i think that's [Music] We're good [Music] i'd like to welcome everybody to our April 16th city council meeting please rise to the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please remain standing while our deputy may thank you for your love and faithfulness we pray for a very blessed
Passover and Easter to all who are celebrating this week may we continue to be reminded of grace and hope you offer us in your name we pray amen please be standing of a moment of silence for Mary
beloved mother who passed away last week surrounded by her loving she was a dedicated nurse working for many years in the Atlantic City Medical Center maryanne and her husband the late
senior raised their beautiful family drive and were very involved with local sports she was also a great player being coached her team marian was survived by Colleen and Mary son and
three grandchildren and became Thank you and posted as required under the open session approval of our
second minutes questions or comments seeing none we have Yes mayor Sarah yes motion carried sure yes uh next up we have our approval of our bill requisition list we have a
motion and second questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call you yes the Terry yes yes kayne yes reen yes mayor Sarah yes motion carry next up we have public comment this is
public comment on agenda items only seeing no public comment we close public portion i'd like to reorder the agenda because we have our aud number 13 which is the budget up
all right so we have resolution 2025-91 and this is a public hearing and adoption of the 2025 municipal budget we have a motion second any comments before I open it up state for um a quick question so for the
municipal tax rates we still the third lowest are we for the municipal tax rates are we still the third lowest in the county yeah you should be it didn't change much so we should be at the third lowest that's what I thought i should have gonna ask the expert that's what I
thought you see the budget's a lot all right at this time I'd like to open it up for a public hearing anybody wishing to be heard on the municipal budget please come up state your name and address for the record yes Mr nhls 30827
Street we're talking today about property taxes affordability and Brigantine's future would we like it to be a community of families with young children currently there are 375 children in the 10 levels of our
community school uh our census population is 7,600 down from over 12,000 years ago what can young families afford the bud budget requires $1.3
million more than in 2024 to be raised by taxes the property tax rate has increased 1 cent every year since 2019 except for 2022 when it stayed the
same usually half of the previous year's fund balance at the end of the year is used in the current year's budget but not this year it's less than half $911,000 less enough to cover two cents
in the municipal purpose tax rate our revenue is up $2.1 million i wonder does anyone here on the council have any comments on this budget or any recommendations for the future and when I said
affordability and that's what it is and in terms of what kind of a community will we be as the school keeps losing pupils and so on because people can't afford to live here i realize it's not just taxes it's cost of homes too but taxes are a
price are something that they have to take into consideration as well so I know you're going to vote for this that's a given however um I just feel that uh these things should be expressed and dealt with at least in
some way where are we going so thank you there's no other public comment the public portion I have a question for you i just want to make sure my understanding is right our tax rate today is almost exactly the same as it was in 2014 you
have 2014's tax rate i don't Yeah the tax rate because I know um our tax rate is almost exactly the same as it was in 2014 and I don't think Philips public i don't think that any municipality in the state of New Jersey
can make that claim uh we've done an outstanding job of keeping expenses under control uh for the school taxes the school has actually lowered taxes every year for the last 12 years so the tax rate has dropped every year one of the things the school's been doing as
populations been dropping is teachers have been retiring we've actually through attrition been eliminating positions this year another two positions have been eliminated from the school and I think probably over the last 10 or 15 I don't have the exact number in front of me i think 90
positions have been eliminated schools school continues to uh rightsize their staff to meet um the students that are there sorry yeah and I was going to say and they've also lost $1.7 million in state funding
that was being phased out over seven years i know some municipalities had it taken away all at once but um the state phased it out on us so as state funding continued to drop um our school has actually stayed on top of their budgets to make sure that they can keep that
affordable this year with the school taxes it's actually a on average a $40 decrease for most taxpayers here uh and bring a team i know you talked about the fund balance um one of the issues is if you use too much of your surplus you it
actually becomes a double negative when you use too much surplus what it does is it creates larger tax increases in the future and one of the things we really try to do is levelize your taxes keep things under control for the surplus
um I think this year Leon we're using surplus 4 million70,000 yeah 4,70,000 surplus this year um it's a $645,000 increase from last year one of
the things with surplus is you can't use more than you anticipate raising so we are using surplus appropriately but one of the things and this is something I think everyone on council is very proud of is that we are trying to um increase and raise that surplus for two reasons
one it's a rainy day fund if you end up in an emergency situation you have money to pay your bills uh two when it comes to our bond rate you look all around the city right now there's construction going on everywhere we're doing a ton of work we are reinvesting uh back in the
community and having a strong surplus means that we get to borrow money at a cheaper rate because our bond rating is very very strong and it's something that we're proud of and when you look at the increases two reasons one inflation people are getting crushed with
inflation across the country every municipality is dealing with this um most municipalities have tax increases right now we're on the lower end of it uh but two a big part of this too is we are reinvesting back in the community fixing our roads our public buildings um
working on our recreational facilities uh we're probably going to start working up next uh getting ready for our next beach replenishment so instead of doing all that at once we start to stock that money up to be ready so this budget is is where we need to be it is a strong
budget and again our tax rate here in Brigotine is almost exactly what it was in 2014 so we are keeping things under control and providing outstanding services across and that's something I
council city is very very proud of um any other questions from council or comments i just think this is very responsive thank all the department for all the work they did their budgets and
I just think it's a great policy putting up that service leon I just want to say thank you also for what you do every year i mean I don't think there's another town in the 23 towns in Atlanta County i don't think there's another township that could say
that that they have the same tax uh amount they had over 10 years ago since 2014 we have the same same taxes question yes yes yes
yes yes mayor Sarah before I vote um one le thank you for outstanding work tiger worked hard on this too our CFO um our financial team is very strong very proud also with our department heads very responsive budgets and um I know people
really working time under control so I thank you guys for that obviously we need it very proud of our department heads work so I vote yes thanks appreciate all right next up we have
ordinance number six 2025 this is an introduction uh it's an ordinance authorizing the acquisition of block 1502 lot 8 do I have the right one here yeah can we have a motion second just to bring people up to speed
where we are with this is uh the city is in need of putting in a new well our well is at well number five well number five behind city hall is coming up on its last two or three years of its life uh we're going to be acquiring we're working with Atlantic City Electric to
acquire the property behind city hall to put in new well if we can't put that well in there we end up in a situation where the only closest spot is honor city hall doesn't make sense to do that so we are moving forward with this
land acquisition to help with our water supply here um any questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call yes yes yes mayor Sarah yes
ordinance number 7 2025 this is an introduction this is um an ordinance to repeal and replace chapter 105 of the revised general ordinance in the city of Brigantine with a new chapter entitled beaches and recreational areas and
amendments to other chapters of the code for consistency we have a motion second motion uh basically one of the things we're trying to do is to reorganize um all of our ordinances i know that our city managers were working very hard on
this uh for consistency and conciseness i know this uh took a lot of work to put together so I appreciate all of the work i'm sure everyone up here appreciates the work that our outstanding legal team has done mayor I I I can't take the credit legal
team has been a big help but I also want to point out our municipal court administrator Donqardi was very instrumental in helping me get this cross all right if there's no questions or comments do we have roll call yes
yes julia yes yes reen yes mayor Sarah yes motion carried we have ordinance number eight of 2025 this is an introduction and this is an ordinance to amend and supplement section 144-2 applicability permits
required for use requirements of chapter 144 dumpster the ordinance of the city of Brigantine to up uh to update who has the responsibility to review and approve the location for offsite dumpsters motion
second one of the things we're trying to do is just kind of streamline our city functions here and that's what this ordinance about questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call you yes lati yes yes yes kay yes rearen yes mayor Sarah
yes carry ordinance number nine of 2025 um and this is an ordinance amending chapter 61 salaries and compensation of the code of the city of Brigantine pursuant to NJSA489-165 establishing salaries and
wages of certain officers and employees in the city of Brrigine County Atlantic State of New Jersey motion second make that motion questions questions or comments seeing none we
have roll call yes yes yes yes yes mayor Sarah yes motion carry resolution 2025-92 authorizing a contract with True
Green LP for fertilizer services and this is in the amount of $15,760 motion second so move second questions or comments seeing none can we have roll call yes yes yes yes yes mayor Sarah yes carry
resolution 2025-93 and this is authorizing the contract with True Green LP for vegetation control this is the amount of 25,900 motion second questions or comments seeing none we
have roll call yes mayor Sarah yes resolution 2025-94 this is a resolution authorizing a contract with Zylon Water Solutions USA Inc for PMA repairs at uh Quay Storm
Water Pump we have a motion and second second questions or comments seeing none we have roll call you yes yes hy yes villio yes kane yes rean yes mayor Sarah yes carry next up
we have our consent agenda we have 34th Street uh 34th Surf and Land Sportsman uh team fishing tournament the John Pestridge request for bonfire and heart of surfing 501c3 adaptive skate park
event motion second questions or comments seeing none we have roll call you yes villia yes kane yes rean yes mayor Sarah yes motion carry uh next up we have our council manager committee
discussions tag of course uh nothing for you but I just want to I hope I don't steal the thunder of any chiefs over there but it is National Telecommunicators Week and uh we have the best telecommunicators our dispatchers here in the city of 18 i
know for 25 years answering calls in the fire department i know how amazing they are and how wonderful a job and how lucky we are to have them here so I just want to point that out it is national tele absolutely they do an amazing job here at the city of Brigine and I know you
saw it from the fire side but from the public um a lot of times when people have emergency situations stay here on the phone so we're very grateful all right sunday Mike Neil and I had the pleasure of attending the installation of officers i'd like to
congratulate all officers and I'd also like to congratulate Martin on his retirement from the past years it was a lovely ceremony celebration i just want to remind everybody Saturday the 26 is the third
annual cherry blossom festival the tea is sold out but there is still room to participate in the 5K run and onem walk which will be held uh at 5:00 Friday night the
25th starting at the community center uh also the permit-free citywide yard sale will be Friday Saturday and Sunday June 6th 7th and 8th uh it's always a much anticipated event
spread the word and uh that's it happy Easter to everybody happy Passover to everybody and just personal thank you to Mark for the outstanding job i
know some curveballs got thrown at you that's it the only thing I can add council members we did have a recreation meeting tried to solve teams pickle ball issues top They add more
classes i would be chair of the beach commission i set out today not tonight happy Easter happy Passover so tonight I'd like to reappoint Matt Doran and J.R henry to the school
board uh give everybody a quick update on the sailboat at the Cove Beach uh we've gone to court got a court order to be able to take possession before we can clean the boat up the state of New Jersey is making us title it to the city state's a little slow on things so uh as
soon as we I guess legally take title through the state of New Jersey have that public works will have that vote drawn on the beach our goal is by the start of the summer season but that really depends on how fast the state of
New Jersey can move to title so hopefully they get expedient factor cass you got any help with that get that through but see the SS
i second the motion well I was thinking we got to get it out of there before the control shows up all right so uh last thing just give everybody a quick update uh the talk back and forth with uh the county on
county court um they had sent over some preliminary numbers on the county court uh the information they sent us was incomplete so we had requested additional financial information from the county uh spoke with the uh county
administrator he's going to put that information together and get it back to the city for our review and I just think it's important for us to have a full financial picture of what the courts look like and the total cost before we have any type of presentation uh once we have that information and uh council has
an opportunity to review it uh the county would like to do a presentation on uh everything the county court has to offer so we'll keep everybody posted but right now we're just waiting on the financial information from this time we'll open it up for
public comment anybody wishing to please come up and state your name and address for the record we're going to close the public portion any final council comments no i'd like to wish everybody a happy Easter and a happy
Passover season for those of you traveling uh over the next week or so safe travels enjoy the warm weather lots of time all right we have a motion second to adjurnn
all in favor i any opposed i see none motion pass i'd like to thank everybody for coming out and watching your council see if it worked