Okay. >> Recording in progress. >> Okay. Welcome everyone to the uh Township of Chattam Committee meeting tonight for Tuesday, March 24th, 2026. The meeting is called to order at 7:32.
Mr. Lanti, has adequate notice been given? Yes. Adequate notice of this meeting of the township committee was given as required by the open public meetings act as follows. Notice was given to both the Chad Mccourier and the Mars County Daily Record on January 7th, 2026. Notice was posted on the bulletin board in the main hallway of the
municipal building on January 7th, 2026. And notice was filed with the township clerk on January 7th, 2026. >> Thank you. Uh can we have a roll call, please? >> Mr. Perowitz, >> here. >> Mr. Troy >> here, >> Mrs. Ewald
>> here, >> Deputy Mayor McHugh >> here, >> and Mayor Roland >> here. >> We have the whole committee. >> Thank you. Uh please rise for the flag salute to the stands one nationyice for all. Okay, happy spring everyone. Uh the
first topic I want to discuss in my mayor's message uh tonight is just a quick overview again of the tax revaluation here in Chattam Township. Um as outlined in letters that were mailed to residents back in September um you know a few snowstorms ago. The
revaluation was mandated by the Mars County Board of Taxation back in 2023 um because we hit the trigger of disparity between assessed value and market value. Um, the last time a reevaluation occurred was in 2005
and it seems like a long time ago. Um, so evaluators will be knocking on doors requesting to look through your home. Takes about 10 minutes and if you're not available, they will leave a note and you can contact them to to come up with a mutually agreeable time for them to
come back in. um it's really in your best interest to have them come in rather than declining them coming in because if they uh do not get to look at the home themselves, they will have to make assumptions and
usually assess it at the highest value. Um there's a lot of information available on the website that gives uh project status updates and the schedule for evaluations and also in um information about the inspectors.
We were a little bit delayed in starting the evaluations. I know we wanted to start in January, but due to the snowstorms, we were um uh delayed a few weeks, but now I believe that um we're well underway with the tax evals. Um, regarding the library, I won't steal
Marty's thunder, but we received some great news from from the state uh regarding a significant library grant and a big thank you to assemblymen um Andrew McCertie and Vincent Carney also for getting these stalled funds unstalled. So, it's great news. Um, we
are talking about the budget tonight. Um, we are voting on it and it was presented two weeks ago by Mr. Shahadi. Um, again, it was a thoughtful and diligent process with myself, um, a CPA and accountant of 35 years and Committeeman Mchugh on the finance
committee who has run his own successful business for many years as well. As a small community with minimal commercial area and no significant revenue generating opportunities, we have managed to meet our requirements, pave our roads, upgrades to Eston and
playgrounds. um even while coming up against significant increases in expenditures including insurance costs um which everyone that I talked to is seeing across the board not only locally statewide but nationwide
um additionally the tax reval that I was just discussing um comes with a price tag of about $750,000. So, we used all the tools and the levers that we had at our disposal and presented the best possible budget.
Lastly, uh March is Women's History Month. This was established in the United States in 1987, not that long ago. Uh and I have a few interesting facts. Did you know that companies that have boards with gender equity outpour outperform those that don't by two to
5%? This comes from Bloomberg. Uh, did you know that 85% of US consumer spending is done by women? And did you know that the first CIA operative to be killed in action ever was a woman named Jane Burrell and she does not have a
star on the wall at the CIA for members killed in action because she was killed in a plane crash and they said that doesn't count, which disagree. Um, I had the honor and privilege last night of attending a Women's Heritage Month event at the Governor's Mansion. Um, hosted by
our 57th governor and first female Democratic governor in the over 200 years of history in New Jersey. Um, I met some of the incredible women running municipalities, counties, the state. Um, so think about the women in your life. Call your mom, your grandmother, your
aunt if you're still lucky to have them around and give those fantastic women in your life a hug. Now on to township committee reports. Um Craig, will you lead us off, please? >> Thank you, mayor. And uh I will call my
mother after this. Um so uh April starts uh an exciting month of Earth Month for the Environmental Commission. There's a series of events that are taking place. Uh on April 22nd, they're doing a screening of Your
Extraordinary Caterpillar in partnership with the library. Um they're going to show the film. They're going to distribute uh milkweed seeds. Um bonus points to anyone that can tell me how you raise milkweed with milkweed seeds.
Um and uh they'll have a speaker and a Q&A after the film. Uh they're also doing two invasive species walks. uh one on April 11th uh at the Green Village Pond Conservation and the following day on the 12th at
Shunpike Trail. Both uh are at 10:30 in the morning. Uh this is all about learning about the invasive species and what they're doing to our landscape and why this is a an issue and something to pay attention to and how to uh help. Uh
they are also having the annual native plant sale uh at the Great Swamp Watershed Association that's going on pretty much most of the month from April 1st to 21st. And uh if that's not enough, you'll be hearing from the Environmental Commission throughout the
month about ways and tips tips and tricks on how you can uh really make a difference and uh lessen your impact on the environment. Uh so stay tuned for all that. Um, additionally on the first uh uh public safety side, um had the uh
annual um installation dinner for the officers at the Chattam Emergency Squad, which is a pretty terrific event every year. Uh mostly for uh my colleagues and I to be able to turn the pager off for the one night of the year. Uh but also to
celebrate uh each other and uh talk about sort of all of the work that's been done over the course of the year. Some quick stats. Uh, 1412 calls were answered by your first responders and the emergency squad. 123 second calls
and 73 calls, which uh, anyone wants to pay attention. That means when one ambulance is out, a second call means it's a scramble and people have to drop what they're doing to go help. Simultaneously, a third call, uh, more people have to drop what they're doing
and go pick up the call. Uh in addition uh the squad also trained over 413 people uh on CPR and that includes your community members, police, uh fire coaches, uh school nurses, everyone across the board. Uh they do a
tremendous amount of work. Um and the two highlights of the night among many others, one is for two, uh one is for Chattam Township resident, uh Richard Nelson, who's been on the squad for 31 years. uh uh they honored him with the
uh inaugural Richard Nelson Legacy of Response Award and this is a new award that is given to an exemplary member who basically always answers the call. Uh and Richard really personifies that as he has for over the past 30 years. Uh
and it was a real privilege to to see him receive that award uh in person, not on that night. And secondarily, uh, the highest honor that's ever bestowed upon any individual at the emergency squad, uh, is called the Dick Richards Award, who himself would probably be eligible
for the legacy of a of a of service award. Um, and that was awarded to Evan Skinner, uh, who, uh, is also a Chattam Township resident. And uh this pretty much exemplifies somebody who uh pretty much is always doing everything that
they possibly can for the squad both uh in the field and in the boardroom and everywhere in between. Uh and I I honestly can say Evan certainly personifies everything that that uh that award has bestowed upon her. Uh and
that's all I have to say. >> Joy. >> Thank you, Mayor Roland. Um wellness wellness is a is a front of mind topic I think for uh last several years and increasingly so I think um uh
it'll it'll become a a big part of everyone's life and consideration. Um with that vein the wellness fair uh just concluded its recent installment uh this past Sunday uh at the Stanley Center. Uh there were about 12 15 vendors there. Uh
a yoga studio, dermatologist. Uh the YMCA was represented there. Uh you could have gotten your blood screening done there. Uh body mass index measured for those who are brave enough to have that measured. Um uh I saw lots of familiar and unfamiliar faces. So hats off uh to
uh health department and uh everyone else that helped to put that fair together and make it a success. It is truly a multid-disciplinary uh program and offering. Uh it involves the school, the health uh department, uh
our staff, um uh businesses in the area in the wellness and and health uh industries. Um so uh I thought it was an excellent event and um I look forward to the next installment on that one. Um, if I may expand on Mayor Roland's comments
on the eval, uh, I mentioned it in our prior in our, uh, last meeting, uh, to the extent that you be you are curious to know where you might be in the queue, you can find that information out on the vendor's website, you can also go to our uh, uh, the township website uh, where
you can find additional information on the reval itself. Uh, but the vendor's website uh, appraisal systems is asj.com. A is in Alpha, S is in Sierra, I in India, NJ.com. There you can find a link to a spreadsheet for the entire township
as well as every other municipality uh who's undergoing a rebound. Uh in that spreadsheet as every attack lot uh and you can find yourself there uh where you are queued up as well as the inspector's name uh who's scheduled uh to arrive and uh greet you at the front door and um
perform his tasks. Um so hopefully that's helpful and That's all I have. Mayor, >> thank you very much. Committee woman. Thank you. Thank you. Um, so I just I we had a senior center meeting and I wanted to give some
updates. Um, the senior center is going to have their annual shred event April 25th from 9 to noon at the Chattam Middle School. It's a very popular event uh and a great opportunity to support the senior center. Uh, and also, uh, they're planning for their garden tour,
uh, which should be a great garden tour. It looks like it's going to be the weekend. They might have to bump it of Fishack, but um, Fishwack is a Saturday and the garden tour will be the Sunday. So, it'll be a great opportunity to do a lot of fun things locally. Um, the the senior center just has so many amazing
programs and there are many people who attend. I mean, many people take advantage and I'll just give you some examples. this week. In addition to a classic movie and discussion coming up tomorrow, uh Thursday, uh there's weekly AARP tax prep help. So, if anybody needs
that, there's a non-fiction group book group. There's men's basketball. There's so many activities and people really do take advantage of it. But we always talk about and worry about the people who don't take advantage of the facilities. And we want to make sure that uh residents don't hesitate. If you're 60
and over, don't feel like you have to be older. Um there really are many active, you know, groups. It's very appealing to uh all residents um over 60. Um so I hope people will will take advantage because they have fabulous programs. Um and we want to
make sure that um our residents get the benefit of those programs that are available and they do such a phenomenal job over there. Um I think that's everything that I wanted to share. >> Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh let's start with an
update with open space. I wanted to uh thank the out uh the calling out of we need members and we need to uh volunteers etc. It looks like we're adding a few people to the advisory committee which is great news. We have not met this year yet so there's not a
lot of uh activity or action to report. Um but we will get uh we will get going here very shortly and so I'm excited about that to have some feedback on a lot of subjects that have been outstanding. Uh and then the big news uh thank you
mayor for pointing that out and that is all about the library. Um the state um in its wisdom this time has decided to uh give um the library of the chatams um a grant that was approved by the joint
budget oversight committee which is the last rubber stamp. And um this is an exciting time and it will be a catalyst for a lot of dialogue and conversation on a significant project uh with very significant needs for the library. And
so stay tuned to that. look to cooperate and uh provide input etc because there'll be news all along the way as as this develops. So we uh we thank uh the various catalysts as well not necessarily the the state themselves but
the uh Mr. McCarti and Mr. Carney who were very helpful in motivating a uh JBOK that didn't didn't meet for almost two years. Um, and it was uh it was very straightforward and and hats off to Karen Brodzky, the library director, who
was um uh constantly um stepping up and trying and trying and trying and motivating those other people who around her uh to also um try to keep it on the front burner of those people uh who had influence. So, uh, we look forward to
those developments and, um, we will absolutely keep the public engaged, informed, and look forward to, um, moving this forward. Now, thank you. >> Thank you. >> My reports, uh, the TAM Township Historical Society is looking for a
treasurer if anyone is interested and available. Um, it's QuickBooks, a few transactions a month, running a monthly P&L. Um the historical society will provide the laptop. Um so if anyone is interested um please
contact the historical society or you can reach out to me as the liaison. Um and you know we would love to talk to you. Uh the next program for the historical society is going to be called New Jersey during the revolutionary war and that will be at the library on April
16th from 7 to 8:00 pm given by Pat Wells. Um Pat Wells one of the best storytellers I know and in Chadam she knows everything. She's great. Uh, last night the board of ed presented their budget. Um, that information is located on the school district website
if you want to follow up on the meeting and the presentation. And following on, uh, Committeeman Cho's uh, discussion of the wellness uh, event. It was great. Um, I was there at the board of health table. Uh, and I have some information that I will put at
the front of the municipal building, um, which was great that we got from, uh, the county, just some resources, uh, for health care, housing, legal, food, and also, um, just a quick, um, cheat sheet about physical therapy. So, I will leave these up at the front if anyone is
interested. And that is it for the committee reports. And we will move on to the first hearing of citizens. Uh, Mr. Lacante, if you would please give guidance. >> Members of the public are now welcome to come up to the microphone to address the
township committee. This is an opportunity for any member of the public to be heard about issues which are not topics scheduled for public hearings tonight. Those present may step up to the microphone to be heard. If you're watching via Zoom, you may speak during any of the public comment sessions by
following the Zoom instructions to raise your hand. Whether in person or online, when you're recognized to speak, please mind the following procedures. Please say your name, spell your last name, and give the name of your street. You do not need to give your street number. All public comments will be
limited to three minutes. Rather than use any of your time answering questions, the township committee will wait until you finish speaking before responding. There are two public comment sessions on tonight's agenda. Each member of the public will be limited to one comment of up to three minutes
during each public comment period. Written comments submitted to the township clerk before 3 p.m. will be read during the public comment sessions. Written comments are subject to the same guidelines as oral comments. Duplicative written comments may be summarized rather than read in full according to
guidelines issued by the New Jersey Division of Local Go Local Government Services. And mayor, we do not receive any written comments for tonight's meeting. >> Okay. Thank you. Are there any hands raised online? >> We do not have any hands raised.
>> Okay. Thank you. I don't see anyone in the audience. So, we can close the first hearing of citizens. And we will now move on to the public hearing, the final adoption of ordinances. I'd like to open the public hearing for ordinance 2026-04,
the CAP Bank. Um, this is part of the annual budget process. It's just kind of a standard um, ordinance that we file. Is there any comments or questions? Okay. So, I can close the the hearing for
ordinance 2026-04. I move that we adopt ordinance 2026-04 regarding the cap bank. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Lante. >> Mr. Al Perowitz.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Troy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ewald, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Mchugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Thank you. Uh the next uh the introduction of
ordinances. Is there a motion to introduce ordinance 2026-08, the open space tax? >> So move. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Are there any questions or comments?
>> Mayor. Yeah, if I may, just for the benefit of the governing body and the public. Um sequentially this is before the budget. Um because part of the budget proposal is that um due to some other increases that are beyond our control as uh explained during the
budget presentation. Specifically the three big ones being state health benefits plan from the state that increases almost 30%. the uh already uh excessive costs due to winter storms that have exceeded the whole expense
expenditures of last year uh and the uh cost of the township reval the county ordered township reval uh all three of those near almost a million dollars. And so uh recognizing that um we you know that's a lot to ask for the town residents uh in one year we wanted to
provide some relief. The finance committee felt that they wanted to provide some relief and one way was by looking at the needs of open space uh for this year as well as all the thing all the projects that are currently in the pipeline and coming that are funded. Uh and therefore we were able to uh uh
suggest and request from this governing body a decrease of the default 2% tax on open space down to one and a half% which uh overall represents about $175,000 across the tax base. So you want to
prelude that before uh we take a vote. >> Right. I appreciate that. And this is only for one year. Correct. It's not a permanent change. It is one year. Correct. Because uh you know and any projects that would come up >> would not be happening during the year anyway. So >> correct. It's it's not unprecedented. It
has happened uh in recent years uh and it will default right back to the 2% for us to decide next year what we want to do. >> Right. Thank you very much. Okay. Mayor, if I may for further clarification with regard to the uh open
space tax, the change of which um by doing so that is reducing the the rate from two to one and a half% uh we are not foregoing any what would have been previously scheduled or um conceptualized open space projects for
this year. So there's no negative impact as a result of making the change in terms of open space initiatives for the year. >> That's correct. >> Okay. Yes. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Just to clarify because it sounded like just to make sure we're all on the same page. Um we reduced it by a half percent
to make it one and a half%. >> Yes. >> Okay. It sounded like you said reduce to one and a half%. Maybe. >> No, from two to one and a half%. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I just want to make sure. >> TWW, >> they all heard. >> Yes. >> Yes. Okay.
What do we >> I'm waiting for you to call a vote. >> Call a vote, please. >> Um, Mr. Aleritz, >> uh, yes. >> Mr. Troy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Ewald, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor McHugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland, >> yes.
>> Motion passes and the public hearing will be on April 28th. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I would like to um Is there a motion to introduce uh the 2026 municipal budget resolutions
2026-081 and 2026-082? >> I would recommend that we do these uh one at a time. >> Okay. >> And Mr. >> Yes, that would be great to just a rehash. Um it was presented Mr. Shahadi
presented the budget at our last meeting and this we can do a quick recap. >> Thank you, mayor. Um, so yes, a full uh presentation was offered at the last meeting at our workshop meeting consistent with years prior. Uh, that video with the presentation is available
online on our website through our YouTube channel. Uh, just look up the March 10th, 2026 meeting. Uh, and the presentation with the slides and the commentary is is all there. Um or if you'd like you can email me or the clerk and we will provide you a link to the
direct uh start of that presentation. Um thank you. Thank you. >> Um so Mayor um you did uh give a quick recap on the finance committee subcommittee this year. We've got some terrific individuals as we do every year who uh have great experience in business
and finance and we were able to prepare uh what I think is a fiscally responsible budget for this year and beyond given all the constraints. Quick timeline March 10th, we just did that last week. Tonight's the presentation, the actual formal introduction of the budget. Uh and it is done by resolution,
but it does require two hearings. Uh so it's treated like an ordinance. So at the April 28th meeting, there will be another chance for the public to uh ask questions and and learn more between now and then. Uh also they can email myself and I'd be happy to uh provide any
answers regarding the budget. Uh quick overview. Uh so last year to this year when you look at the budget document uh you'll see only a slight increase uh only $312,000 in the appropriations. Okay. Uh however
uh that is I don't want to say misleading. It doesn't give you the full picture because by law we are required to budget as an appropriation as an expense all the grants that we receive and also book them as revenue. So even though that increase was only 312 uh
you'll look at the revenue and it dropped by a million uh almost a million30,000 that's clarified down below uh to give somebody a real idea of what the increases were and the decreases. So, uh, taking out the, uh, the budgets, right, we've got an increase in the
appropriations by almost 1.5 million. As I mentioned, about a million of that is those three, uh, non-discretionary uh, you know, major challenges that we faced. And as far as revenue goes, however, um, even with the removal of those grants, uh, we've got an increase
in revenue of 212. But the way the budget works is we will take our re appropriations, our revenue, subtract them. That's the stuff at the top, and we come up with the amount that needs to be raised by taxes, and that's at 13.2 million. Uh, and we take that and divide
that by our tax base, the net valuation taxable. Sorry. Um, net valuation taxable, and that's how we come up with our tax rate. Um, so this just gives you an overview of the appropriations, revenue, and the tax base. the tax base this year was the uh
went up but it was a slight increase and the lowest increase over the last number of years uh probably smallest in I think five or six years >> which yeah >> I just want to thank you if you can go back to that other screen because I think you added that which is very helpful so that bottom one because this
is a piece that we don't you know really isn't obvious so the bottom slide you're showing when you remove the grants which kind of falsely amplify last year's activity exactly what happened so we have $ 1.5 million increase on about an $18 million budget which is nearly 10%
largely driven by outside pressures. >> Correct. >> And it's not just us, it's also school district. Everybody's feeling this. So I guess I want residents to understand because this is not this is not, you know, want to have, wish to have, like to have. This is just keeping the lights on kind of activity, right?
>> And it's just outside pressures that are creating. Okay. Thank you. That that's very helpful. >> And committee woman, last meeting you did ask also about the health benefits. And I I want to just emphasize that the the increase is not specific to Chadam because of our employees alone. It is statewide. That is the state health
benefits program. So um you know our claims experience our employees and our retirees affect that. But it's also affected by overall what the state's premiums and expenses are and they divvy that up amongst the pool of uh of
participants in the plan. So uh that a 30% increase. I I'll go into that in the next slide here. You know, uh we're looking at a 32% increase in healthcare costs, $85,000. Our assessment went up. Massive. Um and that's happening to a
lot of towns, counties, munic as you said, school districts. It's happening across the board. Uh and not just municipalities are feeling it, but and and um the employers, but the employees, too, because our employees participate and uh pay into their health plan as
well. So they're seeing that same increase. So you know when people think oh their salary is going up a lot of that's going to just be eaten up by their uh their healthcare contributions and the more you make the more the contributions the percent it's a sliding
scale. So um that cost is not just and it's I don't say it's out of our control we can try and control it and we have every year I shop that out. I get our claims experience. I send it to our our broker. I have our broker shop it out to different uh plans and see and we either
get uh declined because they say we can't beat your rate or uh they say uh we just we simply can't do it because of of the the claims experience. Um we've tried different options pooling with other municipalities um and other
municipalities are seeing those increases even if they left the state health benefits they see and sometimes they get a a quick uh hook rate you know a nice rate the first year and then they see those same increases in subsequent years. So we are doing what we can with health care costs. We're trying to help those. We've also been marketing it to
our employees the different plans that they have. uh we're showing them, okay, if you uh look at, you know, if you only go to the doctor this many times and this is how many visits you have and this is your co-pays, you could probably opt for this plan, which will cost less for you and save yourself and the town
some money. And some people have some employees have done their part in in that effort, too. Uh weather, as I mentioned, the the storms just uh this year alone have exceeded the costs of last year. Uh and so we have to account for the end of the year. uh and other
storms. It's not just winter storms that we have to plan for. And so overtime alone, we have to increase our budget by $50,000 this year uh on on that. That's salt as well. That's our contractor uh to make sure the roads are open quickly uh and and safely. And salt and brine.
Uh and then >> so on the healthcare piece because I did Yes, I know I asked you. I've been bugging everybody about this. Um so our health care I think you said 50 somewhere around 50 active employees and somewhere around over 60 retirees uh which uh most if not all
municipalities have moved away from subsidizing retiree uh healthcare benefits. Um and I don't know if the township did it later, but it seems that some of our counterparts that were able to leave the state plan because of better experience, whatever. Maybe it was just incentive fees uh that they
got, you know, low prices that they got from these other uh insurance providers. um but they did not have the same history of supporting retirey benefits. So there is some stuff built in that was based on decisions way back when in
terms of carrying our retirey benefits. Whatever supported those decisions in the past that doesn't exist anymore. I can't remember when like 10 years ago was it now right that we stopped doing that. >> Um >> it was not long after I started. So about 18 years ago, 19 years ago we stopped doing that.
>> Yeah. But we're still carrying people who were here >> decades ago. Yeah. >> Yeah. I'm the last employee in the municipal building that'll get that. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Uh and as I mentioned the tax reval. So it's uh cost of all of that was about
$700,000. We did a special emergency appropriation. Essentially that's just a way to split that cost up over five years so it doesn't hit in one year. So this is the first year of that hundred uh of that 700,000. So that's $130,000 expense. So I broke it down here just as
a snapshot of the top seven items which make up 77% of the budget and um as as you mentioned committee right that's right there we're looking at just those almost 10% increase on the budget just those things pension social security the
debt payments um our utility costs went are going up and that's everybody right if you're dealing with these expenses at home unfortunately we we have to deal with it too um the buildings the facilities uh and So, uh, the remainder of that, if you look at just the the
leftover is just 4.4 million. And we've done a great job of trying to keep that under control. Um, so the review, right, as I was talking about, you look at the amount to be raised by taxes. That's what's known as the levy. Um, the net valuation taxable, divide those, you
come up with your tax rate. We also for you know clarity and for ease of understanding what the impact is to residents the the average residential assessment is $878,600 this year. So that means the average annual residential tax bill for those
municipal purposes. Again municipal we don't control the school budget. We don't call the county budget. We collect all the taxes for everybody and we just dish it out. But we are only responsible you are only responsible for just the portion that we're talking about here. That's an annual uh tax bill for the
average annual residential assessment of $3,32. That's $275 a month. Uh and as I mentioned, that open space tax that we just introduced at 1.5% represents a reduction, a little relief on the tax
base of 175. So that $275 a month is paying for all of this. Um which I think is a bargain. You know, all these things that people take for granted. They don't think about the fire hydrants, the street lights, the traffic lights, the storm sewers, um the the collecting of the recycling, the animal control when
you need it. Uh all of these things, the snow removal, the police, making sure that your your community is safe, and then the fire departments, the EMS who we provide subsidies to and the senior center that for 275, what did I say? I think >> 275 >> 275, right? I think that's that's a
bargain >> um for for all these services. Um, and that just quick visualization, we're just controlling this this slice right here. So, your tax bill, the the largest chunk of it is the school and then another portion of it to the county.
Right there is the bulk of your tax bill, uh, which we don't control. We just collect it. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Ch. I really appreciate all the hard work. We really, we did. We sharpened the pencils and sharpened and racked our brains and it really was very there were challenges.
But again to your point, we are not cutting services. We are continuing to provide all the services and the safety and and subsidize all the important things that we need to do. >> And and with all that too, we're still supporting and providing the capital investments to the roads, the police,
the fire departments, the public works to make sure that they can continue doing their job. So not cutting services, not uh and actually you know in in ensuring that service delivery is maintained or or done better and our departments are fantastic at you know really stretching the dollar. They are
very you know uh efficient and very costconscious. So kudos to the uh finance department and all the department heads for all they do, >> right? And this is a process that started months ago. Um when you reach out to the departments and work with them on, you know, putting together
their ask and their list, they know the rules now. They don't, you know, over ask, they know, you know, how this process works and then um you know, month after month going through um how do we pull this all together? So we really appreciate everybody's hard work.
Thank you. >> Um I guess I would just remind residents that tonight's not the only night to raise questions or ask. Uh Mr. Shahad is very available by email, by phone if necessary. Uh we are meeting again prior
to the adoption of this. This is has been discussed and will continue to be discussed if needed. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Okay. Is there a motion to introduce resolution 2026-081
introducing the year 2026 municipal budget? >> I would actually be >> We're adopting Sorry, I >> adopting the resolution to introduce the budget. >> Adopting the resolution to introduce the budget. >> I move that we adopt the resolution
uh 2026-081 introducing the year 2026 municipal budget. >> I will second that. I will not repeat it, but I will second. >> Okay. Vote. >> Mr. Al Perowitz, >> yes. >> Mr. Troy,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Ewald, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor McHugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland, >> yes. >> Motion passes and the public hearing on the budget will be on April 28th prior
to the resolution to adopt it. >> Okay. Is there a motion to adopt resolution 2026-082 budget self-examination? >> So moved. >> I'll second. >> Mr. El Perowitz, >> yes. >> Mr. Troy,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Zwald, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor McHugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we move on to the consent agenda. I believe we are pulling out resolution 2026-089
awarding the contract for Estra ADA improvements. Um, we're still working on some paperwork there. So, we're going to pull that one out. Um, are there any questions or comments related to any items or would anyone
like to pull anything out? Nope. Okay. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So, I'll move. >> I'll second. >> Okay. >> Mr. Alperowitz, >> yes. >> Mr. Troy, >> yes.
>> Mrs. Ewald, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor McHugh, >> yes. >> And Mayor Roland, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. Real quick, for the benefit of residents, the U contract for the Colony Pool Concession Stand, even though the name that's in there is a bit
cryptic for most people, it's it's the vendor that was there a couple years back. Correct. That's correct. Yes. >> We had a lot of great feedback on that in the past. So, I wanted to make sure people were aware of that because I think it says Colony Pool LLC or something like that. Colony is that >> corporate corporate corporate
>> corporate close enough. >> It's equally generic. >> Mr. Vespies Company. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. We would now like to open the second hearing of citizens. The same rules apply.
Mr. Mr. Lanti, does anyone have their hand raised online? >> Yes, I do have one hand raised. >> Okay. >> Okay, Mr. Carrer. >> Good evening. My name is Stuart Carr, CARR from Three Crestwood Drive in
Chattam Township. Couple of small comments particularly on the open space component of the budget. Um, again, I saw some of these slides and I going to send out an email to Mr. Shiadi based on a formal or a prior email conversation over the last week or
so, but I haven't pushed the button on it yet. Um, I didn't see anything. I recognize there's been a still a lot of deferred maintenance or whatever term you want to use. We haven't spent enough money years ago to really fund the stuff that we need. So, we're still catching up. But having said that, there wasn't
anything on that slide that spoke to the purpose for the open space fund, which is to put money aside, effectively a savings account for open space acquisition, easement, purchase, conservation easement, etc. We're basically flatlining that over the last
several years, and we're talking about projects, but no putting money into the reserve. So if we can consider that if not for this budget at least make a commitment going forward to use the open space trust fund for the purpose for which was intended initially and should
be for the acquisition and preservation of open space not necessarily for these other very very uh you know good uses and I know again this is a lot of deferred you know uh stuff that we're catching up with. So if you can uh keep that in mind uh that would be appreciated. The other thing, again,
just a very, very small item. Unfortunately, you're not going from 2% to one and a half percent. That would be Nirvana for me. But I think the numbers, you got the dollars right, but I think we're talking about two cents per $100 of valuation, which I think might be
0.02% as opposed to 2%. So, if the chief financial officer and administrator could maybe check my math on that to make sure that when we're making comments that we have that part squared away because I think that would maybe be a little bit more clear for the um for the audience. Again, I'd love to have 2%
open space tax, but it's um again two cents per $100 valuation down to one and a half. Again, I disagree with that. I think we should be spending the money or not spending the money raising our taxes to have that money in that segregated account for open space opportunities
going forward to supplement any kind of bonding we'd have to do to acquire or uh get an easement on something. Again, I recognize the severe fiscal constraints we're under which is duly noted, but if we can just keep in mind going forward when we get a little bit of room to more
fully utilize that fund for the purpose for which was intended. again. Otherwise, superb job by everybody and thanks for your time. >> Okay, thank you, Mr. Carr. Yeah, thank you for that clarification. Been some time since I've chatted about open space, so he's 100% right. Thank you.
>> Yeah, >> it is it is correct. The resolution does state that. It just, you know, for ease of understanding by the public, you know, put 0.02 cents per $100,000 processed value. it uh it just sounds
easier to call it 2% one and a half% but it is correct. It's uh that's the amount and that is what we referenced in the budget documents and in the res the ordinance uh today. Uh and I do want to just clarify that we even with that though we still have planned a reserve
uh at the end of the year we are expecting a reserve of uh almost $494,000 um in the open space fund. >> Thank you. Okay. Any other questions online? >> We do not have any other hands raised.
>> Okay. Thank you. Seeing no one in the audience, we can now close the second hearing of citizens. And I guess is there a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll make such a motion. >> Okay. Thank you everyone.
>> I I