[Music] all right we're live on live on YouTube Uh welcome everybody If I could ask everybody to please stand for a moment of silence and salute to the flag 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 liberty and justice for all Adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Union County Hawk and
advertised on March 20th 2025 Notification was sent to the local source Union County and is posted on the municipal website the municipal public bulletin board and filed in the office of the municipal clerk informing the public of the time and place according to the provisions of the open public
meeting law chapter 241 PL1975 Roll call please Miss Vasquez here Councilwoman Bodto here Foley here Councilman Carney here Here
we'll call of staff and professionals please John Arthur here Sandy Bruns here Thank you Doug Stoer here Okay So welcome everybody to our special
budget meeting We have here well welcome uh Miss Vasquez now our acting clerk Um we have here tonight also our CFO h as well as our auditor Warren Cari So thank you for joining us both of you
We appreciate the time Um as a council person I was on the finance committee for most of my years Uh and I think we've all talked about here how much work goes into putting this
budget together Uh for Miss Bruns Mr Arthur and the finance committee themselves multiple multiple meetings over hours uh constant emailing constant phone calls um meeting with the department
heads Uh when I became mayor uh start we started to do things a little bit differently in that um myself and the bur administrator this year Mr Arthur Uh we started meeting with the department heads ahead of their meetings with the
finance committee Um and it just kind of helped make everything a little bit more efficient that uh once they went into their finance committee meetings um there was a better idea of the vision that they had for the next year of where where they wanted to go with their
operating budget as well as their capital items Um so we did that again this year and then they met uh as well with the finance committee Um we found last year they they didn't and we found that they ended up coming in anyway because
there was multiple questions So uh this year we just did it where we met with them and then they again met with the finance committee before the finance committee began discussing each department Um and I think that was a little bit better way of doing it this year and I think the finance committee
would agree um a little less back and forth And so I thank our department heads for coming in twice uh to explain everything I know it sometimes seems like you're explaining every the same thing over and over but it is helpful for council members to um be able to ask
their questions directly to them So uh I appreciate all of our department heads coming in um to do that I think that it's been a tough year I think everybody knows with inflation uh that you know our economy is still um
working with that and I think everybody feels that at home and in their pocketbook I do think however um and we'll discuss various you know increases and and decreases and revenues in and grants but I do think that the finance
committee has put together a really good solid budget this year Um even despite some of that the inflation and what we're feeling at home uh and at the grocery store I think that it's certainly a a step in the right
direction Um moving from last year to this year I think we've made a lot of improvements and efficiencies and you'll see that reflected in this budget Um and I want to thank them for that Uh this is Councilman Foley's second year as chair
and I think that the experience of doing this last year brand new out of the gate and then coming in you'll see that experience reflected this year as well in um just more of the streamlining and
the improvement in the budget So at this point I do want to turn it over to Councilman Foley Thank you again for all of your hard work Thank you Um and we'll get to the meat of why we're really here and start going through the budget Yes
Thank you Mayor Council Garwood Um in closing your packet for tonight is a detailed budget prepared for our special meeting The attached worksheets break down each item reflecting the comprehensive effort by the committee the burough administrator the CFO and
our auditor I look forward to productive discussions with the full council and the public The budget cycle this year presented some challenges with some significant non-discretionary increases in our revenues Some of these key areas of
increase include the RUSA bill which went up by $32,000 with a 5% increase active and retirey health care costs which are 12% increase from last year and our beat line EG fund which had saw a $95,000 increase which potentially
which will be split in a three-year plan This year we prioritize investments crucial for the safety and welfare of our town's residents including a circulation element for a master plan which is a study designed to address infrastructure needs in regards to circulation transportation of people
goods and utilities online modules that allow for ongoing payments for animal licenses code enforcement and rental inspections to improve services for residents At this time the proposed tax increase stands to be $67 for the average home
valued at 400,000 We pleased with the hard work of our committee that by aiming to make sure that this budget is as streamlined and efficient as possible while also maintaining political burough services and our always high standard of safety for our residents
So if you may Council Alick uh there is a budget appropriations uh packet um that I wish everyone can just pull out and observe All right So I will go over this and I'll point out any significant
increases uh that are located in the budget and explain the reason behind that First let's go over our police department Uh the police department's other expenses line which you'll see on
in the first page increased be uh by $17,000 That is because we moved a line for our crossing guards The crossing guards were moved from salary wages into another line in the budget Uh and this
is also accounting for the addition of a new crossing guard to be located at Third and Cedar a key intersection identified for enhanced safety Councilman um and by the way council members if something comes up that you want to jump in and ask questions about
um as we're going through obviously we'll have discussion questions after but while we're going through if something comes up please feel free to jump in Um and I just wanted to mention um yes that the reason for moving the
salary and wages of the crossing guards is as has been noted up here It is now not uh the crossing guards are now not run by our police department Our police department is still overseas but there is a private company that is essentially
running the dayto-day Um and so those salary and wages have been moved into the other expenses Um and I just wanted to point out that that third and Cedar intersection it's something that we talked about up here Um and I've been
discussing with the chief for months Um it you know residents have brought up various um you not issues but just concerns that that intersection didn't have anybody over there Uh and to me that that extra
guards that that extra salary is worth the feeling of safety knowing that if any of those kids are walking I it was something important to me and I asked the chief to really move forward on putting somebody there Um and so I I hope the rest of the council I know the finance committee recommended it but I
hope the rest of the council is okay with it Um it was important to me to to add that position uh you know despite the small increase in salary So I just wanted to put that out there Okay Thank you Mayor And if I may uh just real
quick on the budget memo which I said um just before um I accidentally on the second uh paragraph said significant non-discretionary increases in their revenues I meant expenditures So I just want to correct that for the record Um the police department's
increase was also um for 20 had a $20,000 increase for computer technology upgrades um along with investments in public safety tools like Axon body cameras uh a background investigative platform and patrol PC systems Uh these
are essential upgrades to support our department's operations and accountability Next up uh I want to show an increase on our health benefit costs Our health benefit cost for active employees rose by 87,000 or 13% We also need to add additional funds
this year due to the BMED funding hit which we received just last week um that we discussed also at our last council meeting The federal loan of 95,000 is being furated this year The rest will be paid out over the next three years I'll jump in again I'm sorry Did
talk about it at the um last council meeting that uh I would be meeting with our bar administrator and Miss Bruns with the uh insurance company to discuss this situation
Um essentially the rising costs of the um ompic type drugs the semilutide drugs has overwhelmed their budget and has they've taken a hit on it as a big hit
and this that's part of the reason why they're asking all of the municipalities that are involved to pay out their proportion of this hit Um they have implemented a new system for the writing of those prescriptions um that anybody
who gets they have to go through a whole protocol That aside um the 95,000 is what our burrow's proportion is to to cover this um $5 million hit that they're trying to to
get rid of Um we are as you said spreading it out over three years prorating it this year Um they are hopeful that they can cover the shortfall sooner and we might not have to pay out that full 95 but of of course
we have to plan for the worst and and that is what we're doing Um just to let everybody know as well um we are looking and Mr Arthur is working with the company to look
at how much we have saved versus the state plan even with this payout We are looking to see if going back to the state plan would be beneficial to us There are a couple
other options they are going to be looking at including going direct to the private carrier Uh there's only a couple of insurance companies that do that They're going to look and see um and they're they're also going to look and see if there's any other funds that
would be more beneficial to us The the results will likely be no to them just from their experience and from uh our experience doing this over the past couple years with the HIV Just because we are so small um it's likely that
there may not be other funds available Uh they may not take us direct to carrier Um the likelihood is still though we are going to look at the numbers that we still are saving something versus the state plan even with this payout um because their
increases have gone up even more dramatically But all of that data is being compiled for for us and for the council to look at so that we can then move forward if we need to make any decisions on health insurance in the
future Um but at this point just from their initial look you know look at our data it it still looks like we would we're still saving by being in this HIF Obviously not as much as we thought
we were going to but um it is still a better uh number than the state plan Um but again we are keeping everything open and we will continue to to work with them to see where to go from here Um so sorry I didn't mean to hijack it but we
just had that meeting on Friday and and that's where everything fell out So I appreciate you expressing that So thank you Um in regards to health benefits we've also seen increase in funding for retired employee health benefit plans
and to prepare for additional uh retirements expected in 2025 and ensure coverage for those uh entering the retirey system Next up I'd like to uh describe why you see an increase in the sewer maintenance line uh which is an increase by
30,000 And this is based on the burn engineers recommendation to proactively clean and repair sections of the system An investment that helps prevent costly emergency repairs down the road Next you'll see on the planning board I mean um in the planning board part uh
that there was an increase in the budget and this is because there's an increase in the budget to support a circulation study uh as mentioned before which provides critical insight into traffic flow infrastructure demands and future development Next you'll see the fire department's uh
operating expenses expenses rise by 22,000 and that is to purchase news pages and improve emergency communication Um as discussed last week there was a um an issue with the antenna The antenna uh fell uh from the storm
and we had to expedite uh pagers to ensure rapid response um and uh you know uh standard communication standards uh to ensure safety in our town Um can I quickly add that there was a
another antenna was put in place So it's not like it was just left with no antenna Yeah there was another one that was put in place to get us through until we received the new radios and pers and everything like that Correct Um I'm just going to say I missed that comment um
that question when when I was giving the answers that public comment It was inadvertent Sometimes when you're you know asked 10 questions you know in a row there's I'm rushing to write it down and then when I go back sometimes I don't see it Um there there was nothing
We certainly were not giving out information on I just inadvertently I'm human Missed missed the uh the my note to answer that question Um so yes we were okay during that brief temporary period but it was a temporary antenna
wasn't you know locked down to the roof It wasn't something that could sustain itself over time So Councilman I sorry to jump in but the mayor did invite us to um the uh the increase you're talking about and I will have a question about
this line later on Sure Um the uh the pagers were intended to be in this year's bond That's correct But because of this emergency situation and the reason for the for the new pagers is the transition from the old analog system to
the new digital system uh where the existing pages weren't compatible Uh that transition was planned but it wasn't planned till a little later in the year Um we had to kind of frontload some of those pagers to make sure that we had uh personnel available to respond
So I guess part of what's showing and operating actually uh Mr start that came out of the temp right yes it was it's already been it's already been a purchase order and it's already been received at this point Um so yes we put
it in temporary budget and uh that's only for 10 of the pagers We still would be bonding for there is in the in the capital right yeah Yes it's in the plan as of now I know that was clear to me but I didn't know if that was correct Yeah I I apologize sir No that's okay
Thank you Next up I want to just mention that an insurance premiums have gone up worldwide leading to an 18,000 increase and 15,000 to the streets and roads budget for essential materials like road salt Uh this is to ensure that
preparation for any snowstorms that may occur uh late 2025 and early 2026 And I also want to bring up some other points In 2024 the bureau collected a total of 167,000 uh through jobs for doing firearm licenses and parking fees Not only was
this substantial increase in revenue um but we were also able to cut since 2022 our police department's overtime costs uh nearly in half Uh we also saw that parking revenue covered the salary of our parking enforcement officer a goal we set and achieved Uh this is a clear
examples aligning policy with fiscal responsibility reducing the burden of taxpayers by using program revenue to support enforcement efforts I also want to highlight this time on investment in digital service delivery This year we launched online modules that allow
residents to complete animal license renewals rental inspections and code enforcement payments online These tools will improve the residential experience by making burrow services more accessible more efficient easier to navigate especially for working families
and seniors who benefit from the added convenience I also want to ask one thing um on tonight's budget uh phone Um I want to request and have a dialogue with council members um if we can add $15,000 into um
the capital improvement fund for tonight I um going back want to before everybody else I know I'm sure everybody has various questions about things Um if I could highlight a few things and just ask a few other questions Well first of all I want to
thank you for uh the finance committee putting in the online modules This is something I know a lot of us have talked about through the years and it is at at this point certainly registrations for pets is just I I think we're still the
the only one left that doesn't have it online and I imagine that you know the first year it will be difficult to get everybody to understand it's online but um I imagine by year two and three we are certainly going to make up for any
of the cost of the module um because I just think it's a lot easier for people and they're more likely to register their pet which is the whole goal if it is online Um but I also want people to know that that isn't a a entire revenue Miss Vasquez can uh speak to this Uh
most of that money goes to the state for pet registrations So I know I don't want everybody to think we're doing this to get more pet registrations in terms of us for revenue because it really doesn't end up that way we end up the majority
of that money goes to the state Um but it's important for efficiency at this point I think and some of that the code enforcement now that we have a lot of these mandates from the state with our rentals and our landlords having to comply um it just seemed really
important to make it as easy as possible for them because obviously the inconvenience and the fees and things like that nobody we didn't all want to take that on It was sort of as we talked about many times up here that's the different state mandates But if we can make that easier at least for the
landlords to do online then I think not only will it help them it'll help our office staff And so I am very excited to get these modules in I know it sounds silly but it's just something that has bothered me for years not being able to come into uh the new age and we're
finally getting there here in Garwood So thank you for that I did have a question um about moving back to the police department Um we have those increases for some of that soft uh the the
software and the the um background investigation platform that's new Can you um and I don't know if Chief Stoer might be able to speak to it as well the uh NextGen 911 um because I know we're able to sort of spread that cost out I
believe we've been working to do that Um from last year's budget the vendor that we decided to go with uh they had some issues with the state and they ended up pulling out of the project So we found the next option and um from
the 2024 where we had set aside 17,500 for NextG 911 Um we found another vendor and we were able to get a similar payment plan where it's spread out over five years like the last year's
plan was and it did go up a little over $3,000 a year but we were able to spread it over the course of five years starting in 2026 Okay So it's effectively six years Okay So great Does anybody have any questions about that i
know I listen I think we've been talking about this since I got on council and then it finally kind of came through and so um but thank you for constantly staying on top and getting us the payment plan which is very helpful Thank
you And then I just have one other question for um Councilman Foley and maybe Mr Arthur the planning board um budget with the circulation study um which we'll add to our master plan which thank you very much for putting in I
know we've talked about that and I think it's really important Our citizens advisory panel um thinks it's really important We have our our the Westfield DPW superintendent is on the citizens advisory panel and he couldn't talk well enough about um the circulation element
plan that they create that they funded in Westfield and how much it's helped them So um I'm glad we're doing that Um I know there was some question about the cost because we were just getting estimates from planners as to how much
it could be Are we um looking to that the number that we have in in the budget are we looking to reduce it have we figured out whether it can be reduced yeah So the original estimate we got was like a 22 to 28 or 30 range Okay
But the most recent estimate we got which I think is probably um more accurate is actually closer to 15 to 20 So I do think we could likely reduce that to go to the higher end of that just in case We could probably reduce
that to 20 and you know work with that range of 15 to 20 Is everybody okay doing that moving it and reducing it a bit Every bit counts as we know Okay If that helps offset what Councilman Foley is asking
for then all for it That's true too because we do have to have that discussion Okay All right So uh you had 30,000 in in there for that 30,000 Okay So we can reduce it to 10 Yes Okay
I'm sorry to Yes Okay Okay Um that was just two things that jumped out at me So um do you want to go Councilman it's up to you if you want to answer questions from other council members and then we
can have the capital discussion after Okay Uh I I'll go first Um I don't have much after the mayor's questions and the conversation we've already have Um I just uh I wanted to thank the uh the
finance committee and all the staff for the work again this year Uh and I just want to thank uh everybody here tonight for uh wearing blue Uh and also uh being here for this special meeting in the first place since this is uh above and beyond what we're required to do by
statute Uh it's just something that this governing body has done for uh as long as I can remember now to uh increase transparency and allow a little bit more feedback from the public So uh thank you to everybody for coming in tonight and it's nice to see people in the audience
for once Um so for Councilman Foley um really the only question that I have left regarding operating um because you covered sore maintenance you covered the increases to streets and
roads and the police on E Uh on the fire on line um I do know that they had a request turned down in their capital for a vehicle Uh and I I I know what the increase is there for We discussed the
pagers Um but uh their vehicle line has been funded at zero for as long as I can remember I think the first year I got on council uh that line was zero going back 5 years So 2021 minus 5 Just
uh not so much for you to answer right now but for food for thought for future budget planning um uh constantly bonding that like we have uh vehicles for police and public works that for the most part we
fund through operating Uh it just it's a thought for the future of uh especially if we know we can invest in something that's important like these pagers just to have that consideration for future discussion about how to fund that
particular expense And uh I guess that's more of a comment than a question I didn't have anything I didn't have anything to ask You already covered everything about the request for the vehicle but I know that fire
safety fire safety essentially um pays for itself as a separate department and it essentially pays for itself in the fees that it collects You're talking about the fire prevention right yeah Yeah Okay they're going to be saying a new vehicle
as a part of their budget When I say like their budget it's almost like fire prevention budget because whatever you bring in we have to spend There's no revenue coming to us from it Um but I believe out of those funds
there is a a vehicle of a vehicle being led So there will be a vehicle available um that we could use possibly for the fire department I know they have
some vehicle um pretty rough out Was there further discussion about moving that vehicle yeah that that was basically um something that we we discussed is that you know um there was
this vehicle that was coming due the lease was up He was going to get a new lease and we're going to be able to provide that vehicle to the deputy So that that was the conversation that we did have That is the plan That's the goal Yeah
Okay that that does handle I guess the the the current need but just it's something that's been at zero for a long time So we should just reexamine that at some point because it I'm not just talking about auxiliary vehicles I'm also talking about apparatus and the
cost of those just goes up almost exponentially by the year at this point You councilman Uh you've already answered most of the very big questions So uh I'm just going to ask about a couple small things but you know as the mayor said every cent
counts so why not uh I was curious about the tax collection OE line sees close to a doubling It's about a 5,000 difference from 56.50 I don't know if that's typical and I just Yeah I'm sorry Councilman which one first page Uh tax
collection Are we like 10 down maybe on top i'm sorry my mic wasn't on Uh that that doubled because of the new residential sewer program fee you're implementing It's basically double the
bills double the postage mailing envelopes delinquent notices Yeah I didn't know if it was under that line or the the the sewer one Okay And then um I had a similar question just about traffic lights It's second page I just does that have to do with the sign that's going up near Veromelo 2 or is
that a different um change in appropriation it's like a um what traffic lights Um it does not have to do with that particular light I don't know There just might be an inflationary increase Miss
Bruns do you know it's a couple thousand increase Um traffic lights 1117 little less than 2,000 We received notification that all the electric costs are going up 17% So I just increase the
various line items affected by electricity for that um projected increase That makes sense Yeah I I'm assume our utilities are going to electric at least are going to certainly go up I think everybody's seen all the news articles about this Um
there is a PSEG meeting we were discussing that where they're going to be talking about it and they have a a public hearing I encourage everybody to to attend But yeah it's it's a sizable increase I think for everybody that they're going to feel in their
pocketbook this summer which we'll also feel in terms of our utility bills Yeah council Were there any other questions Councilman DNA okay
Any other comments questions that we want to talk about any other departments you want to look at i've spent many hours in finance I will This is your first year This is my first year Again very eye opening Um I want to
thank Mr Arthur Miss Burns She was amazing Um so I really don't have many questions but um just thanks Yeah it's different coming in and I think it's always important for new
council members to get in pretty quickly on the finance committee because you do start to see everything a lot differently You said that and yes it was very very different Yes How lean everything is because I think sometimes you see these big numbers and you're like "Oh we might be patting them a little bit." And we certainly go down
very very lean Okay So on that note I will um bring up a question on page 23 So I notice that we do have some near doubling of some line items on the fire department for
hoses I see we're um we budgeted last year 9,000 We spent 11 and now we're request they requesting 16 for training and drills uh 10,000 and the requested this year is 16
Last year we spent seven So I'm wondering why there's such a big jump there And under other expenses it's also 4,000 last year appropriated and this year we're asking for 8,000 So and we only spent 3,6 from last
year So I'm a little I just wanted to get more information on those those line items Councilman Lazera do you want to speak to any fire yeah So um the training there was um initially a request for
$34,000 um in training and uh we you know uh spoke to the chief about those training They did kind of give all that information Um I you know there's definitely you know I think there is
room um for perhaps us we did have some additional kind of negotiations of of places where we could consider additional cuts there uh depending on what else else happened tonight um given the fact that we have you know proposals
for you know things such as capital improvement funds options um which would give more flexibility for any department for example that would need potentially some sort of capital item that was a little bit more of a big ticket item Um
but anyway so that as far as the training is concerned um basically there is some uh required training that they already have um they've already um you know utilized that was required for certifications that was done in January
I believe Um and then there's also some additional trainings that they were looking to do I mean the normal fire tra pre prevention training and then there's also um some they wanted to expand water um safety training This was something an area that was something of a uh you know
we we debated back and forth and this is something I think um uh you know we certainly could consider um you know waiting till next year or considering uh some other options there So that water training was $5,000 was something that
we did talk about as a possible you know we could consider cutting that if everyone was interested in in trying to find some like balance tonight in if we're going to improve or increase capital improvement funds The goals as well probably is something given the
fact that you know um the operational capacity of how much they bought the previous year Um I think you know we could we could definitely make cuts there as well uh if necessary to um you know put some more money into the
capital improvement fund As far as the other expenses um that one I would say I I would be in favor of keeping as currently is And the reason I would advocate for that is there's that line item is an increase due to something called SOPs which basically uh their
standard of procedures and they are looking to basically hire um a uh somebody to basically provide um the kind of a guidance that's required to create standard operation procedures that would allow them to work more
compatibly with our de with our dispatch so that dispatch knows exactly you know what should be done that our fire department members know what are the proper procedures and protocols and I think from the standard uh perspective of standardizing um how sort of
operation should go I thought that I personally thought that was a good idea so um that's really um how I stand on on that particular issue so I hope that provides enough guidance so so I I think I agree with you on that
that the the OP is very important Um we really need to to have um somebody take a look at that and make sure that we're we're we've got a good plan Um uh so just to clarify this the water safety there is a team because I'm remembering when I was on finance we we were
discussing that then there is a team of firefighters that are that have the water safety training Correct Okay Yeah This would be an expansion of expanding of more of the of the fire department having access to the training Okay All
right So it would this is the issue you know this is I mean I think it's it's you know really um admirable that our fire department you know wants to you know continue to educate themselves and and and advance themselves But I think you know we obviously also need to
balance that with how much time they are going to have to be able to complete these trainings as well as you know the cost You know those are always factors that we weigh in the decision So um could I just counterpoint you for one one moment um good questions and I'd
considered asking them myself but um I also looked at the control number for the uh for the entire fire on O&E instead of the individual lines Uh and this is uh I guess a philosophical discussion I've had with Councilman
Foley and Councilman Lazro and the mayor and the BA Um the fire department expended almost their entire control last year And if you look at historically um the last couple of years it was a
little bit lower than that Um sometimes what you see especially you call that an over expenditure from from 2024 is as long as they don't exceed their control sometimes things change from what you planned at the beginning of the year And
um the the other thing that doesn't quite fully show up here when we look at some of these numbers is uh much like with the crossing guards where we moved um it from salary and wage to O and E Uh
the opposite happened with fire a few years ago We moved the um stipen the uniform stipen from OE to salary and wage So in that particular year it looked like the fire department had a massive cut to their operating budget
when they really didn't Um but I would say if you take that control number from the year back uh and you look at the control I I forget what year that was done Miss Bruns was that 22 or 23 we did
that with the firefighter compensation All right So if if you look there was actually a decrease in their total operating budget in 2023 And we're not we're literally just getting back to the level we were
funding them a few years ago with this total control number So um I'm not really in favor of micromanaging budget lines but um I there is a potential for a little bit of savings here but I don't know how much I would touch this up
front because it removes the ability of that department head to manage his budget I I I kind of agree with the managing of the um micromanaging the budget lines But if you do look at the OE obviously
we have a significant increase this year of the total operating Remember they're also eating $10,000 in their operating that was supposed to be in capital Um it's in the uh but it's Well we kind of
added it to it No it's it's in there It's in um It's not Is it in new equipment I think Where did you land that John i believe it's new equipment Oh yeah So that was more than was requested in that line because that's where it landed Yeah I I understand what
you're saying I mean if we look at from DPW that's gone up about only about $3,000 from what was appropriated last year So you know I I'm not I'm not in
favor of taking a huge axe to it Maybe we can use a a scalpel a little bit Just I mean accountable I mean it's taken Um but I will say this I mean if you look at even if you take out $10,000
for those um you know for the for the um thing that we were supposed to bond for the the radios um the pagers excuse me Um you know that brings you down to 98,000 Um it's still a $12,000 increase Now I know we're talking about potentially making some additional cuts
Even if we did make additional cuts there we're still we would still be increasing the control total over and the previous years we were still you know $6,000 to $8,000 on average under the under the budget for those wine items And a lot of that times of course
are are you know sometimes they are you know things like you know truck repair etc which I understand those that types of things do take out um you know money that we don't know for sure that we're going to need for those line items So I'm always you know cautious about yes
micromanaging but I think there is definitely some room for some cuts in those lines is what I would say I I would also be loathed to touch that training line really much at all because uh they did go through the trouble of getting themselves certified as a state
training facility I think in part due to the uh misinformation that was going on regarding them the last couple years So uh some of that would be involved in the additional uh training that's going to
be required to keep that up Um I if I was going to go anywhere on this budget I would go to that hose number uh without knowing the specifics that were presented to you guys in finance um that is essentially almost a doubling and it is 4,000 more than they spent last year
So that's that's the one that stands out to me as the potential for a reduction I mean I'm comfortable reducing that line item Um want to go down to I mean if we took it down to 12 I mean unless you guys were presented something in finance that I didn't hear on the
fire committee Which file was that line 0650 Page 23 Halfway down Councilman how much are you are you comfortable taking that down how much do you want to look to take down
cuz if we get four out of that plus the 10 we already covered elsewhere we've essentially canceled out his ask for capital Yeah How much are you are you looking and do we want to look at
training at all too still i I I about both Um look I'm good with um Should we take it that one down to 12
that's We can do 11 All right Well then there there's your five All right Down to 11 And then that takes the control from I suppose we're going to take down to 11 and that takes the control to 103 versus 108 I understand what you're
saying about the training and I it's look I applaud the department that they want to you know do this much training It's fantastic and they are getting like new members at different points that need it Um the problem becomes I think is the amount of time It's hard to get that
much training in after the budget's approved And so I'm not sure whether they'll be able to even fit in that $16,000 worth of training to be honest Um just from a a time
perspective they did uh complete the extra training that they needed And so I do know they were talking about going um and doing hazmat too Did we and and my I had talked to the chief about that I you know felt the training would be better doing another training rather even than
that Um I don't know how specific or how much um we can remember about the specifics of the trainings Yeah I mean so there was $34,000 of training that was was articulated as as to things that they wanted to do Um and
we um you know it's it's challenging as a finance committee to you know you want to provide I'm all as someone who as an educator of course I'm very very excited about all of our employees being excited to learn and grow Like I I just always
applaud that greatly But I also am somewhat of like you know when I'm looking at the numbers and I'm looking at that line item I can't get beyond the fact that you know it if you look at that line item there's just you know
usually on most of the years that we look at at training you know you look at 2024 we appropriated 10,000 and 7,000 was used You look at 2023 5,000 was appropriated and 3500 was used You look
at 2022 11,500 was appropriated and 3,000 was was used To me it's really really hard to appropriate such a significant um increase given the fact that it doesn't seem like maybe there just was enough time in the year to be
able to do all of those things I love the aspirational nature of wanting to do these things but I also really feel um if we can find ways to snip um certain areas without compromising the safety um
and enforce our fire department to try to prioritize those things that are most important Um you know I think that that's that's my recommendation So I would still like to see some decrease in
that line item Um currently it's at $16,000 and and I would recommend maybe you know we cut that to like 12,000 or 13,000 or something like that We could do that Councilman the money that's on that line was recommended out of your committee That's how it got on this page
tonight But that doesn't mean that the entire committee was in agreement with that Well at least two of you had to be Okay and and well Councilwoman Noldie brought brought it up so I don't think it's we
always say we can change our minds if after discussion Of course just I did point out another line that's been zero for my entire tenure So um you know and and also looking at the O and comparatively between any of our
departments um the fire one is always the lowest out of the ones that actually provide public facing services So um I understand the concern about especially looking at the historical underspending of the line and I had that conversation with the chief when I was the
commissioner um about under spending or not encumbering and then kind of running out of time And I know that's something that I've had conversations with Mr Arthur about since he started Um I just don't want to take
out a hacksaw Yeah And I also I also think that's important We're still increasing that line right we're increasing that line from what it was before So it's not like you know we're you know I I know we're talking about cuts from what we originally talked about but we're still talk we are
increasing the amount of training funding that we're doing from previous years So like it's not like you know it's just what I like to say is like you know prove to me that you can use all that money right you prove to me you use all that money the next year then you
come back and you say okay listen we did all of this training we were able to spend all the expend all this money we're now ready to add additional funding because we're really eager to do all this additional training so it's just I you know that's kind of where my
mindset goes and it's not again it's not really I you know I hate to it's never fun to obviously be up here and try to to pinpoint a line and be like oh let's cut this let's cut But um I guess you know this is this is the you know as
someone who's been on finance for a long time um these are the things that I just tend to get really um you know I get really annoyed about when yes I get concern I get very concerned with it
very like I just we need to make sure that our money is is is spent really wisely because we you know every Penny really matters in this town and and you know that from being on finance committee as well So I try really hard
That's Yes Councilman Foley are you okay with um trimming that that line i'm personally not but if my finance committee people are okay with it Councilman Padusniaak I need we need some weigh in
here I I want to say that you know the requests were very very ambitious We had we had hours of discussion um and yeah not all of us agreed with
you know certain certain allowances So um I'm okay reducing the training line Councilman I'm okay with reducing but maybe at a lesser value than what Councilman Lazero had proposed Otherwise
I would probably be opposed So what do we say about um what did you now what did you propose Councilman 12 Yeah I proposed reducing it by four Okay So you have a proposal
13 I was just thinking 14 Okay I I could tolerate 14 Councilwoman Noly Yes sir Okay All right Miss Bruns that was take down by
2000 I don't want anybody to think we're just going through this department and hacking We've got some more to go It was just the first one that came It was the first one that we started looking at cutting too But let's let's make sure we hit everything Um anything else in that
department I guess while we're here Okay Um did any other council people have any questions before we want to take a look maybe at our um public works
any I'll be very brief I was just curious about the um I can see that the appropriation for fireman school is essentially the same I mean it's floated is over 3,000 It's been 25 too Um and it usually hits only about half of the
appropriated number excepting a few years ago This is you know I've been up here for only a couple months I'm just curious if there's you know it's dependent on the number of new firefighters they recruit So I believe 900 is the incount rate for the Union County Fire Academy and then it
multiplies by the number of firefighters that they're sending or if they send anybody to get the instructor certification it would get paid out of that line as well Okay Yeah Because I mean obviously 2250 is not a multiple of 900 So Right Yeah Yeah It's it's
dependent and it is dependent on recruiting how much how many new members they get And there are also this year there's increased uh training across the board um because of some of the new OSHA requirements that are coming down Also if you look back at 2021 and 2020 we did
actually spend more than 2250 I think that was the kind of mindset of that particular line item Yeah I I didn't want to decrease it or anything I just noticed a pattern and wanted to know what was going on Yep We discussed it a little bit and it's it's like you don't want to be caught not having the money
if you happen to have a really good recruiting year You want to be able to fund it So anything else in this department okay Anything in Let's do P public works Anything in public works that stood out
that you wanted to look through is that a 25 it starts starts on page 25 Uh yep That's the bottom of 25 Streets and roads 25 That's
payroll Um yeah Sorry They I know it used to be called streets and roads That's what it is in the in the budget We changed the name of the actual committee because streets and roads I don't know how we got started on that It's a state thing Is that
I think it's like a I know I don't know It was always like what's what's the difference between streets and roads i don't know I actually have a question Um now that what because we just recently passed our new DPW contract is there
any changes on staff salary that we will you don't foresee there being any changes based on the new uh contract that we just recently signed i I didn't think there was but I just I just thought of it now as we asked at last council meeting So I was just wondering
um any changes were what we had estimated the changes would have been Is that correct Sandy that Yeah Yeah And I think as we move towards next year we are going to have to discuss
staffing and whether we want to increase change now that the contract is a little different Um we do still have an employee on um disability workers comp Um so we're still a little up in the air on certain
things but I think as we move towards the next year it's something that public works is going to want to really talk about and tackle so that for our budget for next year we know where we're going with what employees how or the number of
employees I should say and part-time for seasonal etc So I'm not necessarily sure we anything would be affected right now but I think by next year we should be making some decisions that may affect next year's Well mayor it looks like the control is
actually down slightly from last year to this year A couple thousand Not by much but it looks like some of the lines are distributed a little differently but the control is down And this is the salary and wage line I'm talking about Oh
salary and wages Yeah I mean it's very purposely calculated like salary and wages Sandy heads down to the dollar Some of it is that we did have people in workers comp and we because we're already a third of the way through the year We know that there's already some
savings built in So you're factoring like the workers comp offset just for this year because we already know we're in April We already know a quarter of the year's done Yeah Okay Yeah Makes sense then Um anything else in this department that
stems up stands out the in the individual lines are almost identical Pretty identical Yeah And the the controls only up was that 3,000 Yep It's a pretty tight budgetual there's really nowhere to go and in the requests
were pretty you know on the mark I think pretty much just up for inflationary costs Same with the buildings and ground portion of that's why the committees used to have that name right yeah there was a
buildings and grounds committee combined to make part of public works because it was essentially a lot of overlap I was commissioner of that my first year So looking at buildings and grounds that's always a tough one because there's so many contracts and everything put in there that you know
Sandy knows usually off the top of her head but none of us do Um what pages buildings and grounds 28 through 29 And then on the on the public's page that's uh a quarter of the way up from
the bottom Uh public buildings and grounds it's uh listed as your 123 Yeah sorry We're we're all looking at different things as you're So that that's how this always goes Uh yeah that that control member is
actually down slightly self looking for it on the summary to okay yeah thank you it is actually down which is interesting it's down based on actual expenditures the past couple years okay but that is also one of the most unpredictable lines
Because that's what I if something breaks you know or and things will always break on a given year That's where the that's the line that tends to get drawn from Aren't you supposed to be knocking on wood as you say that yeah Well not too hard cuz it might break the table Yeah
Yeah So essentially finance you're okay I know it's down a little bit but you're still comfortable Okay Um we did talk a lot about the police department already but is there anything anybody
has any questions on or something stands out uh police starts at uh 18 or 17 Uh 18 is O and E We talked um and then salaries and
wages We did talk about um an 18th officer at the last meeting Does this include uh Miss Bruns that possibility the prorated for the year of an 18th officer okay So finances is so I was say even even
with that mayor the the salary and wage that particular line uh and the entire control has actually decreased significantly even with that we do have some a couple of retirements coming up that are on the higher end of
the salary scale So that I'm assuming is why we're seeing a lower a bit lower uh number there It would explain that there's also similar to DPW um some workers comp that we know we've saved a
little bit Um the same thing you have actually no it's different for police Sorry on the record The police don't have the police don't have an offset like public works right yeah Correct Um Okay So I mean the only the only line
item that there's is new is professional standards accreditation that I see that jumps off the page of me just because it wasn't there before but um I would call that money well spent So yes we will be doing a big ceremony soon
for our accredited police department which we're very proud of Um I see an increase on the uniform line too but again with the with the new personel the turnover that explains that one Yep
The only thing there was something I wanted to [Music] ask No I can't find it We see everybody sees the new crossing guard line like we talked about before Uh actually I do have a question on uh the road maintenance
line Um 2300 was spent last year out of the what page number sorry page 19 Um I'm sorry that's uh radio maintenance Radio maintenance Oh sorry I thought it
said road maintenance Really should have stopped Does that explain it radio absolutely does I should have stopped and had dinner before I came to this It's obviously brand new radio so don't have to all lot as much for maintenance
which is fantastic Okay Um those are our major departments obviously Does anybody have anything else or Councilman is there anything else you wanted to bring up before we open it up to public comment i did want to uh before I mentioned and I wanted to just
bring it back up um adding um money to the capital Sorry we need that discussion Um and I actually also before we open it public wanted to talk with um our experts on surplus Um so capital
let's talk capital funds We have right now I'm looking for it on the summary sheet I can you can never find it when you want to find it The capital fund So some machine's almost all the way at
the end It's like the probably about tenth from the grand total at the bottom The capital improvement fund Capital Yeah capital Sorry Capital improvement fund,000 We have 10,000 in there right now
Um or for this budget Sandy can you tell how much is in there currently the total is there if you could look that up About 40 responds while you're about 40 Okay And this is the fund that
we use for down payments for any um any bonds that we do during the year And also we at times have used it to purchase uh smaller items that maybe we
don't want to incur debt on Um but there's been times where we've had more in there and we've been able to do that Obviously the past couple of years we've have kept it pretty low Um and so we haven't really been able to purchase anything out of that but that was always
a goal I mean when we got on council we did build it up for a little bit and then it has seen a decline over the years I'm good with I mean putting some a little bit in there to to sort of bump it up a bit and hopefully over the next
few years we can so that we can purchase items you know different DPW items like we talked about uh the striping machine uh we put off that was a request this year if we start bumping this up there's times where we can purchase some of those things without you know go uh
incurring debt on it so if we can get that fund up a bit I I'm happy to you know to agree to that I think this is really important for the financial health of the bureau um and and increasing uh the funding in that in
that um in that line So I I recommend uh at least 15,000 15 Yeah Councilman that's what you were asking for that 15 for was to start to that up I think it's it it it it shows fiscal responsibility and sure is that we're not just bombing
away things and uh I think it's extremely important We we're coming off some really tough years where we really had to tighten that up and and also being able to maintain sufficient surplus is important as well So you know the fact that we're able to work here now and uh
we essentially didn't really change the overall budget number We shifted things a little bit We freed up probably more than 15 from the the things we've already adjusted up here Um I'm fully in support of that and the the more that we
can get into that line responsibly the better it is long-term for the fiscal health of the burrow So I support that 100% I also don't support it I think are we we're at 17 is the number we came currently So uh certainly 15 is
absolutely fine by me Yeah I mean uh you know long ago yeah we were putting in a lot more than even 25,000 which is what we're proposing We did one year 50,000 which was really great And I
you know I would recommend um the council continue to try to as much as possible It's just it is hard because sometimes when you have tough budget years you it's an easy place to take from that line item the next year Um because you know when you have increases
like health care costs that are very very challenging Um but it does give our bureau more flexibility to make lastminute purchases that we don't want to bond for because bonding obviously is incurring interest and that obviously
long-term makes it harder for us to you know afford these things you know Um so if we can increase our capital improvement fund I would I would be very much in favor of that Council did you want to say okay in in
agreement yep Exactly He said it all He said it all Okay Um so Miss Bruns will add another 15 to the capital improvement fund I did want to take a minute to talk about surplus um we are using a very good amount but I
and I'm assuming um Mr Cari would say that he's comfortable with that then if it's on here Um if is there the possibility of using a little bit more to sort of help our
residents a little bit um can you can you tell me how much we we have in our surplus or is that difficult to find right now million7 We do have them Okay And Mr Cari would you be
comfortable if we used more got right back a good amount but we got you got excesses from your pilots Yes So now we're pushing the pilots up a little bit dissipated So it's the same do So I don't think about the accident that you
had this year that you had last year right is there any chance I could get him to repeat that on the microphone oh sorry Mr You just have to hit the button and then keep it close to Whoops No I'm just saying because the u you had excess
revenues anticipated revenues last year especially with the pilots In other words you made some exc some pretty good excesses but you are pushing the anticipation of those revenues up in this budget So you won't have the excesses this year that you had last year So to generate the one you know the
the one a million 100,000 You kind of be kind of close to that You know what I mean you're probably at the the pinnacle of where you want to anticipate if you maybe want to go over other 50 That's probably about it Well yes I mean I wouldn't go any more than that because like I said you're you're anticipating
more of the revenues that you had excesses in last year So it's the same thing as using the surplus Okay Um yeah my my suggestion was going to be maybe we could add the another 50 in um
just to sort of give a little bit of a less of an impact to our residents Um how does everybody feel about using surplus mayor I know our revenue projections are normally pretty conservative to begin with Yeah Uh even with the pilots we
we very planned very conservatively as Thank you The only thing I'm concerned about is the uh instability at the uh at the federal level and also I'm skipping slightly ahead to uh to to revenues but uh you
know this is this is my favorite one to talk about the energy tax receipts I mean that's in there It is it is anticipated Uh it is currently funded at zero in the legislature So I expect that that will at least get moved back to what it's supposed to be But the last
few years that has been a fight anymore Yeah So anything we do out of our surplus could come back to haunt us as well And certainly I don't want to um say like let's just go spend it away That's not what uh you know we need to be conservative about it Yeah Um and
there might be a middle ground So Councilman you were going to say something Yeah So um Miss Burns can you tell us um so how much um right now we're approximately at the same $67 per
$400,000 assessed property about is that correct were at 74 Okay And we added additional um uh surplus So if we just starting at 50 how what would that bring us down to so we
have an idea Okay I'm open to certainly discussion on how much It was just a number I threw out Um but I I I think I would like to to use a
little bit more surplus just to offset some of the the inflation that everybody's feeling I'd be okay with it too I mean I in the sense that you know I know we also have our sewer fee uh as well Um you know I'd be I'd be
comfortable with using surplus of some sort What it you know just just so we have different numbers If we did say for example 25,000 what would that be okay So
um the the number we're discussing on the median is the uh the actual property tax impact impact and Oh okay Um on the median Mhm
And um sorry it's an easy way to like figure out see where you're going with it because there's there's going to be that impact and then there's also uh we don't know what the board of ed's budget looks like yet Uh which is not under our control but it's an impact that
obviously we all pay Uh and then also there is the the sore fee So I kind of get where you're coming from with tapping a little bit of revenue to maybe soften the the overall blow because again this could be a difficult year
Again federal instability could seriously affect the board of edges board of ed's budgets and their anticipated revenues I know there was something that I didn't have a chance to read today about a bunch of cuts that came down Luckily Garwood wasn't a part of it so hopefully fingers crossed So
you know in the spirit of still have to always account for the you never knows of the world I guess what I'm getting at is I'm I'm comfortable if we hit a responsible number that doesn't make Mr Carrie's head explode Usually generate back between eight and
$900,000 So you're kind of there You know use extra 50 wouldn't be detrimental at all but that's a year I wouldn't get Okay Councilman Padusnap you had something I mean no I was just thinking it it
through I'm probably uh happy a little closer to Councilman Lazro's member but I'm not going to stand to thwart if everyone else feels differently Council be at 40,000 instead of 50
So 35 was 55 was 53 Yeah I mean obviously in the grand scheme we're talking it's just you know what makes you comfortable councilwoman Nld any thoughts
i mean it's not a significant it's not a significant uh impact right between 35 and 40 Yeah All right Straw poll I guess I would say I'm I'm I would say 35 would be fine for me But
you know if people really feel something about 40 somehow I knew we're all working on like I knew you would go with the lowest number I am good with 35 Yeah 35 Okay Miss Burns 35
Um I did want to point out we're looking at the revenues but I we did kind of skip over some of the grants Um I wanted to just point something out Um this just so every and some people may already know this
but um we have a couple of different grants that come into the municipal alliance and one of those grants covers our DARE program One of those grants is a leadership grant Um and what the town
uses that for is to actually help our school um it it they do a uh a program with their eighth graders a leadership program that comes in and we help offset the cost of that with that grant I do want to point out to the council that we
just received notice this week that it is the money for that is being frozen through an executive order on the federal level Um so we do not have that money anymore to provide to the school Um I have spoken to the school They know
they're trying to see if they can make up that difference If not they'll have to cancel the program Um it was supposed to happen I think uh the end of April beginning of May So it's kind of a scramble Um but I as we don't know when that money will
unfreeze so we can't promise them that money Um and so I'm assuming that program might be cancelled for this year And again I don't have any word about next year if that grant will continue As of now we're still moving forward with the DARE grant We haven't heard anything
about that So that's still there But I just wanted to let everybody know and you know let all the parents know I know Cece was going to be doing that leadership program So it is a shame that that's not uh there anymore but that's where we stand
Um and I don't think there's anything else We've talked about the rec trust grant We did just receive the infrastructure grant um that we spoke about at our last meeting when we were talking capital uh is 39,000 So it's a
thousand more than last year So woohoo Um and yes we will we talked about matching it as a part of our capital funding Um and that is to go to the center street corridor improvements as we talked about not just the bike lanes
um but also lighting um bumpouts uh signage So there's a number of things that are involved in that that that grant will go toward the grant and the match would go towards but just wanted to update you on that We just got that quick quick question and maybe I just
want to make sure it's popping my head when you uh when we were doing uh the deduction from the uh fire and adding the uh the capital improvement fund you also deducted from uh the 10,000 from the circulation study Okay Just making sure
Is there anything else you want to touch on okay Um anything else that anybody wants to go over before we open it to public comment Good Councilman Foley Good Yeah I'm good All
right Well then at this point we could I uh could I could I just motion for a quick recess before we start public comment just because we've got a lot of people here Second Second All in favor i Okay Five minute
bathroom break Yes Not for Not second Not third Not Willow I have no idea I was going to wear blue You do You have the same coloring and the glasses and
Yeah I need to get my bigger hoops And I need to wear blue I had a blue dress on and I changed it I should have put it I'm the only one that's not in blue I'm out of place The good thing is not quite sure
She's like you know I have my pocket That's right about sometime I left my last supposed to four weeks to recreate what he already means
[Music] scan or something Yeah June 2042 Yes I might have to turn over there tomorrow Not even do you want to do the exercise no
She asked if you want to do it still may be able to help you If I start the meeting on already exercise 20 minutes late right she only have a motion to resume Sorry
Second Can I have a motion to resume so let me just pick one of them Sorry We're going to open this up to public comment If there's anyone in the audience who wishes to address the mayor and council please step to the microphone and state your full name and
address Please limit your comments to 5 minutes Good evening George Dearus 2074th Avenue Garwood Uh I'm with the school crossing guards And first of all the guards would all like to say thank you very much for
throwing us under the bus You guys decided last year to change to a private entity never asked a check with any of the crossing guards and we had privileges taken away from us and
pay cuts The increase in salary per hour is there but the time is less So where a crossing guard made $53.13 a day last year a crossing guard
is making $48 a day this year still standing out in the snow the rain and whatever have you not But the main thing is we had seven days off five sick
days and two personal days And this has been going on for years And all of a sudden that disappeared Now we have to work a full year to
earn enough time to get 6 days off And a lot of the guards and I'm talking the senior guards senior guards are people that have been doing this for 3 years or more which basically is South
and Center Street North and Walnut or Center Street second in Walnut Third in Walnut and we have to say fourth in Walnut because that's a senior guard that's there that's been there for a while
The guards are not very pleased You're talking four of the busiest intersections in the school crossing And Councilman you mentioned safety for the town Well safety is an important factor
And if the school crossing guards are not pleased and happy that becomes a problem All right I would like to ask if the council can do and go back and put in there that the senior guards meaning
three years with as a guard or more get their seven days back We're not arguing to get an increase in pay We're not asking what happened this year that gets thrown out the door and
stuff like that We're talking starting next year in September but we have to know ahead of time if that's going to be written in and go to the company that's covering us Because I'll be perfectly honest with you my personal opinion and
it's only my opinion the company that's running the crossing guards not good at all They're paying two people to stand there like this as an alternate where
you have a crossing guard Stephanie for argument's sake on second and Walnut She's been doing the crossing She's crossing three different crossways Now we have two guards standing there Stephanie still wants to cross because
she enjoys doing it So Kevin is the alternate He basically stands there He might do five crossings out of 30 but he gets paid the same money as me or
Stephanie or Camille or anybody that's doing the One minute Mr Darus Oh okay So I'm asking the council if you please think about it Uh you're saving over $6,000 I think that the number was
$6,900 what you took away from us from last year to this year I think that we the seniors should get their seven days back Thank you very much Thank you And we'll speak to that after the
full public comment Is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and council michelle Capoenko 404 Myrtle Um I had a few questions on the the various insurance coverage increase of about almost
$18,000 Can you um give a breakdown of what the insuranceances are for and the amounts the payment of bond anticipation notes increased by $47,000 Can you explain that interest on
notes decreased $12,000 Can you please explain that um the industrial sewer users decreased $5,000 Can you please I'm sorry Can you say that again the industrial um sewer users
uh decreased the appropriation uh decreased by $5,000 Okay Um e new residential sewer charges The 2025 appropriation is shown as
$150,000 but how much will actually be build out i know that you're putting I remember it was stated that uh a lower number would be put because it's the first year Um and then so when I'm looking at the budget
I'm seeing you know the full-time employees and then underneath that in the section of the budget there's retirey health benefits So my question is do they ever stop being offered at some point um meaning there's no additional retirees to receive the paid
benefits in their collective bargaining agreement And this was for again the retirey health benefits So there's regular benefits for the current employees and then the retired ones So meaning like have they negotiated up until a certain
point like people that were hired only 10 years ago would not be getting benefits for life paid by the town Um is how much of the cap bank is being used in the 2025 budget will there be a bond sale in 2025
and you know I it's a health insurance fund Um I know you explained a little bit but it this was only the first full year that the bureau was in this So $95,000 is a lot of money to
pay How did that how did that not get stopped by the company by by some kind of mechanism is there a stop-loss mechanism most insurance companies when claims get to a certain amount that kicks in [Music]
Um adding police officers has the bureau um looked into or applied for the cops grant from the Department of Justice those awards can provide um up to 75% of full-time salaries and benefits for 36 months
In 2024 15 municipalities in New Jersey were awarded them And lastly Councilman Foley and Councilman Lazero already know about the sewer We had a big discussion and I appreciate
you know you understanding where I was coming from but I'm really disappointed that only $30,000 was added to the store maintenance line for this year I ideally I would like to see um a full assessment of the sewer system because I feel it's that important because the
RBSA bill is out of control and it's only going to keep going up every year So that's pretty much it Okay Thank you Thank you Is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and council said 320 Hickory Avenue um there
some easy ones Bulk pickup fees Uh we don't have bulk pickup So I'm wondering why there's money in there Um Green County uh last year requested $8,000 issue only requesting 4,000 The um uh SH advisory board has uh
worked with uh Burough Engineer and uh contractors the past two years Uh 2024 uh we planted over 100 trees Uh this year we planted 46 so far Green County is an important part of getting trees for the burrow Uh I know it's a match
but I'd love to see that uh figure put back up to the same figure 2024 which is 8,000 Um I don't really understand how to read uh the grants So Union County infrastructure grant indicates zero Why
aren't we applying for that this year um clean communities program same thing Zero Uh recycling tonnage the amount of money is uh 2024 $3,747 Uh this year is zero Um I would
hope recycling tons is going up So I I just just explained to me uh how those costs figure into what what's being picked up Um and mayor I'm sorry one last well keeps keeping with the budget Um you mentioned Sent Street Quarter Project which you know I'm a huge
supporter of and you probably said it but I don't know where it is in this budget If you can help me find it and also um the sustainable Jersey grant that we requested um you know we filed and requested Obviously we don't know if we're going to get it Um but that's 10,000 and I was wondering if that gets
put in here someplace Uh last request is um as we know 2024 over summer uh we had some intense heat uh with planting those trees Uh we're very concerned about them living and uh because the contractors
inquired to provide a year guarantee for trees They came back and watered those trees themselves We have no such situation for this coming year because their guarantee is over Um I'd love for this council to award the money for a
DPW to get either a water truck or something that can go around and uh water trees after we get them planted cuz uh this year you know we haven't gone out yet You can't tell yet if the tree is dead or alive And I'm very nervous about how many of those trees
are dead Um now there is they are under contract to be replaced but again a second year is tough We need water for those trees Appreciate anything that the burrow can do Thank you Thank you Okay Is there anybody else who wishes to
address the mayor and council please step to the mic Limit your comments to five minutes Good evening ladies and gentlemen of the council Bruce Patterson 325 Willow Avenue and thank you very much for this meeting and putting together these sheets And thank you Sandy and Warren of
course And I'm just going to be running down my questions on these sheets I know you have some kind of backup Um the first aid organization you have kept it at $9,000 I know a resident for the last couple years was coming in and
saying the first aid squad's insurance is $16,000 And back then she pleaded with you to to hopefully fund it fully Uh but the resident isn't here and I'm not really speaking for her but it's something to consider the fire payroll
and firefighter compensation uh was a 10% increase That's only $3,000 but I'm just wondering is that part of like the low SAP costs or where are the low SAP costs included um uh the kids recreation trust fund Okay
you have matching money in there the uh green and Union County you have matching money in there obviously but then it comes down to the UC infrastructure grant and Mr Neareststead mentioned this that it there's no matching money on that line item and from what I understand your discussion I guess uh
that matching money is coming out of the capital fund just to uh assure that uh the capital improvement fund Thank you very much uh Mr Foley for wanting to increase it another 15 grand I mean down payments do you do have to cover
$371,000 that you're planning to borrow uh the Yeah Are there any bonds maturing this year the Yeah The the sewer fee I keep coming
back to the source fee so many times How much are we paying into the RVSA standard billing from that $150,000 we're collecting obviously in the tax collection OE you mentioned that there is cost from the fee going into
that for uh I guess postage and billing and such like that So I mean obviously you have some kind of number out there So the public would like to know what you're putting into the RVSA from that $150,000 And I guess a subsequent answer question to that is is Vermela actually
being mic in giving us the $100 a unit free over and above all their other uh payments that they're doing such as the pilot The amount to be raised by taxation this is on the top of uh page three uh that is going up
$222,000 approximately I hear numbers of $67 um or $70 whatever you finally have settled on as a uh tax increase However they're going up $222,000 I've been following tax
increases and usually there's a a rule of about 0.045% to about 050% is the translation to the tax What you have is using a 0.030% 030% and something is wrong here this
year That $222 actually translates to at least a hundred to $110 and not $67 And I really want somebody to maybe sit down with me later on another day to explain why it's only 67 and not what
we're looking at 100 to 110 Uh what else i guess um yeah that was interesting 2024 Going back to that the the friendly budget actually said uh the the tax to be raised was 7 million3
and what you have here adopted is 7 million6 That's a difference of about $300,000 That needs to be answered also but we're talking about last year's numbers The general question I have to uh Warren and Sandy do you do you
actually have metrics and ratios that you use Mr Patter just to assure the financial health of Garwood you know somehow you you know divide numbers and say "Yeah yeah this is good This is good." you know or do you just let them
continue on spending only because in the last three years we've had a million dollars increase in taxes and we've also included another million dollar in pilot fees So in $2 million in three years I mean and it's and it's I guess
balancing out this budget I mean $2 million in expenditures that's approximately 22% Mr Patterson your five minutes are up Thank you Okay thank you very much Is there anybody else who wishes to
address the audience john Bartlett 231 Hamrock I don't want to address the audience I wanted to address you Yeah you're right Um I have a comment and a question The comment is on the uh circulation element Um please
don't um waste $20,000 to save $10,000 uh what I said uh still holds back in the breaking down the budget meeting I want a good circulation element I don't want just a PowerPoint presentation that's going to sit on a desk I want something that's going to be actionable
We're going to get like one crack at this So great if you can get a good circulation element for 20K I'm all for that But don't waste 20k on a useless exercise if by spending 10,000 more we can get something that we can really
work with Um the question I have relates to training um for the fire department but it's a little broader We've spent a lot of money on capital assets vehicles and and other assets for DPW for the police for
the fire department And frankly I've been in in favor of those investments I think I think they're great Are all of the assets that we've been spending in fully in service or do are we lacking are they effectively available for use or
effectively being used and are any of these trainings that are being requested necessary for us to be able to truly utilize these assets if when we need them if they're for emergency services or if they're for regular operations
because I'm a little concerned that we make the big investment we get the uh we get the asset and then we don't get the value I want to make sure we're getting the value for these investments that we're
making because it it's a a big line item uh on our budget So um I don't want to be pennywise and pound foolish a little investment on the circulation element or these massive investments that we're making on the other assets So if you can uh answer
that or assure us that you're following up to make sure that if we spend six figures seven figures on an asset that we're really taking advantage of that asset when we do procure it and that our uh employees are trained to effectively
and safely use these assets uh when when and if they're needed Thanks Thank you Is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and council hi Laura Thompson 320 Pine
Avenue Um I did have a couple questions Uh on the first page of the handout that you guys gave us there's funding for the library What in God plus $344,000 for our library
the other thing is retirement accumulated leave payout went from $25,000 to $106,000 from last year to this year The other question I had was and I pardon me because I'm just getting to
know this whole process here Um the bonds obviously you put bonds out people buy them It seems like we're paying a lot of interest and a lot of repayment on loans
and we're sitting on money in our surplus Is that surplus money actually making us any money on the dollar where it's sitting or are we better served as paying down our debt because obviously we owe somebody something because we're paying 300 and
something thousand dollars a year for bonds and interest on bonds and loan repayments and yet we're sitting on a million five in surplus Thank you Thank you Is there anybody else who wishes to address the mayor and
council okay seeing none can I have a motion to close public comment second Thank you Uh all in favor i Okay Okay Um a lot to go through Again if I do
miss anything I want to put out there not for Mr Patterson because no matter what it's it's a conspiracy theory and I did it on purpose because it's him And I want you to know it's human error I am trying to write as fast as I can If I
miss anything please always feel free to email Call me Call Mr Arthur Email Mr Arthur Nobody's trying to not answer any questions here I just may miss it by accident Um it it happens So we will always get you
the answer And if it's something you want in said on the record you can also let me know and I can mention at the following public meeting either answer the question there or you can reask it at the following public meeting We do have an introduction for the budget Um
and then we do have a adoption where there is a hearing on the budget So you do have opportunity to ask again So I just want to put it out there I'm that that this is I'm going to go through as best as I can Um I am going to actually
put Mr dear your question and or your concerns with the the crossing guards to the side and and just focus on the budget first and then we'll go back Uh Miss Kappa Biano the insurance coverage increase
um with that that I assume you you're talking about now I you know I didn't make a good enough note the breakdown of the insurance coverage increase Um if that's the health insurance it's the various
line It's the various slide That was my my note says the various because I I you know what yes that's um Mr Arthur I know we were talking about that earlier You want to talk a little bit about the increase it's based on the rates that our
insurance company gave us for general liability insurance for the most part I mean I assume it's based on whatever claims we had and then whatever yearly increase that they give to everybody but I assume our claims play into that over
the the year I don't have a specific answer for that They send us a a breakdown summary of what they're going to bill us during the year We could look into it but I don't have an answer tonight Okay Miss Brenn a lot of these actually might fall to you
The bond anticipation notes increase Um when you every time you do an ordinance after the you until you permanently finance them with bonds you stay in notes At the third roll over over of your note you're required to make a minimum payown So the longer
you're in notes the more minimum payowns um become part of your debt service And the the interest on notes though decreased I believe the prior year it was four and a half and this past year it's 4% So that's the the difference in
the interest um that we're paying Um and and the reason I'm I'm sure she's looking for the reason but I mean I I assume that that's just the reason for the the decrease in the interest It's the interest rate went
down just so it's just is what I'm saying It's not us It's just the rate went down and that's what it the interest rate was 4 and a half and then it was 4% year one year um and then the industrial sore decrease by 5,000
that's the revenue not an appropriate you can only anticipate what you collected the prior year so even if we bill around 100 we only collected 95 and that's what we're anticipating as a revenue thank you um
the the sore fee what will be build out I know we we we conservatively estimated the 150 um the total amount I think we had it was up about 200 something that eventually we're hoping to get to if you
if you do the numbers Mhm Do you have a do you have that number or you I know it's or anybody up here i know we have it I'm sure it was $200,000 I I mean I don't have the exact number in front of me but I'm pretty sure it's $200,000 as was the
you know thought but if you know given the fact that this is the first year they were billing we did the same things with rental income or the uh landlord fee we we were very conservative um because it was a new fee that we were charging and we wanted to make sure that we would bring in that revenue um and
not anticipate revenue that we didn't know for sure we were going to get So I'm pretty sure it was $200,000 is what we kind of looked at at the number of properties Yeah I have here 207 Okay that's what I
kind of remember from my notes Okay And retirey uh Miss Kappa Bianca wanted to know if any of our retirees stop getting health benefits at any point I mean there's a number of retirees that are uh I don't our retirees don't I think you'd
have to look at your contract and determine that Yeah we have we have the teamsters contract we have the PBA contract and then um health benefits for administrative staff correct that retire but they're not part of the contract So
it's it's very dependent on those contracts There are a substantial number of people that if they started after a certain date like for example myself will never get lifetime health benefits Um a lot of that was tied to laws that changed about 15 years ago I was I was going to add to
this because I think Mrs B uh Capiano's question had to do with you know like when to how have they negotiated who would not get this and so I think it's not really a negotiation It's state law as to whether or not they're aid if I'm not you know incorrect So yeah I know
that I remember we had a conversation in finance that like I think there's I think you had said that there's only like two three uh employees that would still be qualified for uh retired health benefits but then after that then they
they would no longer qualify for for the for definitely on the admin side I'm just not sure Right We it would have to we'd have to go back and look through the contracts to get an exact number of people Well Mayor could I just ask a followup to either Mr Arthur or Miss
Bruns um because term gets thrown around a lot when people talk about public employee benefits When we say lifetime benefits there is a a ceiling to that where provided it's still here you have Medicare Medicaid that that become the
primary right yes Correct Mhm And after the date that you were mentioning before um people that do qualify for the health benefits in retirement do have to pay towards them And I I I believe we had this conversation the year I was on finance
That might have been 22 or 23 Um I a lot of it is union contract at this point not anything that's discretionary or under the the burrow's control And then the other employees that have been here long enough are grandfathered under that
state law Yes So the the short answer is this will over the next couple decades Yeah decline right it's going to take a little time And that was part of the chapter 78 Yeah Uh reforms back was that 10 years ago 12 years ago 2020 I think
Yeah I mean 2010 2010 We're um Mr to correct you How much cap bank are we using do you this year none Thank you And bond sale When there will be a bond sale our last bond sale was 2015 We
have one more payment left in 2026 to pay that off per that permanent financing off So we would be looking to sell bonds again next year We take everything that's in notes and permanently finance it with bonds Okay
um the $95,000 payout from the HIF even though we've only been in there for a year it's not it wasn't necessarily about um how long we've been in They they have a $5 million budget shortfall essentially and they
um did a proportion for each town uh I assume by size and usage Um so it this was our percentage of that portion of the 5 million Um again we will keep looking at the
numbers and see if uh there's any changes to be made but um even with this 95,000 I'm going to guess we're still paying less than if we were with the state But we will see if I if I'm wrong we'll we'll let you know And honestly I had a lot of concerns
about how this happened too I'm planning to go to their next meeting and bring up those concerns with with them We did talk to them um about this and why it was it took so long The one of the the things is is that there is a meet or
beat clause that they have to meet or beat the state health benefits And so whatever the state does they have to do it to at least to that minimum And apparently the prescriptions for these semiglues were you know out of control I
guess I don't know what other word to say for the state benefits and they had to match the same sort of procedures for um providing for that for that medication I I we questioned them too because I said there's medicines on my private health insurance they won't
cover and why is this being covered just you know so much um but that is their reasoning behind it But yes Mr Arthur is going to grill them a little bit more when we get there I have to step up to the mic over the next meeting And
um the cops grant from the Department of Justice I guess I'll um talk we can talk to Chief Stoer about that a little bit later and see if anything uh applies to our burrow with that Um and the sore
assessment we do have pretty much the entire sore system um TV at this point Mr Disco is putting something together to allow us as a council to see the entire health of the entire burrow So it is coming He needs some time to work on
it Um but that is something the council is looking to obviously as we start to make repairs in different spots um we need sort of a base to go off of and so he he will be providing that I asked him to prioritize too so that we know if
we're going to do you know 10 projects this year right what are the 10 that really matter the most he's already working on that Thank you Um Mr Nearest uh bulk pickup fees um I believe but M
Bruns you can speak to it I believe because not everything uh we have to pay for the drops the bulk I he may be referring to the revenue part We anticipate about $10,000 in fees to offset the bulk the cost of disposing of
the bulk for the the twice a year that you do that Mhm Um and the shade tree grant the I understand that you want to report that Mr Arthur you want to talk
to that the amount that the county gave us to match So it's a $4,000 grant this year $4,000 match It was a little bit more last year because though we were you remember we were actually catching up We did like two years worth of plantings in one year last year Um but
you know understand the ask of you'd like to do more planting so why not put some more money in there Um so um infrastructure grant why it's zero cycling tonnage grant why it's zero I assume it's just we haven't put it in
it's not an award letter I can't put in the budget So same thing for sustainable jersey it would go in if we are awarded it but at this point we don't have it so it it everything says zero We did just get the infrastructure grant but I don't think they've sent the letter over yet
They haven't going Capitol anyway Yes Um and then the Center Street Corridor it's not the we're using the infrastructure grant and
hopefully a sustainable Jersey grant to offset it but that was t at our last meeting We talked about capital funding and the the funding for that is not in our operating budget It will be as part of our capital funding Think I got everything I just I
think Mr N brought up something about which I I actually think is a interesting idea I know I just asked our our burough administrator if he has any ideas for you know like ways for our is it possible for the current equipment that we currently have for us to water
the trees this year I think it's a a really good point because I know I walk to to Burrow Hall and I know the some of the trees on West Street definitely did not survive So and I would like to see those trees survive Is there maybe something that you could talk to Lenny
or Clint like what what do we have accessible what can we do as far as some sort of plan to keep the trees alive that would be great I did note it already but yes Great Thank you Thanks Okay Um Mr Patterson the 10% increase of
fire payroll um the LOAP increase is that in that line the fire payroll LOAP is a separate line it's about 40,000 for LOAP the I think it's just in the number of members is just increasing I think the number of members I believe and I think
that just that's I believe that's the case there's a certain um but yes I mean they they do obviously give us a number of how much they want to do and it's based on you know previous years but yes it goes up based on if we have more members that you know um that are in the
department that serve time Um and again you asked about the matching funds for the rec trust infrastructure Um and again as we answered those are part of our capital funding They're not in the operating
budget Um asked do we have any bonds maturing this year we pay we have a maturity schedule for the existing bonds We pay 270,000 just actually yesterday April 1st That was
our annual payment for bonds and the interest is paid twice a year Thank you You asked about the sore fee How much is going into RVSA i I tried to answer this last time I feel like there was answers given at the breaking down the budget I know was talked about and
so we talked after because I was I I don't quite know how else to explain it because we it doesn't seem like we're we're on the same page with it But Mr Arthur do you want to give it a try see one could probably do a better explanation real quick The way I look at
it is you have like your pot of revenue money and you have your your operating budget and you don't necessarily have to say this $150,000 of revenue goes directly into this budget line It all is part of one mechanism payment to the
RVSA not pledged to any appropriation Yeah there's no mechanism for that in in municipal budgeting with that with this particular item So essentially you could look at it that everything that's if you want to say it's being appropriated towards something it's you could say
RVSA cost $900,000 So it is offsetting $150,000 of that or it's offsetting 120 of that and it's offsetting 30 of the sewer maintenance It's the the bills all kind of get paid So it's I think else to
explain to think of it as one big thing rather than each individual line Yeah Um okay Yeah I just want to add you know so also you know this a lot of that money also is really just able to you
know help us to keep taxes down too I mean that's it's really also in terms of like because of the increase of BSA Correct because of the increase of RBSA But then on top of that it does give us eventually flexibility at some point if we wanted to increase that sewer
maintenance line which I'd like to see And you know I know Mrs Copia Biano talked to me to us about at the breaking down the budget and I would like to see us increase that but I think like right this year this is the number I think we felt comfortable with And then as we
prioritize more uh those fixes we'll hopefully be able to increase that money once we see the exact amount of money that we're able to bring in in revenue for next year Yeah And I think the problem is is that sometimes when the resident may be hearing we're bringing in it as revenue that oh we're we're
bringing in we're just going to spend it away that's why we want it to bring in more revenue RVSA has gone up a tremendous amount All of our revenue that comes in goes to pay the bills So th this revenue that's coming in is pay is trying we're
trying to help offset those increases So we're putting some towards store maintenance We're trying to offset those RVSA increases It's going to pay that bill I and I I I hope that explains it a little bit Also obviously is which I
think was another question about Vermela Vermemell is going yes going to be paying for this this is this they've been they will be sent the letters and that also is what part of the reason for doing the sewer fee is because it allows us to charge Romela as well So that that's the equity argument that we
talked about that everyone is paying into it Thank you Um another question Mr Patterson wants to know uh Miss Bruns and Mr Cari if you have metrics to look at our financial health
I there's no there's nothing really It's just what you generate back from operations every year and it gives you your surplus That's just you anticipate a little bit more and you realize a little bit more You know what I mean there's nothing there's nothing there that says 20% of this is you know you're in good financial level I'm generating
my my opinion is based on what you had in previous years I mean surplus is up there and it's so you're in good financial health now In prior years it was a lot the surplus was a lot less and it was a lot below a million dollars So you struggling with taxes and making cuts It's nice to have a little bit more
on hand each year So you're doing fairly well but there is no one metric where it's 10% of this or 20% of that Just doesn't work that way It's just the excess from the observation That's it And I um when you go through and you you provide the audits that's sort of
another way for us to know if we're doing everything correctly and healthy and everything like that And we haven't had any recommendations Yes Yes So uh Mr Carri I'm just going to piggyback on what the mayor asked
Um and I know that these are also numbers that uh lacking some context for the public don't always help but uh I know a lot of local governments will talk about uh bond rating and debt ratio
Um and I know Garwood's debt ratio is actually outstanding It's one of the better ones in this county Uh am I correct in making that assertion there's an annual debt statement that gives you or 792 I think
792 and a half% of people have value So you're way below So the maximum metric that's one metric I guess you and most municipalities at least in our area are are well over one somewhere into the twos So
Yeah very little Well and to clarify I mean you're you're talking about a ratio so not just an absolute value in debt but that the ratio we're holding is at a lower Yeah decimal right i just want to clarify for Yeah because obviously we're a small municipality so absolute value would
make sense for the number to be lower we should have less debt but on the same scale some of the not so much bigger towns we we still do comparatively less That's what I'm saying It's a it's a ratio The the absolute number is going to be lower just because of the size of
the municipality right but the ratio the relative term is is also lower which is the point of evaluation Yeah that that's what that particular figure exists for So that there's some means of comparison based upon you can't really if you were just to compare Garwood to
say the city of Elizabeth it it's apples and oranges conversation I I've looked recently at some local towns though and you are correct I've seen I'm not going to point out what towns but I've seen double smaller towns trying not to not to name names because u make anybody
anybody mad at me But yes to to your to answer your question we're from what I've seen one of the lower in the area Um and I think so sorry we were just making sure I answered everything because I Mr
Patterson asked about the amount of um paid taxation but he's asked if he could sit down with someone I I'm not qu I understand what you're asking but I'm not quite sure what you want out of it So I will say maybe we table that
question and we can get some more information from Miss Bruns at another time Um Bruce what I will say is that number you're looking at is the municipal tax increase and the library So that's the discrepancy you were talking about which was the one question
There you go Okay We can talk more about it but that's we'll talk about Yeah I think it's I that was the discrepancy question In terms of the other part I think it's probably you can sit and talk and have a better discussion with Miss Bruns about that Um Mr
Bartlick the trainings um are I feel like the um Councilman Lazar you can speak more to the will the are the trainings needed to be used for our assets but I mean I I think our fire department is is in terms of the
equipment and everything we have and the trucks they are well trained on all of that already I feel like these are like additional operational trainings Yeah I think in general you know you know obviously uh as I mentioned before I
love the ambitious nature of wanting to be trained in a variety of things Some things that are you know so um uncommon uh issues that the fire department may encounter Um extractions was one that we talked a lot about you
know it it's it does happen very occasionally and they have some uh equipment that they currently use They would like more advanced equipment for those things And so those are kind of like the conversations that that that we have Um but as far as the equipment that they we have purchased like the ladder
truck and you know as far as the um you know uh other you know requirements like the hazmat those things that are absolutely required for us to be able to you know utilize the proper equipment Yes they have the training that they need And that's kind of what we tell our
fire department is to prioritize those things that are absolutely required and necessary And then obviously you know tell us some things that you're looking to do in addition and we'll see how the budget shakes out to see if we can add those additional costs
Um and our assets as far as I know are fully in service I don't know if if you're meaning by that Are are all of the trucks being used everything's back and in service Um all of the equipment is back Um everything everything is
being used as it as it should be Yeah And also when they received some of the equipment back they were excited to get retrained on it and learn and drive it around and test things And from what I've seen they really take pride in learning this equipment well and and
taking good care of the equipment Any new members that come along showing them how to use everything fully Yes I know You know we we have had a number of new members so I they spend a lot of time doing those sort of things with them on Sunday nights and Monday nights
Yeah If I may I just want to say that we received very detailed requests on training So you know it's we received what 25 pages and under training there's very detailed requests We're not eliminating anything
that's you know vital or it's it's just things that when you look at them in reality there may not be enough time to do So we're not taking away anything that would you know take away from Exactly Thank you
Um thank you Miss Thompson The library budget is set by the state Um and it's uh basically a population uh formula Um in terms of what it is spent on the library has a budget We we don't control
their budget They said the library board of trustees controls their budget Um and I'm sure uh they would be happy to speak with you about it Um look libraries are really important to me Obviously we've talked about this before So um the you
know especially in a small town like us they provide so much programming and and use for seniors and kids and you know just anything from ext So
um to me I I'm the I'm I'm okay funding our library Um our Oh the Mr Arthur do you want to talk about the retirement accumulated leap payouts essentially we have more retirees this year We're anticipating
more retirements in 2025 than we were in previous years Yeah With larger payouts Yeah With larger payouts [Music] Um Miss Burns maybe you could speak a little bit about surplus in a local um
municipal government Um because I I know Miss Thompson's question I'll often get it Why don't we pay down the debt more with what's sitting there and it's not as it's not like your home budget where you have savings and you can sort of use it to to pay down your bills and your
debt as you go It's a little bit different with different laws and rules governing it Well we have existing payown schedules We have the Greenacres loan payown schedule I think that's finished in 2032 Like I said we have bonds that will be paid off next year
That's what your debt service and your budget is for And then your short-term notes same thing You're required when you take out a a note to roll it over and pay it off So I mean you could if you wanted to appropriate more in debt service but I
don't think you need You have to remember you have surplus but it's also for cash flow purposes In other words when she opens the her office you need money to operate A lot of bills you're paying up front and you don't collect your taxes in four quarters So when she pays the pension bills that's paid April
1st That's gone for the year Okay but you don't collect those tax revenues until you get to the November 1st So you need cash in the bank to operate to pay payroll the school taxes and the county taxes So even though you have surplus you just can't be used to pay off debt because you need money to operate as
you're going along I hope that makes a little bit more sense about why we keep the surplus there You need cash on hand just to operate Did somebody have Oh okay That I saw
Um and I think that was it other than Mr Deers Um so Mr Deers thank you for for coming and talking about the crossing guards I'm going to bring the chief up Um but this is something that I've been speaking with you about over the past
couple of months and I've spoken extensively with our chief about The three of us have talked about it extensively and we we certainly weren't trying to take away days or anything like that and we are doing what we can to try and give back to some of those senior
guards If you could explain a little bit Yeah When uh we went to the private company the guards now rather than having the seven days off over the course of the year they end up with just under that at 16 and change because they get one hour off for every three uh
every 30 hours worked uh by law Um I know we the mayor and I have had conversation about um the snow days paying the guards for the snow days either during the winter or at the end of the year and also
bringing back some more hours for personal time Um it's one of the things I wanted to go over with the police committee with our next meeting but hopefully we get this into effect for the fall Okay So we are looking to give
back some of that time I think the the difference is when you have a it's not all upfront right over the course of the year The difference between the municipal government and a private company is is different And I understand
um there's pros and cons but the I I think Chief can you speak to some of the things that you've seen um that have benefited the police department being in the private company um we went from basically covering a
post almost every day throughout town to not covering uh school posts with cops anymore which is the big thing And then just on the back end the administrative time inside uh managing the guards that all that time really went down and
it uh just makes us a lot more efficient especially in the mornings um being able to be out enforcing traffic laws and making sure that the kids are getting to school easier So so and I just Mr Deers
we've talked about this before what what Chief is um talking about in terms of the benefits and we did feel that moving it towards the private company that those are some big it's a big deal for us to have that that officer available um and to decrease the sort of uh
inefficient type of paperwork situation that was going on that our police department was was having to deal with and it gets them back out on the streets and dealing with um safety issues that we want them to be dealing with So um when you have the private company
they also it it they need to ensure that a new employee is going to stay before they just take their days So in other words you don't want to hire a new person they have their automatic you know six seven days and they take them all in the first two months and then you
know they can up and leave and quit So that I you know when a private company is deciding their their contracts that that's sort of the thinking I feel like goes into that and it is a little different than something we do here Um I do want a chief if you can speak to the
alternate um yeah the way that they're um the way that they deploy their guards for the amount of posts that we have They have an extra guard and that guard generally will plug holes for any
openings in the schedule Um and then it goes they have a couple other options in play uh before they reach out to us to see if we could cover the post and then we get compensated if we do That's the worst case scenario and we've only done it a handful of times since they've been
in town So um it's working in that regard Um so while there might be a double up sometimes sometimes there that that alternate takes if someone's sick or they call out that that's where that person goes So that's why and to me
that's kind of an efficient way to do it I know it seems like oh you have two at one spot for a day if if luckily everybody's there and in but if somebody's not you you know we would have to rely again on the police department So I I personally think that
it's a good way to manage that situation um to have an alternate So um I I again Mr Deers this is going to be a conversation that as Chief Stoofer said he's got to have with the police
committee Um but we are looking to make some changes for next year Again as you said we to go back and look back doesn't doesn't help but we're looking to make some changes for next year and we that has to be the discussion that's going to go on
now So thank you Um and if you have more questions I know Chief Stoer will will talk with you after the meeting and I know we'll be talking more and having some some more meetings on it as
well Okay at this point Okay not too bad 8:30 Um does anybody on council have anything else that they would like to put forward or discuss anything that came up that you want to touch on okay All right So at this point I
want to thank everybody for coming I thank you for your questions If I did miss anything please feel free to email or call Um if if I can't answer it I will get you the the appropriate person to talk to you about it Um we do have uh
a public hearing on the budget coming up after uh the adoption Our introduction is next week April 10th April 10th and then the public hearing is scheduled for May May 8th May 8th Thank you Uh it's
going quick Um so there will be opportunity to talk more budget stuff Uh so feel free uh at those public comments Um again thank you finance committee Thank you Miss Burns Thank you Mr Cari Mr Arthur I do appreciate all
your work and your time on this budget I do think we've gotten it to a really good place Uh and again um you know you've done some good work and I I know it was a long haul but I I do think we're it it is in a good place So at
this point I will ask for a motion to adjurnn So moved I guess the regular council meeting will be held on April 10th 2025 Information posted on the website Who made the motion i second All in favor
opposed adoption of the public hearing or on the night of public night of public hearing way We