up because it's not our contracts are going

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from on one cycle and theirs are on another. So um >> ours is calendar theirs and >> correct and so there's been additional surplus that has been used to cover the difference and we don't want to have to do that. So, this is going to get us back onto this the right cycle to avoid

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true-ups and using our money to cover payments to them. Um, the other item is that there's a shared service line um that was budgeted uh in one area. However, was also included in the purchasing salaries and wages item as a reimbursement to the salary line. So,

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basically, we budgeted the item twice and so we don't want to budget items more than we need to. So, that removes that item. And there was a correction of $100 as to the sewer utility debt service principle which should have been $100 different than we had it in the first one. So,

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>> and that all said and done is no impact to the budget. It's just >> no, this is >> this is accounting issues. This is not changing uh services. This is not adding or subtracting any uh items of revenue that impact anything. And it's my

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understanding these amendments are due to the state reviews our budget and then comes back and says look you need to make certain changes. These were relatively minor changes in terms of of the state correct making corrections. So um we did a good job presenting a

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>> it's also important to note that that approval came at 10:00 this morning. So um >> we could not have provided uh more current notice to the public. >> Correct. and and but also I think to the administration and in particular Sarah and her team uh and Grace and her team

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for getting all of this together. You know, they were told at 10:00 this morning what needs to be done and we're still approving this tonight. So to those involved, thank you. >> Yes. And I understand our deputy administrator Field was on the phone being a bit of a pain.

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>> Um >> okay. >> Telling the state they really needed to get to it and they did. So it worked. Um anyway, can I have a motion to approve the amended budget to approve the amendments to the budget? >> We're only voting on those three

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changes. We're not >> those resolution to amend the 2026 municipal budget as described by Mayor Mench. Can I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> Uh roll call, please. Councilman Bucko,

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>> yes. >> Councilman Kersh, >> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. Guyer. >> Yes. All right. Now we are at the public hearing on the municipal budget. Um members of the public wishing to address the council on any matter

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relating to the budget will have three minutes to speak which may be extended in the discretion of the council president. An additional minute will be allotted for responses to comments from the deis. Is there anyone that would wish to address the council on the budget?

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Do we need to approve the resolution to hold the public hearing? >> Motion to open the public hearing. Yes. >> I can't ever go on vacation again. >> Oh, it's the time. It was the time zones. >> Would you like a motion to open public? >> I would. Council ring.

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>> So moved. >> Can I have a second? >> I'll second. >> All in favor? I >> Okay, Mr. Patel call for this. Okay. Yes, it is um 6:30 in the morning by my time. >> Yes.

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>> Tomorrow or yesterday? >> Oh, now you're really throwing a ringer. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Yeah. >> Hello. Uh thank you again. Um, I I was going to write an email to the council

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and mayor before this, but uh I just didn't get organized enough. Um, and uh, thank you again for presenting this summary on the budget. It helps. Um, and uh, let me say I'm not as alarmed as probably 95% of our residents are about

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the fact that the budget increases uh, annually. Um, I mean, budgets increase everywhere because people have to get raises. the cost of toilet paper goes up, the cost of fuel goes up, the cost of everything goes up. Unfortunately, the cost of health care

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has gone up um you know, obscenely high. So, I'm not as worried about, you know, the increase in the budget. It's, you know, it's unfortunate, you know, our our taxes increased, but also, you know, our property values have increased as well. Uh, but what I wanted to kind of

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get some information from and again I'll I'll follow up with an email with the question is about the debt which I'm not very good at that sort of thing right budgets I can handle um how debts are managed and how money is borrowed and

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debt issued etc. That's that's beyond my uh my uh understanding but the number the magnitude of the number is what really concerns me. Um, and I think in the budget meeting I was in last when the preliminary budget was first

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proposed, um, there was a discussion of it being around, I don't know, maybe 8590 million or so. Um, and you know what I'd like to understand cuz there's a lot that goes into that much um,

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borrowing I guess or debt is what is uh, it all attributable to? Um, obviously there's, you know, there's things associated with the sewer. Who knows if there's any residual remaining from the construction of this facility or renovation of the municipal complex, other things that are done, right?

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Things that have made this town great. But um, and obviously there's a plan and there's activity to pay it off. But that debt has of course resulted in, I believe, some downgrades in our um, bond rating. again, things that hopefully you

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can explain to me better when I send an email. Um, but what concerns me, of course, is the fact that it was kind of like a very brief comment about how we'll be done paying it off by 2040. And that doesn't make sense to me because if we know how debt works, right,

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especially right now, right, everyone's attention is on credit card debt, record credit card debt in the US. um which we're kind of like a the the individual citizen is a microcosm of uh the uh the government or large businesses and

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hopefully not spirit air but the the point being I would like to understand as a citizen what is our plan to deal with this debt because saying it'll be paid off by 2040 means we will not have any new expenditures okay until then so

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I'm I'm thank Thank you, Mayor Mench, for acknowledging that. But, you know, that's that's kind of wishful thinking, right? And again, what's done is done. Accountability is accountability. But obviously, we now have a new council uh

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uh and uh we have uh you know, the goal of transparency, which I think these types of presentations provide us, right? But look, um, I'll give you very quickly before I finish, you know, uh, when I was 5 years old, I broke my mom's

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jello- mold. It was a glass jello mold and I really wanted it. It was lime. Um, but rather than, you know, dance around it and lie, right? I told her the truth and, you know, she was upset, very upset. She gave me a hug in the end, right? I didn't get in any trouble. I

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just had to help her clean up. So right now what I look at when I see this debt is I see a broken jello bowl right and I see a citizenry that who knows when like we've seen around the country now municipalities where debts are revealed

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where board of eds are you know uh having to close schools down um that these things become very shocking when they're revealed um at the time right before you have to deal with it as opposed to now where maybe we have some

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time to deal with it, right? And and you know, uh people are going to get upset. I mean, look at the storage facility issue, right? People are upset about that. People are upset about a lot of little things. The tree issue last year or whenever that was. Um so I would say we need we we have I think really good

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transparency on the budget, understanding of it. We don't have enough understanding of the debt and that's that's coming from me. And uh like I said, um uh I wish I had a little bit more prepared for you, but uh I will send an email as a follow-up just to see if we can get something more about that

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in the future. Um and I I really, you know, my my request to you is uh be as transparent as you can about the debt. Uh let's tell mom we broke the jello bowl. But that was it. Thank you. >> Um I just want to say one thing. One thing that I think we are trying to work

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on because the bond rating went down and part of the reason that the I think may maybe the only reason the bond rating went down I'm not 100% sure was because of the surplus >> and I think one of the thing that all one thing that all of us are very aware

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of is the surplus and the need to replenish it to the extent that we possibly can. The surplus was at about $500,000. It is now in this budget up to $4.5

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million with the state change. Correct. I'm looking at Sarah Hman. Um, so and as money comes in, one of the things that we do that Bridgewater has done consistently, which is considered to be fiscally responsible, is we do not

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count grant money that unless it's like 99.99% assured that we're going to get it. We do not put it in our budget. However, there is a pretty good chance that we will get additional grant money that's not in our budget. When we get that, we

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will be able to look at potentially putting more money into our surplus. And as we grow our surplus, we will have the ability to potentially lower um our interest, increase our bond rating, which will then lower our interest rate.

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It'll help a little. It's one thing we can do. >> Council President, um just a few if I could very quickly because we could have a whole two-hour discussion on it. It's a it's a very complicated uh process, but a few quick things for you and then send us your information, your questions, and we'll we have some information we just give to you. It's

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easy. We have it. Other stuff we can, you know, spend more time explaining it, but uh there's first of all, there's rules about how much you can bond by law. So there it's capped. I I couldn't tell you the form off top of my head, but at some point in time, there's a ratio that says no municipality can

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borrow more money than a certain amount based off of your tax revenue, your tax base, some formula. So, we're well under that. That's just the ability to bond. That's not bond rating issues. As council president mentioned, the the concern with the um bond rating from

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last year was the surplus, which was they didn't like that we they wanted us to have more surplus. Um it's like any lender, they want to make sure you have enough money in your piggy bank so if all of a sudden your revenues go down, there's not a risk that you don't pay back. Of course, municipalities, that's

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a little bit of a not the same thing because if you really have a budget problem, unfortunately, the budget goes up. But, um, so in this year's budget, we've done a couple things that we're trying to address because long-term um, if you stop using debt completely in one

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fell swoop. So, as an example, we want to do roads this year. We haven't discussed exactly which roads are exactly what the program is, but uh, in past years, we've done $8 million of roads. Um, if we did 876, whatever that number is, we'd have to put that money

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in this budget this year and your budget would go now go up by $6 million or $7 million, which is not it's not feasible. That's not realistic. And of course, it burdens residents today with the tax burden when this road's going to be there for 20 years. So, um, but we're

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trying to dial it back, use more cash. So in this year's budget we didn't decrease we we increased the surplus that we expect to generate. So we used less from last year uh to save more for the future to make you know meet that issue. And then what we're also doing is

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we put more money into the capital budget so we can pay for more things with cash because to answer your question about what goes into this a whole lot of things go into this over 20 years. So it's the municipal building it could be parks that we bought years ago.

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It could be public works trucks. It could be vehicles. So, what we're trying to do is use cash for the smaller items that maybe 10 years ago when you bought a public works truck, you always bonded them. If we don't have to do that, then if we have the cash in the budget, then

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we can, you know, get at least one truck in cash and, you know, maybe you borrow the other. >> And there's also different types of bonding. So, there's short-term for your like your vehicles and then there's more long-term for stuff like this building. So yeah, so it's it's it's and last point, if we didn't borrow any more

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money, then we'd pay it off by 2040. But the reality is is that we're going to borrow more money because we couldn't just stop on a dime without having the budget shoot through the roof. Um and and you're still going to pay off the debt you have. >> That I appreciate and that's why I want

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to be careful or I sorry, can I >> No, no, go ahead. You have you have you have a minute to respond. >> Okay. So that's why I want again just uh as transparent as you just were with me, I don't know. I mean the rest of the township might appreciate that the

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citizenry here is pretty smart, pretty educated about what's going on with the budget. Um and I mean they're into like I was at the board of ed budget meeting a few weeks ago too and you know they're a microcosm of of what goes on here to some extent. And you know, there's a lot

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of fear in a lot of board eds around the uh state especially about their budget issues. Uh I suspect there's probably a lot of townships with the same concerns and um just uh you know, understanding what we have potentially to face. I

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mean, I'm I'm an I come from an engineering background, so everything I do is risk risk based. I don't understand again the bond side of things. I don't understand, you know, how much you can borrow. All I know is, you know, uh, Spirit Air eventually had so much debt that they couldn't service it, right? That's that's how I look at

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it. And in luckily for them in private industry, they can file for bankruptcy. Uh, for us, it's a different story, right? Just like it is for the Fed. Um, so the one other comment real quick, and I know move on too, but um, in for New

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Jersey, municipalities can't borrow for operating expenses. So unlike a spirit air or like us where we could just go out and use a credit card because I got to cover bills for a month, township can't do that. So all any debt that we have there's exceptions but they're very limited and it's there's a whole process

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for it. So for our debt it's all capital improvements. At some point in time it's a capital purchase whether it's a building, a piece of equipment, a road um we cannot use money from borrowing to pay the bills this year to say we're short. I don't want to raise taxes. is

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so I'm just going to borrow the money to pay the operating budgets the employees get paid. Can't do it. >> And you know I just want to go back to your very first comment which is you know this is part of the reason why taxes do go up and they will. I'm not going to ever promise anybody that taxes aren't going to go up. I mean taxes

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probably will go up every year. You know salaries have to increase. Health insurance goes up and we don't want to add to the debt to the extent that we can. We do want to cover all of well we have to we have to cover all of our operating expenses and I'd rather and I

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everyone in the town may not agree with me but I'd rather pay a little bit more in taxes every year and have less debt than increase the debt and and eventually it catches up with you. >> Thank you. There's a couple more comments

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potentially a neighbor a neighboring town that for years did not increase their tax rate and other unprecedented tax increases. >> Yes. And there are other people that

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come before this council that talk about that a lot and we do not want to end up in that situation. So >> I think there's two potential comments from this side. >> You go. >> All right. So So I'll go. So first of all, thank you for being here and for

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your interest. Uh I did want to address four four specific areas. Um one is um on the question of transparency. Um slides like this have been a part of every budget presentation. Um so transparency is not something that

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started on January 1st of 2026. Um it has been part of everything that we've done uh at least during the entire time I've been here. Um the budget as required uh userfriendly boiled down language and slides. We we've done this

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every year. So this is this is not new. Uh maybe the slides look a little different. Maybe the story is a little different, but you know, transparency did not begin on January 1st, 2026. >> Presentation is definitely clear. That much I can say. >> Excuse me. >> Seen some old spreadsheets and things like that, but this

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>> is really it's it's clear for someone like me to understand in a snapshot. >> All right. Well, then what what we may want to do is is potentially go into our archive. Um hopefully Mr. Papus is hearing me. We'll go into our archive and we'll we can illustrate that again. Was it exactly these colors and exactly?

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No, it was not. It changes each year, but um you know, we take our responsibility to notify the public uh you know, not only as required by law, but in in language like this. So, so this has been happening every year. Um so, the second item um is, you know, you talked you you you gave the the broken

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jello- mold story. Um as if like debt is we did something wrong, we made a mistake. Um, I I don't see it that way at all. I see our debt as more like you own a home and you need to replace your

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HVAC every 25 or 30 years. You need to replace your roof every 30 or more years. Um, perhaps you have the ability to lay that out in cash. Many people don't. So, what do people typically do when they have the cost of a roof, the

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cost of a new HVAC system? They use their home equity line. um you know they incur sensible debt on their home. Um I look at debt again not as we made a mistake I or anybody made a mistake. I look at it as these big ticket items

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come through and the way to finance them is over a period of time at very competitive interest rates. Um, so that again, if we have a road that's going to last 25 or 30 years or more, a municipal building that's going to last 30 years or 50 years or more, we spread out the

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payment. So, you know, I, you know, it's a great story, but I don't necessarily see how that's analogous to township debt. >> Correct. Correct. Um you know the other thing you know there was commentary about um uh you know uh you know you

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know the the the um the debt the the bond rating has lowered. Uh that is true from an a really a like outstanding to slightly less than outstanding. So you know it's not like we're sitting here at junk status. Um so and you know anybody

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who implies that is kind of creating a false narrative. I'm not saying you are. I'm saying anybody that you know you know kind of says, "Oh, you've been downgraded." We've been downgraded from like way up here to like a notch or two lower than way up here. We are still an outstanding uh investment for people and

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we are paying an exceptionally low interest rate. But it bears noting that one of the tweaks that we have taken uh related to what occurred during the Hayes administration when the sewer utility was tragically at a tragic level

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underfunded. So you know those things take time to to be observed by the by the um the ratings agencies. So we on this day the administration we make sound fiscal decisions and when

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if or when issues come to our attention we address them very very quickly. Um and then the final item is um you know so how do we solve all this stuff? Um you know we have a certain ratable base we have a certain need to provide services. Well what do we do?

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This is where there is an absolute link between our budget, our fiscal house, and the absolute imperative that we have to make smart decisions on how this town is going to evolve from a land use standpoint. And at this point, there are

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a sizable number of properties that are tied up in court. They're tied up in all kinds of other challenges and problems. Um, and it is certainly my desire and I I I can probably speak it for the administration that there hopefully be

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instance in some of these instances where the litigation stops, the smart decision-m starts, the relatively rapid decision-m can start and then we can have properties that are

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performing more to their potential in an appropriate manner for the community that we live in and want to continue to live in. >> So, >> Councilman Bako, I think you wanted to make some comments, too. >> Uh, yes. I I'd just like to to say that I um I share your concern about the the

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debt um and and uh the this year's budget the the service on the debt that is paying the um uh the interest and principle that that is owed this year would uh will be

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based on back of the uh envelope math about 15% of the appropriations. Um, is that too high? I don't I don't know if uh there's a um

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uh a right or wrong answer to say that that's a that's too high or it's a good amount or if there's u breathing room for it to go up further. Um, but I I am concerned that that we could overborrow

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and um more of the uh more of of the tax dollars year after year are going to have to go to satisfy that debt. So, so that is definitely something to to to keep an eye on and um I certainly will

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will make sure that uh I keep those thoughts in mind. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> I move to close public hearing on budget. >> Second. All we need a roll call on that.

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>> I don't think so. All in favor? >> I I >> Okay. Um, now we move to the adoption of the 2026 municipal budget. I believe there's going to be a presentation with respect to that and part of it's up. Do we want to have a little bit of a discuss? Yeah, there we go.

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>> So, um, what you have I have a few a few comments and then, uh, if there's anything I miss as we go through these slides, Sarah or Mike can certainly jump in. uh you know with this um I first want to just comment and uh it's been said before um from Mr. Papis and uh I

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know council president's referenced it. I want to thank all the council members for um their input throughout this process which started months ago uh with regard to meetings with the budget subcommittee to start u making sure that we were providing information about what we were thinking, how we were looking at

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it um and to make sure that we had dialogue back and forth. I think every council member uh provided us with comments in terms of things that they wanted to see, not see, things they like, things they didn't like. Um that we were able to I can't say we able to accommodate every single thing, but I

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think we tried to accommodate as many as we could and to make sure we alleviated any concerns or or make sure everyone has the information necessary to make the decisions that we made. This budget reflects a commitment to providing services to the residents. It reflects a commitment to making sure that we're

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doing it in a fiscally responsible manner. And that means two things. It makes sure it means making sure that we're not wasting money that we're that when we spend taxpayer money that's being spent in the most efficient way that we we can do it. And it also means making sure that we're not at at a at a

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micro level. And at a macro level, it makes uh it means we make sure that we're not using um I don't want to say budget tricks, but questions about surplus. Well, we could have used more surplus this year and we could have decreased the appropriations a little bit, but longterm that's not a fiscally

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responsible thing to do because of all the reasons we've been talking about that, you know, um we want to build up the surplus a little bit more, not cut it down because it would be, you know, beneficial in the short term. Um, you know, so those were decisions that we

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all discussed and have been discussing and are cognizant of. So, we want to do a budget that um provides the services that residents demand and and are entitled to. Make sure we're funding our public works, our police department, all of our employees, that roads are getting paid, parks are getting maintained, and

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we're improving upon that from past years. And um and so that's what this budget represents. Um the first slide that's on here uh talks primarily about some of the big big items that are largely outside of our control that drive up the cost of the budget. These

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are the things that everyone can kind of you don't have to be an expert in municipal finance to be able to understand that uh every year healthc care goes up. Bridgewater is in a better position in some towns because of um you know we're not in the state health benefit system that you hear horror stories about. I think they're doing a

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increase midyear. I just saw uh for towns that are in that. So we're better but everybody every private and public employer get hits with um the increases to the healthcare. Same thing with pensions. That's contractual and statutory. Snow removal. Of course, this year was we went from a few years of no

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snow to like five years worth in one year. Um but that has uh that has its challenges and costs that were significant this year. And then of course things like utilities, fuel, insurance, things like that. So overall, um budget went up from those things by

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$3.375 million. That is just that just is um there's nothing those not things that we control. Um you know we we tried to cut where we could on discretionary items without losing services. You know you could lower the budget if you wanted to you know uh cut

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employees in you know areas like public works or in police department but um that would leave us in a situation where we could not provide services to residents that at the level that they are entitled to have in Bridgewater. Let me go to the next slide.

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this this slide here. I mean, of course, the council's familiar with it for the public. This represents really the six big areas of departments that have spending that's we'll call it discretionary. It's not discretionary to have a public works department, but obviously how you spend the money within it has is where we have the most discretion in terms of priorities and

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things like that. So, some of the particular challenges this year with public safety is uh going to be radios. Uh there's a big issue with radios uh for our not just police, but for fire and for EMS, which is going to be something we're going to have to help solve with changes to radios and

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significant costs to upgrade those. We always have our our roads and drainage. Public works priorities continue to be Camp Cromwell. We want to look at our playgrounds. Some of the pocket playgrounds that could just use some TLC that don't need a million dollars worth

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of work, but could use, you know, a a fresh paint and uh, you know, some new chairs and some minor upgrades that would make it a much uh more enjoyable experience for the public. Um, one of the challenges that we have sometimes when we get grants, Camp Grumbol is a great example, federal government gives

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us $4 million, phenomenal, except it's a refund program. So, we still have to come up with the $4 million to in order to get it refunded. So, when you talk about things like even the debt conversation, well, are we going to tax the residents to raise that money to then get it back from the government or

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do you do a short-term bond and cover the 4 million? And I don't have an answer. Those are the things that we continue to talk about in terms of what's the better way to approach it. Um, but Cam Cromwell continues to be a a big focus. Um then everyone's there senior services technology improvements

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um within the town and departments and public works needs more trucks and needs more equipment desperately. So we want to make sure they get some of that. Um I'm going to keep going through. We only have four slides. So if any questions I can stop otherwise I'll I'll

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go through and go to the next slide. Um unfortunately for us as a township we're the ones that send you all your bills. So, when you get the bill, it has our name all over it, uh, whether we get the money or not get the money. Um, so, uh, it's important for residents to

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understand when you get your property tax bill, how that gets broken out. And so, whatever that bill is, 11% of it goes to us. The other 89% goes to the other agencies that you that you see there. 67% to the school district, 20%

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to the county, 2% to the fire districts, and 11% to us. Um, >> if I may, >> I think it's also important to note that >> even if you don't pay your tax bill, we have to send that 89 cents to those

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three other um, government entities by a set deadline. And if we don't have the money, we have to go borrow and pay interest >> according to state law. >> Yeah. We wind up being the bank for the other agencies. there's delays in payment, if people are late, um if there's every once in a

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while there's issues, you know, banking issues or something. Um so, uh so we collect, we distribute, and uh so we get to have our name on the on the tax bill, but that's how the the money gets broken out. Um and that's also important to remember when we have

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discussions about the budget, every dollar is important, but when you think about whatever your own tax bill is, if municipal government got cut in half, which it's not going to happen. we're not going to go from uh you know what we're at now to half of that. But that would mean a decrease of half of the 11%

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if you were cutting government in half. So um we try to balance those discussions to make sure it's prudent spending with um you know what the actual dollar impact is on the public from adding or subtracting the service. The tax rates there uh goes from 0.2440

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to.2448. So that is the increase in the tax rate this year. All right. And then um next slide wanted to focus on uh briefly on the sewer utility which

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um in Bridgewater is a separate budget. It's not a separate authority the same way that sometimes have completely independent authorities but we do have a separate sewer utility budget um that has the same challenges as their municipal budget um with regard to healthcare increases, pensions,

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liability um and of course for our city utility half of our about half of the budget is just the bill we get from SRVSA for the treatment costs which we don't control. If they give us a bill that's the bill you gota you got to pay. So, um, sometimes you'll hear

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discussions about the interplay between the two budgets. Um, we're able to allocate certain costs from the municipal budget to the sewer budget, but there's restrictions and rules on how you can allocate costs um and uh uh

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which which money can go back and forth. So, there are instances where you can use one budget to pay the other uh in certain instances, but um uh that's all regulated by the state in terms of what you can and can't do. So this year's sewer increase uh budget is uh 847.

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So those are the that's the high you know the high level overview of of the budget. Um certainly we have uh more detailed information if the council or the public has any questions on this budget now or in the future. Um we have detailed debt information. And we have

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detailed information on uh you know past budgets and and uh the state requires us if you haven't looked at it required to publish our entire budget on the website publicly but we're also required to do a what they call a user-friendly budget.

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So um it's supposed to >> yeah uh it's on the website too. It's supposed to be easier. It's easier. I don't want to say it's easy um but it's better. So if you want to look at some of the big, you know, the big line items that you might have an interest as a member of the public and you want to compare it to last year, that

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information is on there so you can look at it in one place and you can try to get understanding as to um a big picture of what the township is doing. So you can hopefully tell us that you agree and it's a good job, but if not, you know what you don't like and you can raise those issues and concerns as well. So

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council, any questions? I don't have any comments um pre-planned. Uh >> I want to make a uh several comments because I'm a lawyer and I talk a lot. Um mayor understands he's a lawyer too. Um I want to say first of all in terms of the the budget itself that you see

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online. We're not responsible for this form. This is a state form. We have no choice but to use it. Um and it it's hard to read but it makes sense. The state does it that way because every municipality uses the same form and that's why it's done that way. Um, I do

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want to let the public know what the process was. Um, the staff proposed, each director of each department made proposals almost, you might want to call it a wish list to some extent of what

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they would like, what increases they would like and why. That went to the mayor. The mayor reviewed it. The mayor then presented a budget to the council with the understanding that there was going to be changes made to it. I mean,

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he didn't hand me a budget or anybody on this council a budget and say, "Look, here it is." It was not shoved down anybody's throat. It was here it is, take a look at it, ask all your questions. And I want to address the elephant in the room. This is the first

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time in 20 years there's been any elect 22 years I think there's been an elected official who's a Democrat um in town. It's 37 years since there's been Democrats on the council. We are all learning. But I cannot emphasize enough

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how much of a collaborative effort this was. I felt that my opinion was 100% respected. I felt I had plenty of input. I felt I was listened to. I felt and I hope that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle feel that I listened

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to them and feel that I respected them and feel that, you know, I understood what they had were trying to accomplish when I became council president when I ran. Um, I thought there were a lot of problems. I still think there are

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problems, but I want to say I do feel that things are in better condition than I thought they were, right? And I think that's a good thing. That's not a bad thing. I feel and and I don't want to speak for Ridana and Andrew or Councilman Kersh or Ring, but I feel

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from what I saw, all of us had a lot of input. And I want to say town administrator Papis sat down with me for three hours and went over every line of what was probably draft four or five of the budget and I don't lost track of how

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many drafts there were. It's not a perfect budget and I think we're all aware of the fact that we need to improve the surplus. I have a a a particular concern about the public works department. Um other people on the deis have different concerns. I think

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Councilman Kersh and probably other people on the Deis have concerns about um redevelopment and getting more tax revenue um from commercial properties. We have different concerns, but I do feel we are listening to each other. We

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are working together. We are collaborating. We are all making an effort to be more open. And I'm not suggesting that um there wasn't transparency in the past, but there's always room for improvement. And I think we're all on on board in terms of

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wanting more transparency and working towards that. Um, and I I do want to point out one other thing and then I promise I will shut up, but um I do want to say and I think I I am going to defer to Councilman um Bako to correct me if

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I'm wrong, but for the average house in I believe it's in 2024 that was assessed at 600,000 because I don't like that tax rate thing. You know, the value of your house went up so your taxes really didn't go up. I don't buy that. Bottom line is if you had a house that was

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worth $600,000 in 2024, okay, that house has gone up in value, but that's not relevant. What is relevant is that the taxes you paid from 2025

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to what you are now paying in 2026 has gone up under this new budget about $13 a month. And I just don't know that we could have done a better job than that and still

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have been fiscally responsible because we do need to raise taxes in order to keep the debt keep the debt at bay and continue to be concerned about the debt and to be fiscally responsible. And I

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will shut up. >> Would anyone else like to make a comment? Well, I would like to uh thank the mayor and um uh township administrator Papis, the the finance uh team uh headed by uh

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Miss Houseman uh for all the work that went into uh the budget and um the availability that um that everyone had to to discuss uh the uh the the the details of it uh

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in in detail. um line by line and and I think that um I think that we've we've um we're in a a position where uh we're still able to uh

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maintain level of uh services for the residents of the town uh while also uh investing in in the probably the most important asset of uh of the uh municipal government which is the

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employees who are doing the work on a a day-to-day basis for uh for the benefit of of us all. Um um I I just also uh would like to say I believe that your estimate is is correct with those

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>> thank you >> numbers you gave. Um and um I I just uh again uh like to thank uh thank the mayor for the the commitment to um to to doing the the budget uh

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timeline uh and and also following through on that. So thank you very much. It's >> the earliest we've been in seven years, Councilman. So I promised you on day one. So I was going to make sure I kept that >> did and you and you did keep it. Thank So thank you very much. Yes, I do want to acknow I do want to give a big shout

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out to everybody. This budget is being passed on time. And I do want to give a shout out to Deputy Administrator Field who did I think I said it earlier, but spent a great deal of time on the phone with the um state basically saying you

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better you better approve this budget because we want our budget passed on time, you know, in Bridgewater. And we did. Well, let's let's not put the horse the cart before the horse. It hasn't been approved yet. >> We'll have to >> That's true. You're right. I can't I I

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shouldn't um jump the gun, but the anticipation is that it will be passed. Um I'm not hearing anybody raising any big >> No, I don't have any objections. Just a few very brief comments. Um I you know, I think the process worked very well this year. Um I think the process has

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worked well in previous years, but I I want to particularly compliment those who took part in this year's process. Um, also acknowledge that, um, for better or worse, um, you know, we're going to take a budget vote in a few minutes. Maybe we get to take tomorrow off from not

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thinking about the budget. Um, but our responsibility for this for this budget is is everlasting. Um, you know, money additional money will come in. Uh, additional decisions will need to be made. Uh, we're always asking ourselves,

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how can we be better? Um, I think each year we get a little better. Um, but the way that we get there is, you know, continued diligence. Um, and again, maybe we get tomorrow off, but we're back at it on Monday. Um, it also is is

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important. Um, and and bears noting that every year, you know, maybe toward the end of the year, I ask Mr. Papus, you know, so how's the budget? You know, what does it look like for next year? And every year I get the answer, oh, it's a tough one. tougher than last year. Yep. Tougher

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than last year. So, um you know, that's just the the reality that we all live in. It's true of our family budgets, too. Our family budgets potentially are getting tougher and tougher every year. It's the time it's the times that we live in. Um you know, we we all have the responsibility on behalf of this

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community to make the the make the the the best decisions that we can. Um you know, it's been stated there is no perfect budget. There's no perfect family budget either. Um, but you know, I I I believe that this represents the priorities of our community. It is a

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sound plan that allows for our, uh, current needs and, uh, as well as investment in our future. So, uh, we'll be back at it again sooner than you realize. >> My wheels are already turning. >> Councilman Ring, do you want to say

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anything? >> Be very brief. Um, I I feel like I say this every year, but I'll say it again. I, you know, it's been said a couple times, no budget is perfect. Um, we all have different things that we look for

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or want to see or don't want to see in a budget, and sometimes it's a compromise, uh, to get there. But um in my six plus years on the council, it's always been a very collaborative and and generally working together to to you know find

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something that is uh acceptable to each of us while still meeting individuals uh personal preferences as it relates to the budget. So, thank you to the budget committee >> and I I think we're ready to vote on the

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adoption of the 2026 municipal budget. Can I have a motion to accept the 2026 municipal budget? >> Not to accept. To approve. >> To approve. >> I will make that motion. >> We can't run a meeting without you being here. >> To approve the 2026 budget. Can I have a

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motion? I believe the science committee did. >> Oh, did we do it already? >> No, no. He's just made the motion. >> I'm doing it. >> Oh, you >> I'm I'm a little horse, but I'm doing it. I'm I'm I'm making the motion. >> Andrew made the motion. I'll second it. >> Okay. I think we need a roll call on

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this one. >> We definitely do. >> You have to. >> Councilman Beckov, >> yes. >> Councilman Kersh, >> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. >> President Gger, >> yes. We have council president, if I can uh just say I want to thank again all the

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council members uh for your uh work this year on the budget. In addition to the normal budget challenges of course that you have every year as everyone in the public knows uh this this was a unique year because we had for the first time you know uh split party and three new

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council members and you know we didn't know each other beforehand. So you don't know going in how uh the process is going to be and to what level as you're building relationships with people that you don't didn't know before January and to the extent you did it was adversarial

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um you know how do you work that to make sure that you're communicating in a way that um is productive and transparent and when you don't know how to interact with or how the folks are going to handle on either side and uh I think our uh you know the new council member

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uh did a phenomenal job in learning the budget and um working with us and I thank uh Council Kers and Ring uh for obviously working with us and working with their colleagues and uh our staff. Um you know, I get to be up here. I I joke with somebody recently just a few

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minutes ago and I said, you know, congratulations. I said, I just, you know, I just charm everybody. Um it's the people in the office every day. uh especially our finance team led by Sarah Hman um who who does the work uh on here every day. Um it's Mr. Papis who uh you

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know and and our auditors and and our whole team um deputy administrator Madrid and and Rob Field who who filled all those you know hours and hours of questions and and uh um who make sure that they are implementing what the council wants or

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the mayor wants and and how do we do that? Thank you uh Sarah and your team for everything that you've done and thank you to council and congratulations. Uh we have a budget. So thank you. >> It's also the first budget in several years that no one on this day has voted against. >> You know there's uh you know certain

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things are very nice. Uh you know change isn't always bad in every instance. So >> surprise surprise. I do I want to give a shout out to Sarah Houseman too. we um I think we all appreciated the hard work that you put into it and the result, you

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know, the proof is in the pudding. So, thank you. Um and I do want to acknowledge that I did speak to councilwoman um Ridana Isla before the meeting and she if she was here, she would approve the budget as well. So, it would be a unanimous it's it's unanimous

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for the people who are here and it would be unanimous as well if she was voting. um she authorized me to let the public know she would vote yes on this budget as well. So um I guess we move on. Introduction of ordinances. We have an

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ordinance amending 25-04 adopted on May 8th, 2025, authorizing the sale of property known as block 511 lot 3 on the Bridgewater Township Tax Map and located at Whitney Court,

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Bridgewater, New Jersey 08807 east of Shasta Drive to TripleC Housing, Inc. 51520 Route 130 North, Sweet 2011 North Brunswick, New Jersey 08902. That's the buyer of the property for a

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nominal consideration of $100 pursuant to NJSA4A 12-211 um construct affordable housing uh or to construct affordable housing. I think this is for the group home. >> We talked about this the last meeting.

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This is just a clean up some business entity LLC type language to meet the state. So, we're just modifying something previously done. It's not a new transaction. >> Okay. >> I'll move it. I'll move to introduce it.

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>> Okay. Can I have a second to introduce it? >> Second. >> I think we need a roll call to introduce it. >> Councilman Beco. >> Yes. >> Councilman Kersh? >> Yes. >> Councilman Ring? >> Yes. >> President Geger? >> Yes. Um public final action um is

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scheduled for May 18, 2026 at 7 p.m. here in the municipal courtroom. Public inspection of this ordinance will be available on the township website, on the bulletin board, and through the clerk's office. >> I just want to highlight that May 18th is what day of the week? A Monday

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>> because we uh the council meeting was changed from its regular Thursday to a Monday. >> The Thursday would have been the day before Memorial Day weekend. >> No. Well, that there was two reasons. The more important one was the likelihood that we lose use of this room because voting machines are being

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delivered for the primary. >> Gotcha. >> Voting. >> Yes. And I just want to >> I'm sorry. The early voting for the primary. The machines will probably already be in here. Councilman Kersh is the person who diligently spent I don't know how many

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hours going through the calendar to make sure that we've scheduled the meetings at the right times and and you know took into consideration voting and holidays and >> full moons and >> Yeah, I know. When once the voting machines are

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delivered, your badge won't even work to get in here. >> That's right. >> Okay. Um, next we have an ordinance of the township of Bridgewater tomit to permit a temporary use for a portion of block 222 lot 3.01

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for temporary parking subject to specific conditions. Um, township administrator Papis, would you like to just give a brief explanation of that? >> Sure. the property owner of the Mercedes-Benz dealer uh purchased this

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adjoining rather large parcel and he is uh seeking permission to temporarily store some of his inventory on that property. >> This is property that previously was approved for two hotels and several

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restaurants. >> So I I think there's >> a lot less traffic parking some cars there than >> Yes. So >> Yes. So, I I think >> I will gladly introduce it. >> Can I have a second? I'll second it. Um, roll call, please.

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Councilman Bako. >> Uh, yes. >> Councilman Kush, >> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. >> Geer, >> yes. >> Final action for this ordinance is scheduled for May 18, 2026 at 7 p.m. here in this courtroom. Public inspection of this ordinance will be on

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the township website, on the bulletin board, and in the clerk's office. And again, that's a Monday, not a Thursday. Okay. Resolutions. Moving on to resolutions. We have a request for a waiver of the fire permit fee in the amount of $430 and the special event fee

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in the amount of $100 for the total amount of $530 and authorization for fireworks display for the Somerset County Park Commission 355 Miltown Road, Bridgewater, New Jersey on Friday, July 3rd, 2026. I will be anywhere but there

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on July 3rd, 2026. Um, can I have a motion to uh to >> make a motion to approve 13A? >> Second. I'll second it. Roll call, please. >> Councilman Beco, >> yes. >> Councilman Kersh,

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>> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. >> President Gger, >> yes. 13B, authorizing the dispersal of $37,227.25 25 cents from the affordable housing trust fund for renovations and repairs

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for two low and moderate income properties through the Bridgewater Housing Rehabilitation Program. Again, uh Township Administrator Papis, if you just want to give a brief understanding to the public of what that what that's about. >> Sure. These funds come from the

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affordable housing trust fund which is uh generated from developers or people improving properties that do not have any um affordable housing component within them. uh these uh property owners have to meet certain uh income and asset

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uh requirements to to uh be eligible for this and these improvements uh remain u on a lean for these onto these properties for I think 25 years at which time then they become forgiven.

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>> One two comments just for the public's uh council's awareness too. Um, this is part of our H affordable housing approved plan from round three program when it when it first came out. And for residents, um, you don't have to be living in a an affordable housing unit

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that is part of the quote affordable housing program. It has to do with, um, you know, your overall income levels and and certain conditions of the property. Uh, and it's not to do a project that you, you know, you really just want a new kitchen because it's outdated with

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this decor, but if you're living in a in a piece of property where you're having you're your kitchen is not functional, you know, you're having real issues because of um things like that. Yeah. A furnace, uh, you know, certain HVAC systems, you know, roofing, things like that, structural components that um, uh,

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windows, things. So, uh, so for residents that may be in that category of, you know, um, they're not in a official affordable housing unit, but they meet the criteria, um, they may want to check it out to see if it's something a program that they want to take themselves, make available. And this is not money that can go other places. It's not out of the budget. It's

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out of the affordable housing fund. So, this is not a, uh, this is not a discretionary program where we can say we're not going to, you know, do this and we're going to put it into uh, you know, some other, you know, public works or something like that. It's earmarked for this. it has to be there for this and um people should take advantage of

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it because it's there >> and it helps if you live in the neighborhood with one of these houses so it doesn't become an eyesore for everybody else. Um and I just have a question because it's a 25-y year lean. So if they sell the property before the 25 years, do we get paid back? Does it go back into the affordable housing

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fund? >> I think it may be a proportionate amount. I >> Okay, >> prorated. I think >> prorated. Okay. um >> how how would uh someone inquire as to whether or not they could qualify for such a program? >> They can contact us or our

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administrative agent and uh they would be the ones to provide a form, very simple form that people would uh complete to give them a sense if they're eligible for further vetting. >> It's pretty pretty simple and straightforward. >> And the income level is a it's not uh

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it's not high, but it's not as low as you might think it is for, you know, a married couple. uh you know so more people probably qualify than they would realize. >> Okay. I think it's a good thing to make the public aware of. Anyway, can I have a motion to uh approve this resolution?

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>> So moved. >> Second. Uh second roll call, please. >> Councilman Beco, >> yes. >> Councilman Kush, >> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. >> President Gger, >> yes. Next. Authorizing an award of contract

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to Appraisal Systems, Inc. 264 South Street, building number two, Morristown, New Jersey 07960, to perform professional appraisal inspections and related services in connection with the township reassessment program in an amount not to exceed $89,430

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for the calendar year of 2026. Um, is that I thought all the houses were already reassessed. So is this >> they what they do is they they physically inspect 20% every year but the entirety of every property gets a

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new assessment. So they physically go out there 20 for for 20% to actually knock on your door ask to come in. You don't have to actually let them but you know that >> actually that answers a question. So everybody gets reassessed every every five years we do everything but every

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year we do 20%. Every five years they're putting eyes on the house to make sure someone didn't make changes that were unaware of or Yeah. >> One thing that's important to know if if they request entry to your property and

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you refuse that makes you ineligible to appeal your assessment. >> I thought they also make certain assumptions that you >> they'll they'll assume often against you know >> um that >> but you can't appeal it, >> right? And so you're better off letting

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them in. >> Yeah. It's um >> you're better off not hiding anything is the first is the first lesson. >> The one of the things that's >> all your permits, right? >> And getting all your permits would be a really good idea, too. >> One of the things that it's important to know is that um by doing this program,

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which a lot of towns do, we've done it for 20 years. I think it was started under Flannry um when I was here. But it helps to one make sure that residents don't see big jumps. You know, some towns try to artificially def, you know, uh, keep their assessments down and then when it finally catches up with them and they get sanctioned by the state and

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they have to reassess, now all of a sudden people, especially senior citizens, who who thought, "Oh, my property values down here," get a giant increase, which can be really debilitating for somebody, not the $13 a month that you can plan and budget for, but you get really whacked. And the

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other thing which is very important is if you don't have a proper reassessment program, commercial entities can then file tax appeals against the township if they think that you're improperly trying to shift the tax burden to the commercial side by, you know, improperly

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devaluing your residential. So your your commercial is higher. Um they can then come after the township to get their assessments lower. And when they do that, the whole conversation we had before about we collect all the taxes. If we overassess somebody and the tax court agrees with us, we have to refund

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that company all the money, including the money that the school district got that we don't get back from the school district. So, if we're wrong on our assessments and the company says, "You owe us a million dollars, even though we only kept the hundred,000 of that," we have to get back the whole million out of our pockets. So this program makes it

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extremely less likely that we are going to be off in a major significant way um on on the overall balance between commercial and residential and that we're not going to have any less likely we have any big judgments against us. >> And when uh Ridana and I attended the

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seminar on budgeting sponsored by the um New Jersey Municipal Alliance, they were very impressed that we do the assessments every five years and they were very impressed with the way we we proceed. So, um, >> saves us a lot of issues, too, because

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when you get into like your county budget, for example, we're say at 100%. You have some towns that they they have to, you know, the county sets their budget of x pennies per per $100 just like we do. Well, if other towns are not

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reassessed every year, they're undervalued. So, therefore, they would be paying less in tax. So, one of the things that people don't realize is there's a even though we're at 100%. Before we can know our increases, the

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county goes through a process and tells the tax assessor percentages because it's all designed to to level the playing field >> and it should level the >> correct. But but we do it's a lot cleaner because we're not stuck with

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estimates and and the balancing in some of the other tax. >> It's fiscally responsible. >> Correct. >> Yeah. It really is. Okay. Can I have um a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Sec. I'll second. Um I think we need a roll call.

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>> Councilman Buck. >> Yes. >> Councilman Kush. >> Yes. >> Councilman Ring. >> Yes. >> President Geger. >> Yes. >> Are you open to 12 ENF on consent? >> 12 I don't >> ENF on consent. >> But we don't need them.

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12E and F we no longer need because we approved the budget is my understanding. >> No more temporary budget. >> There you go. So with that, I'm going to make a motion to amend the budget. I'm sorry to amend the agenda and add resolution 12G.

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>> I need you. What's Oh 12G. >> This is a vote to amend the agenda first. >> Yes. Um so anyway, so do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> Can we have a roll call on that? We can do voice, can't we, on that? >> Can we do a voice on? >> Yes, you can do procedurally.

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>> Okay, you can do amend. >> Um, all in favor? >> I >> Okay. And the resolution is right here, right? >> Yep. >> I just made it 12g because it was next to one. >> No. So, does somebody want to explain the resolution? >> Do you want to read it first? >> Okay. authorizing a three-year lease

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purchase financing agreement in the total amount not to exceed 647 46 $647,4153 for the acquisition of eight vehicles through Nelson Fleet 31 Williams Parkway Eastover New Jersey via the Educational

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Services Commission of New Jersey cooperative pricing system contract 65 MCECCC CPS-ESCJ number 23/24-01. I think this is a fancy way of saying we're getting new police vehicles.

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>> We didn't we didn't get police vehicles last year. As you can imagine, the amount of wear and tear that police vehicles take is astronomical. Um and uh it is becoming a missionritical situation to make sure that we have new

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cars in the works before um we're having true vehicle availability issues. So this is a as as the resolution says it's a we will own them after three years. So it's a uh you know three-year lease to finance model. It's done through a uh a

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pricing cooperative that we can use based on state law that they've already vetted the pricing so we don't have to go out to bid specifically. we can, you know, pick off of the approved list to make sure we get police cars in a timely, cost-effective manner. >> And >> this one's for you, Chief. >> That's that's why he's still here to

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make sure we didn't veer off course. I think >> and you know, it's important. And I thank the chief for having this as quickly as the budgets approved because sometimes in the past we would wait for a budget to be approved and then we would go out and get pricing for cars

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and by the time they get all that and come back with if it was three quotes whatever. So you know one year we had to go to Pennsylvania. I think the last time we went Cape May County was it Atlanta County. All right. Went to Atlantic County for cars. So this is

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obviously much closer. So, thank you uh for the chief to uh for getting this done so quickly. I will gladly move 12G. >> I I'll I'll second and simply state that there there can be challenges both with price and even availability. So, even availability in any price depending upon

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the supply chain and whatnot. So, it is certainly uh in our in our collective best interest to to take this action and take it quickly. >> Right. passing our budget on time and getting a jump on this because we're competing with other municipalities for these trucks for these well these cars

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right vehicles. Um I think we need a roll call on this. It's a lot of money. >> Councilman Bucko. >> Yes. >> Councilman Kesh. >> Yes. >> Councilman Ring. >> Yes. >> President Guyger. >> Yes. >> Um is there any discussion?

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Motion to adjurnn. >> I can always count on you. I have a second. >> A second. >> All in favor? >> I >> meeting is adjourned. >> Anybody in the house? Last night as I was drifting off into

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sleep,