Deputy Mayor Payne here. Mayor Tarelli here. Administrator Ferrer here. Attorney Bullet here. All right. Please join me in a salute to the flag. [Applause] To the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisibley and justice for all. Okay. So, first order is approval of minutes. May I have a motion and a second to approve the regular meeting
minutes of March 11th, 2025? So moved. Approved. Second. Sorry. Roll call. Wrong. Committeeman Britting. Yes. Committeewoman Hand. Yes. Committee Leanne. Yes. Deputy Mayor Payne. Yes. Mayor Trelli. Yes. May I have a motion
and a second to approve the regular meeting minutes of March 25th, 2025? So moved. Second. Go. Too fast. Roll call. Committee Bing. Abstain. Committeewoman Hand. Yes. Committee. Yes. Deputy Mayor
Payne. Yes. Mayor Turley. Yes. May I have a motion and a second to approve the regular meeting minutes of April 8th, 2025? So moved. Second. Roll call, please. Committeeman Britting, yes. Committ
Hand, yes. Committing, yes. Deputy Mayor Payne, yes. Mayor Shaleley, yes. All right, so I have a couple of general announcements before we get into the committee reports tonight. Um, first, the uh robotics team made it made
it to the World Championships. They went down to Houston. Uh committee members Leani and Han joined me for uh basically an annual tour of the Hillsboro High School Robo Raiders warehouse where we met with each department as they prepared for the world championships
competition in Houston. Uh we're very impressed by the focus and skills applied each of and by each of the divisions including uh from the the business technical outreach and and coordination and culminating in a an outstanding presentation by their STEM
ascend group uh a global outreach program designed to reach uh reach and involve underprivileged students in science and technology. So just unbelievable what these these uh this team does. At the World Championships, the Robo Raiders Team 75 was honored
with the Gracious Professionalism Award, which was a special recognition awarded to the team for respecting individuals and the community, emphasizing the values of others, and implementing a system that strives for excellence and quality in their work. The award meant a great deal to the team uh and reinforces
that the the lifelong skills being learned in robotics extend far beyond the actual robot itself. So that whole team was there and the robot was actually on in a shipping container on its way to Houston. So a big event for the high school and great recognition for for the Robo Raiders. Uh earlier
today I paid a visit to an event hosted by Rock Steady Boxing at Iron Peak to commemorate uh Parkinson's disease awareness month. Parkinson's disease is a chronic progressive neurological disease and is the second most common neurodeenerative disease in the United
States after Alzheimer's. There it is. Uh Parkinson's disease is currently estimated to affect approximately 1 million people in the United States and 90,000 new cases of Parkinson's disease are expected to be diagnosed this year, including somebody I know. Um programs
like Rock Steady Boxing and other therapeutic interventions offer invaluable resources and opportunities for individuals living with Parkinson's uh to enhance their physical health, foster a sense of community, and improve their quality of life through exercise and support. Uh the Rock Steady boxing
family coaches, volunteers, uh their the fighters and their families share this unique inclusive bond where individuals fighting Parkinson's can be themselves, feel supported, and engage in exercise and laughter while showing the progression of symptoms in the disease itself. Uh it was actually that usually
they come here for this event, but having it out there with it a function for at least half the people in that picture suffer from Parkinson's um just got them out doing something. So, it was really really nice to see. So, um nice
little event today. Um the Hillsboro Star Diner. Uh I along with the committee members Britting and Leani attended the Hillsboro Police Department's breakfast on the beat event at the Hillsboro Star Diner. Uh it was a great showing of residents inside the diner and and and inter interacting with
the police force and another excellent community outreach effort by the the uh the police department. I think the next one's pizza, right, Chief? So, um it's always about the food. They know that drags me in. Uh so, that's it for now. Uh I'd like to go to the reports from
the committee leaison and um starting with committeeman Britting. Thank you, mayor, and welcome everybody. Welcome to the champs and some pretty cool superstars in the room. I'll let the mayor congratulate you during your proclamations, but very excited for you guys to be here tonight. So, administration, we'll start there. So,
some updates regarding the upcoming primary election. So for those of you that are younger and into want to get into politics and understand there's a primary election then there's a general election. The primary election each side both Republican and Democrat choose their people to go for the general election. So right now the primary
election season is underway. So some updates here. So mail and ballots were sent out April 19th. Voter registration deadline uh is May 20th. So you can still register to vote. The dropbox in front of the municipal building is now open for mailin ballots, which is right
in the front near the library. Uh, sample ballots will be mailed May 28th. Deadline to request mail-in ballot is June 3rd. I expect you remember all this, but I'm just giving you the process for it. In-person early voting for the June primary election begins June 3rd. And the last day of early
voting is June 8th. So from June 3rd to June 8th, there's that new part of the process now for people to know. You don't have to vote just on election day or mail in. You can vote early on, right? That's the opportunity you have. Um, so primary election day is Tuesday, June 10th. So that's an important day for everybody for your side. Choose who
you want to represent you on your side. All right. And just so you know, too, if you are a Republican or Democrat, you will only get Republican candidates. You will only get Democrat candidates. You will not see both sides. That's just how the primary works. All right. So, economic business development. The HBA business networking social held at Iron
Peak Sports and Events was a great success. They had over 70 attendees connecting and engaging throughout the event. We were honored to have the FBLA and Jeff Wilkey uh as our guest speakers. Uh Jeff Wilkey was uh used to run uh AWS, right? Amazon Web Services. A really pretty big person here that to
share some insight. Um shared insightful discussions and he focused on AI which is a big deal for the younger generation even for the older generation. I think everybody should learn it quick because it's a really big part of our future. Uh, a special thank you to the committee, uh, EBDC and Hillsboro Township employees, especially employees. They're fantastic. And the
HBA for making this another outstanding HBA event. You can see we care very much about our small businesses in Hillsboro. We're going to continue to do that. From the health department, the annual green Living and Wellness Fair will be held on Saturday, Saturday, June 7th, in conjunction with the Hillsboro YMCA Hop 5K. The fair, a rain or shine event. I
think was it last year? Was it a did it rain last year? I think it was pretty pretty cool. I don't remember when it was. It was pretty It's a rain or shine event. So, get out there if if you're going to be in the rain, get on uh get something on there to keep yourself dry. Begins at 8:00 a.m. at the Peter J. Beyond Built Municipal Building here and will end at 11:00 a.m. Participating
local businesses will share informative presentations to raise awareness of the var aspects of living a healthy lifestyle, including making informed nutritional choices, long-term life planning decisions, and benefits of a green lifestyle. There will also be health screenings and interactive dance and exercise demonstrations. See more
information in tomorrow's e-news. Human resources. Harriet sitting right in the front here. So, Hillsboro is hiring for various positions listed on this slide here. Uh, see tomorrow's e-news for a list of all opportunities. I won't take Mr. Ferrer's Thunder, but we're going to welcome a lot of new employees this evening and
we're very happy to have all of you. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Thank you for what you do and what you're going to do. So, thank you for that. Recreation, uh, register for 2025 summer sports and clinics and music academy. Registration is open for our 2025 summer sports clinics and music academy. We've got you covered this summer with various options to keep your
children very busy. I know my children will be doing the basketball clinic this year. Explore and thrive, a transition and resource fair for success. Join us for an exciting free event to help students with special needs and their families discover essential resources for all ages. Whether you're exploring education, employment, respit care,
recreation, legal advice, or independent living uh options, this fair supports your journey. Now, summer camp registration, keep keep your kids active this year and this summer by sending them to a recreation department summer camp. Recreation is open, so secure your spot today. They have a really great
website that you can sign up on. It's very easy to sign up to uh see tomorrow's e-news for registration information for all recreation department programs. Before I go to social services, you're going to keep hearing e-news. Please sign up for it. If you're interested in what's going on in the town, it's a very good thing to sign up for. Goes out on a very regular basis. Miss Breaking team do a wonderful
job. uh social services department is extending a thank you to the Cub Scout uh uh packs and scouts BSA troops for their generous donation to the community assistance network or better known as CAN very well uh very well um logoed there uh food pantry program your
dedication and generosity make a meaningful difference in the lives of those we serve that's a very true statement I think um when when there are requests you could see them online please there are sometimes very specific items that are asked for and u please that's what we know that the the customer base or the the the the
residential base. That's what they're actually requiring at the time. So, please pay attention to that. That really does help them. All right. So, from the board of ed um which is not this committee. This we are I'm just one of the liaison to the board of education. So, scope survey. Hillsboro Township public schools is launching the scope survey. The school communication
performance evaluation that happens in two weeks. Uh Hillsboro schools are eagle eager to gather your valuable input on how they're doing with with communication efforts. The survey is open to all staff, parents, guardians, and community members. see more information in tomorrow's ene. It's essentially the same thing that the
mayor launched out for the uh master plan update with questions and answers and asking for more of a survey. We want people's opinion because you live here and you have a right to help build what your future looks like. Uh 2025 Art Gala. Make make your calendars for a spectacular showcase of young talent. The 2025 Art Gala is coming to the
Hillsboro Tachi Municipal Building on Wednesday, April 23rd. It's coming up real soon and it's going to be epic. All right, you need to read that epic. It's epic. Um, prepare to be amazed by a vibrant collection of artwork from our talented K through2 students and let the incredible sounds of their musical performances performance move you. This
is a free exhibit. Um, and this is your chance to witness the creativity and passion of our rising stars in Hillsboro Township. Uh, the exhibit will take place here at the municipal building tomorrow from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. So, everyone is invited to this exciting celebration of art and music. Let's show our amazing students some love and
support. And I'll just close out by saying, you know, last year when I was the mayor, I had the really great opportunity of engaging with the children during the art time of year and they're just so proud of how they see the world and how they put it down on paper. So if you have the opportunity to stop by even for 15 minutes, please come by. It makes the children really happy to see people care about what they do.
So that's all for me, mayor. Great. Thank you, committeeman. Uh next is Committee Hand. Thank you, Mayor. All right. So first, um I had the pleasure of going to the library open house. if you have been in there recently and seen some fabulous updates. So on April 10th,
the library hosted an open house to recognize donations by the friends of the Hillsboro library. This allowed for an update and a refresh of several areas in the library space. Thanks to the friends generous donation and the hard work of many and the library staff was
able to have an expanded youth services area. Um, amazing play elements if you've been in there, a quiet study area, a new conference room, a craft studio, more seating for adults, and a local history nook. The library also has
a refreshed teen space, streamlined information services desk, and the updated library aesthetics with new paint and wallpaper. It's really cool. Um, they tried to honor the fact that we were almost the Hillsboro farmers instead of the Hillsboro Raiders. And so, it is a farm scene. and it's really
nice on the wall. Approximately 250 people attended the open house and activities included face painting, a cooking class, photo booth, and a visit from the tractor at Norse Farm. So, if you haven't been in there, um if you're coming to look at, you know, the the artwork, definitely stop by the library
as well. And from a another perspective for board of health, so a measles advisory, I'm sure you've heard about this in the news. So measles highly contag contagious virus that can have serious health implications particularly in children under the age of five. The
New Jersey Department of Health is urging residents to make sure that their routine and travel vaccinations are up to date especially the MMR vaccination. That's for the measles, mumps, and reubella shot. Um if traveling with an
infant 6 to 11 months old, it's recommended to consult your pediatrician first about getting that um vaccination before you travel. Although although there are no measles outbreaks in New Jersey, sporadic cases have occurred. New Jersey Department of Health has
reported that non New Jersey residents um traveling or with measles have traveled through New Jersey on mass transit, potentially exposing residents. These incidents are reported on the New New Jersey Department of Health communicable diseases website which is
updated every Friday. So please protect yourself. Thank you very much. Back to you mayor. Thank you committee woman. Uh next is committeeman Leani. It's me. Everybody need a break. All right. Good afternoon. Thank you mayor. Um all
right. So it's after with the warm weather. It's pool season and we talked about this last week about some permits. But on the second half of that, if you have a construction permit for an ingground pool, your permit will be remain open until you receive all final approvals, including a final engineering
inspection. So, please uh have that done. Um, from our building department, also the amnesty program. There are only a few days left to participate in the building department amnesty program, which will run through April 25th of 2025. This program will excuse
homeowners for getting from getting penalized for having open permits, having interior non-structural work done without permits, fail failing to obtain a COO or certificate of occupancy, andor having an expired temporary certificate of oxy occupancy at their
home. Residents who visit the building department within this allotted time frame will receive assistance with gaining compliance for their projects. permit fees will be still be applicable and inspections will be required, but there are no penalties for
non-compliance. Um, last week the long- aaited u road repavement project was started and finished as as planned. Everybody can laugh who have to travel that. Uh, we've heard I've heard nothing but yay and the
fact that their teeth can stay in their mouth driving down that road. Um and we knew it was bad, but we know we wanted to time it out with the school being closed and the weather was favorable. So yes, the it is done. Uh but more importantly, uh funding came from a 2024
grant for the from the NG do um which was uh again delayed because of last year's cold weather, but it is done and we were able to minimize traffic issues. the last uh carryover from 2024. I'll give you what the schedule is because everybody's been asking when am I going
to get done from leftover from last year. And this is the updated schedule given to us by the contractor. Camden Road Milling and Paving will begin on 4:24 through 428, weather permitting.
Murray Star View Drive ski drive dogwood concrete improvements will begin 424 through 57 and the uh milling and paving uh refinish will begin tenatively for those
roads 528 to 519. So by the middle of May hopefully all those carryover 24 2024 projects will be finished. So um that was the good news. um the weather broke and we were able to get those those done. So to reiterate, Camden Road
will begin 424 to 428 marri ski dogwood and will begin 425 and with a finishing date of 519 tenatively and planning and zoning. Hillsboro master plan subcommittee is
excited to announce the next master plan survey is now live. The mayor was working a lot with that last year and the survey was very well received. So, we have our second phase of that survey which you can log into. This survey is looking for an insight on Hillsboro's current and future land use patterns and it's open to anyone who lives, works, or
owns property in Hillsboro. So, again, if you live, work, or own property, you are able able to submit a survey. This survey will close on May 18th at 11:59 p.m. and is available in a variety of languages. Give us your feedback. Let
your voice help shape Hillsboro future. visit the Engage Hillsboro platform to take the survey and learn more about the master plan process. And finally, from uh Burough Safe, Hillsboro's community collaborative dedicated to mental health awareness and suicide prevention. We'll
sponsor the 7th annual Hope for Tomorrow mental health and wellness fair on Thursday, May 8th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. This event will take place at Miswell Complex at 379 South Branch Road. The fair will include community resources such as local health wellness agencies.
There's also free food, which always brings everyone in, including the mayor, evidently, uh, catered by Lenny's, games, activities, prizes, gifts, and craft projects, and more. See tomorrow's e-news for more information, including the hope for tomorrow artwork contest.
That's all, mayor. Thank you. Thank you, committeeman. Um, just a quick comment on the master plan. We, um, we we've been talking about it late last year. So this second part of Engage Hillsboro is builds on what was done last year. So it's not a brand new survey. It's a
continuation and we took elements of what was in the prior some of the results from the prior survey and worked it into this one. This is the one the part where if you want to you think we should have a bowling alley or or some kind of an ice cream another ice cream store or what uses you want in town or
you'd like to see in town. Um this is really that part the land use part. So, we really encourage again more use and we'll be we'll be hitting the the web and social media with that as well. So, um with that, Deputy Mayor Payne. Thank you,
Mayor. Uh now that it's starting to warm up outside, more people are out walking and biking on our streets and sidewalks. With that in mind, the police department would like to remind drivers to be more mindful of those exercising. And exercisers, also, please be more mindful
of the traffic that you're blocking. Uh, National Takeback Day to dispose of unneeded medications anonymously and at no cost uh is here again. While there is a permanent collection box available in the police lobby during National Takeback Day, an additional medication
drop off container will be available at the Hillsboro Township PD. The program will run from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on April 26th and drop off is confidential and anonymous. Um, please do not drop off sharps or
liquids. Earth Day today is an annual global event demonstrating support for environmental protection. Earth Day was first observed on April 2 uh 2nd of 1970 as a grassroots movement inspired by growing concerns about environmental
damage. Today, Earth Day is a global event with millions of people participating in various activities across more than 190 countries. On that note, Hillsboro Township is once again participating in the WLAN Foundation's National Mayor's Challenge
for Water Conservation. The challenge is simple. Pledge is to make small changes that help conserve water, like taking shorter showers, fixing leaks, turning off the tap while you brush your teeth. Plus, by taking the pledge, you'll be entered to win prizes, including money towards your home utilities. It only
takes a minute to participate. You can take the pledge at mywwaterchallenge.com or look for the link in tomorrow's e-news. Finally, active military veterans and spouses, it's time to register for the salute to military service breakfast taking place on
Saturday, May 24th before the Memorial Day parade. Please contact the recreation department at 908 3694832 to reserve your space. Doors will open at 7:30. The Memorial Day parade will follow at 10:00 and the
Garden of Honor ceremony at 11 with our very own Mike Schroaggel as this year's grand marshall as mentioned at last week's meeting. That's everything. Great. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Uh I have a couple things to uh report out. I'm pleased to announce that Hillsboro
continues to rank among the top safest places to live in New Jersey according to a report by SafeWise, a security product review platform. Um the uh Safe Wise report released the safest cities in New Jersey list earlier this month naming Hillsboro Township as
the 20th safest city in the state. So to compile this report they used most recent FBI crime data, population and other ranking factors like unique our unique safety initiatives and security programs implemented in the past few years. Uh there'll be more information on tomorrow's e-news, but really a big
uh shout out that's a big shout out to our our police department and keeping the keeping the town uh safe. Um and we, you know, fully support them in in the efforts uh that they that they endeavor on. Our uh the township also received the safety award for the sixth year in a
row, the uh safety incentive award from the Central Jersey Joint Insurance Fund, GIF. This award recognizes members who are in good standing with the GIF and promote safe and hazard-free workplace. So for those of you coming on board today, you know, safe workplace um
ribbon cutings, uh Hills, we recently had two new businesses uh with ribbon cutings. The Baja Stud Farm and Los Amigos Ranch located at 565 River Road offers full horse boarding, training
lessons, indoor and outdoor rings, and a paddock. They also have cows and chickens and other animals up there. So, uh it's continuing its equestrian tradition and shares regular updates on Facebook. Uh they look forward to hosting community events in the near
future. Uh my daughter used to ride up there 15 20 years ago when it was uh Sean, what was it? Black Black Horse Stables. And and so you know again that the the horses are still up there or there's new horses and cows and and
other animals. So, uh, the second on the left side is Antonio's Deli Delicious Cafe located in Mountain View Plaza at 856 Route 206. It's owned by longtime Hillsboro residents uh, Gabriel and Maria Christina Antonio. Cafe offers a
wide variety of sandwiches, wraps, subs, breakfast items, and Mexican specialties. They're open Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 400 p.m. or online you can order through Door Dash. I don't know why they don't mention the grandmother's Colombian beef stew, but
that's what I had when I was there. So, um, if you'd like, uh, if you'd like to schedule a ribbon cutting, please contact the, uh, economic and business development office at hba at hillsborj.gov. So, if you have new business uh, and want a ribbon cutting,
we'll set that up for you. Uh, walk in the park, another walk in the park was held on Saturday, this past Saturday, at AVM Park. It's part of the mayor's wellness campaign. Uh the topic was pediatric dentistry and um by VCA Patel
and um you know small crowd but nice about about a mile walk takes about an hour to get through. So anybody's welcome to join the walk each Saturday at 9:30 in the morning. We just request that you pre-register. Um, monarch butterflies. As I mentioned last meeting, uh, we
recently took the monarch mayor's pledge to plant butterfly friendly bushes in order to help grow the declining monarch butterfly population. Last week, Nennic Garden Club president Jim Bashong and I started the first such garden outside the police department. Uh, and in all
all honesty, Parks and Wreck had something to do with it, too. So, um, and then there was a big special on 60 Minutes on Monarch Butterflies this week. I don't know if anybody saw it, but monarch butterflies are a thing getting popular. We're
trying we're trying to trying to bring them back. Um, community blood drive. RWJ Barnabas Health and the uh Hillsboro Mayor's Wellness Campaign as well as Starbucks are hosting a blood drive on Tuesday, May 20th from 11:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the municipal building. So, it'll be here. Donors will receive
refreshments from Starbucks and a $5 Shop Rate gift card. So if you want to donate uh for a good cause, please come to the community blood drive. And last item is National Day of Prayer. It's an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May inviting people of all
faiths to pray for the nation. Was created in 1952 by a joint resolution from the United States Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Um, so May 1st is the National Day of Prayer and Hillsboro's Interfaith Community Network will be hosting a
brief service. On May 4th at 9:30 a.m. in the Garden of Honor, so you're all invited to attend. We'll uh we'll get that message out there. May 4th, right? Um May 1st. May 4th. We got to clear that up. Um, so
Thursday, um, as always, you can stay connected with all events via Wednesday's mayor's e-news and Thursday's experience Hillsboro bulletin. Be sure to follow and like the official Hillsboro Township Facebook page, X, formerly known as Twitter and
Instagram. May 1st. May 1st. All right. Tune in to the Hillsboro YouTube channel and sign up for Hillsboro alerts for traffic and emergency notifications. and each one of those sources will confirm that it will be May 1st for the National Day of Prayer. Um, so that's all we
have. The uh we have two proclamations and one presentation tonight. So I'll come down to the floor. Mayor, I just have I just had one thing other than other than it's May 1st. Not because I can confirm that, but Yasmin gave me the thumbs up. Gave me the the one thing May
first. Yes. U that I missed that. Sorry. I can pick that up. So, uh, what I did want to mention though, uh, back to, um, Parkinson's for a minute. So, it's the first time, uh, we we brought down the Koopa, as we know, probably a year ago, and it's our first time, um, ever that
we've lit up the, uh, Koopa the past week in honor of that. So, um, it's first time it was something that we wanted to do. It's the first group organization that came to us and asked if we would. So, as you leave, you'll see the Koopa lit up um, in honor of Parkinson and with a QR code and some information. So, other organizations
that want to do that, um, let us know. Uh, because as we know, there's a lot of, uh, different, um, events or groups that want to do this. So, first come, first serve, and there's a kind of a process for that. But, uh, again, it's our first time. So, I just wanted to
mention that. Thanks. Thanks for mentioning that. You guys are the first proclamations for Connor. So, come on up. [Applause]
Honor, this is for you. Okay. And I'll I'll read you ready to talk. I sure am. Yeah. I just want to say thank you so much for this honor. Let me give it to you first. You got it. All right. You ready? Ready. All right. So, Connor Oranche, right?
Yeah. Or ranch. Oranche or ranch. Unsung Unsung hero. Connor, a senior at Hillsboro High School, has the honor of being named Somerset County School Board Association unsung hero. The unsung hero award award is bestowed upon a student who makes an outstanding contribution to
the school and community. Connor is an active member of the Hillsbor High School theater legacy show choir, mixed coral, and international thespian honor society troop. He's al he also participated in the social activism activism and awareness club and was
selected for the region choir and pals peers assistance leadership service. Connor volunteers for the Hillsbor High School Morning Announcements and in in the thespian committee for Broadway cares. Connor has was chosen for the award based on his impact, the impact he has made upon the Hillsboro High School
community. He serves as an inspiration to many and is a positive light in the school community. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the mayor and Hillsboro Township Committee, further commend Connor Oranchek for being awarded the unsung hero by the Somerset County School Board Association. And we
wish him luck in all his future endeavors. Congratulations. person the mic. Thank you so much. Um, wow. I can't believe this. Um, um, my first reaction when I got my
unsung hero was probably a dream come true for me. And, um, I'm just well super grateful for that. And I also like to say thank you um to my mom because um she always lights my day all the time with a nice warm smile on my face every
morning and every night. And I also like to thank my dad for always um trying to gain my growth and my confidence just like um when I took um try to prepare for the road test on Thursday and I passed. So that's good. I finally got my
license. And yeah, so um so in conclusion, I'd like to say you always got to live life, love all the time. And um I can't wait to um continue to um look forward to um continue doing um working on more upcoming challenges to
overcome even college and even um know what I'm going to do for my life. And I'm just going to continue doing um more activities than I could ever possibly ever imagine. And just going to just be myself and just be myself and that's it. Thank you.
[Applause] Used to be up on stage. [Music] Tell me first. [Applause] We should be playing we are the
champions now. Yeah, right. Might as well start with the girls basketball team. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] And coaches. Yeah, I know. No, I I won't have to
kneel down. Slide over, girls. Yeah, come on. Keep going. All right, we'll get a picture in. So, what have you been doing lately? Just reveling in it. Um, the
2024 2025 Hillsboro High School girls basketball team won the group four state championship, ranking fourth in the [Applause] state. The team also finished the season as the Mercer County College Showcase Holiday Tournament Champions, Somerset
County Finalists, and the Group Four Sectional Champions with a season record of 26 and six. So, it's out outstanding. Um, the team consists of the following young athletes and coaches. You're all up. Victoria Idell, Alexa Gaspar, Navia
Linesi, Sophia Roland, Julia El Males, Nicole Johnson, Isabella Ru, Morgan Vice, Francesca Shira, Reagan Vice, Mara Mchugh, my Eski, Courtney Tierney,
Mickey Enzano. [Applause] So, thank you. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the mayor and township uh Hillsboro Township Committee do hereby commend the 2024 2025 Hillsboro High School girls basketball
team, coaches and parents, not only for their successful season, but for their hard work, dedication, and commitment to the sport, and to those principles of good sportsmanship, teamwork, and academic achievement, which which the organization endorses. So, congratulations
[Applause] player. So, I don't know if anybody wants to come up and talk, but uh the coach or not, but I understand um that uh Maya Leni Laneski thousand points. Is that
right? Many more to come. Yes. Many more. Many more. All right. Great. And uh apparently uh we also have the all-time leading scorer for men and women uh Francesca Shiro. Right. So, but
there must be a reason that they uh there's something else, right? Franny 2K. So, you have to come up and explain why. Explain. Why do they call you that? Um Mr. Peru gave me the name and it I
guess it stuck with most people. So means 2000, right? Yeah. Which is which is what? How many points you Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. That's all right. So something about being the all-time leading scorer for men and
women in basketball. Also very humble, right? Yes. Well earned though. Thank you, Granny. So any uh did coach or anybody else want to say something? Thank you so much, mayor, for acknowledging us. Um it was a wonderful
season with a very special group of young women. Um they worked really hard. Um and uh they were also just a great group to be around. So I'm so proud of them and all of their accomplishments. Thank you. Right. So you got you've done team
photos before. in the front row. [Applause] This is for the [Music] last issue is a uh we have a presentation tonight for the Hillsboro Leadership Program and it's my pleasure to recognize a very special group of
individuals tonight, the 202425 five graduates in the Hillsboro leadership program. Um, administrator Ferrara established this program as part of the township's long-term succession planning. Uh, it was designed to develop the leadership skills of our internal team, preparing them for the future
managerial roles and helping ensure that the the strength and integrity of our organization will continue well into the future. Participation in the program is not automatic. Employees must apply and be selected. It takes commitment, drive, and a genuine desire to grow both
professionally and personally. And that's what makes this evening so meaningful to them. The past year's program was led by an exceptional team of mentors and leaders including Erica Lenzo, Harriet Fester, Rich Reese, Bob Wagner, Susanna
Carris, and Susan Keith. Their guidance and expertise helped shape the experience for these participants, and we thank them for their dedication. Looking ahead, I'm pleased to share that that the 202526 program will continue under the leadership of Erica Lenzo and Harriet Fenc, Rich Res, and we'll be
joined by Sarah Break and Griffin Dunn this year, ensuring that the next class will be equally in equally capable hands. But tonight, we're here to recognize the individuals who completed the 2024 program, 2024, 2025 program, and through their hard work, commitment to excellence, and unwavering dedication
to the township. They've taken meaningful steps to grow in their careers and better serve the Hillsboro community. So, please join me in congratulating their graduates as they as they uh we welcome them forward to receive their diplomas. So, we'll call you down uh one at a
time. And first would be Yasmin. So the first is Yasmin Barantes Gamboa. She's been with the township for more than three years and is currently the executive assistant to the township administrator, mayor, and Thank you. Township committee. So there you go. Thank you.
[Applause] Uh Joanne Berli, Bertilini, sorry. I should know that because she taught me two things during their presentations. So, uh Joanne has been with the township for more than 12 years and is currently the clerk in the police
department. So, congratulations. Thank you. Kimberly Elbum. She's been with the township for almost two years and is currently the administrative assistant in social [Applause] services. Jessica
Gonzalez. Jessica was employed with the township for more than eight years. Uh and uh with the township was in the recreation program recreation program director. I saw her hauling uh hot cocoa. Uh, Annette Henderson. Annette's been
with the township for more than eight years. When she started the program, Annette was the office administrator for the rec department. She's now the assistant director of Wreck. So, [Applause] and Victoria Masiaga, last but not
least, uh, she's been with the township for almost two years. When she started the program, she was the clerk in the police department and is now the police operations manager. Congrats. Um, also one one individual who uh could not join us tonight was Blair Deron. He's the township for
almost 19 years and is the sign shop operator. So, street signs, you see signs going up around town. So, um, again, a great uh um class. uh I was here for their other that when they gave their presentations and uh you know
really impressive to see the things that they're doing here for the township that are also reflected in big four firms and private industry. So it really it's a lot of commitment for the these individuals because they do it a lot on their own time but it's very meaningful and uh I think Anthony you want to
oh Harri I just want to thank everybody for their commitment that took a lot of time and and energy from them and they worked together collaboratively and individually and they did a phen a phenomenal job. So congratulations
[Applause] Take a picture. [Applause] All right, this concludes our proclamation. So, thank you for joining us this evening. We'll take a fivem minute break and uh get started, restarted with the business.
going to hear all comments from the deis and from the floor first. After that, if any committee member would like to take any of the items from the consent agenda separately for voting purposes, we'll give you the opportunity to do so then. So in other words, there's no need to take items separately for the purposes
of commenting or questioning. So um consent agenda is items one through nine. Do we have any comments from the DA? So uh I'll let I'll let him wait. Anthony Ferrer, administrator, you have some
comments. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Um, as uh, Committeeman Berning mentioned earlier, uh, welcoming four outstanding employees, uh, to Hillsboro Township. We're excited to have them. Um, on the agenda, consideration number six, Miss uh, Vidola to the position of
part-time office citizen social services. So, welcome. Um, we have Mr. uh, Trimmer, part-time building maintenance uh, building maintenance for the building. So, welcome. Um, Miss
Iicaran uh for the position of office program coordinator and economic business development office. So, welcome aboard. And last but certainly not least, Mr. Paris uh for the position of records clerk in the Hillsboro Township Police Department. Welcome aboard. Um, a
lot of applicants and we're really happy to have them aboard. Um, excited. Uh, great customer service skills, great background. Um, so they're going to make great employees here in Hillsboro Township. appreciate my HR director being here, Mr. Wagner, Miss Carris, uh also in supporting them uh through the
interviewing process um and becoming their coaches and mentors moving forward. So, uh welcome aboard. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Committee. Thank you. Any other comments from the DEIS on consent agenda items one through nine? Mayor, if I could, I just wanted to consent uh talk about consent agenda
item number three, which is our road paving project. Obviously, this is uh our now my sixth year doing roads and we've we've uh with the help of the engineering department really made a focus on repairing the infrastructure of Hillsboro and once again um with our
strategic planning of grouping roads to be together and putting them out as an area. Uh we were able to get u some very favorable bids uh at significantly less than we thought our estimated budget was. uh which I won't say for for reasons, so we don't want to give away
what we think they're worth, but uh we were able to get a very favorable bid, which gives us obviously extends our dollar again to do more roads. So, thanks. Thank you, engineering department, for for putting that together. Okay, any other comments?
All right, any uh comments from the floor on consent agenda items one through nine? If not, oh, come on up. Oh, we got agenda. Okay.
How are you? Good. I I don't know. It depends. Good. Thank you. Right. Is it Is it about the consent agenda item um itself or is it is it about the consent agenda, the approval
of or is it about roads in general? It's about, I believe, the roads that you're voting on tonight. Okay. Including Fern Way and Gail Court and all of those over in what's known as Woodier Oaks. My name is Blair Meiser. I live over on Fern Way. And I've been a
township resident now for 49 years. Love this town. It's why we're still here. We're retired, but we're staying. Um just a couple comments for the engineering department and this item and that is for example when Willow Road was
repaved living down where I do I spend a lot of time on Willow Road between Hillsboro Road and Amwell very bumpy road. If you look at the yellow lines you see that they wave. The white line does the same. If you have your lights on at night, you can
actually see your lights going up and down. I was looking forward to Amsterdam and I even called the engineering department after Amsterdam was paved because the same thing when I take Amsterdam, you know, it's like an old rocky road and it just your headlights are bouncing up and down. You can see
the yellow line um waving up and down and it's straight but it's very wavy. So part of it is I'm hoping when they pave the developments, the contractor doesn't spend his or her time on the depth
adjustment, changing it from an inch and a half to an inch and 3/4 to 2 in back to an inch and a half and creating yet again a wavy surface. The other comment I have is the aggregate you used when our development
was repaved probably 25 years ago. uh used a very very rough aggregate and I can tell you having three kids who were growing up at that time god forbid they fall off their bicycle their roller skates in the street because it's not a brush burn it's like you've fallen on a
cheese grater so I'm hoping when this is done your specs call for fine granular surface that you know when paved is nice and smooth because again it's you know residential section kids are out there on bicycles learning to
riding under roller skates and stuff and we're looking for minor brush burns, not you know having to haul them off to Somerset Medical Center. So if that's appropriate to this item, I hope my comments are I'll answer your aggregate.
We put down what is what is mandated by the state and the D andoice and the DOT which is the stuff that you don't like. is basically mixture of of new material with recycled material which gives you the road that that we have. But that is what's been mandated to us to install by
DOT. I know I contacted the county when um Dukes Parkway was repaved and they milled it. I ride a motorcycle. It milling doesn't harm a four-wheel drive ve or a four-wheel vehicle like a car or truck. But boy, a
motorcycle. like you're, you know, if there were a police car behind you, they'd pull you over for drunken driving. Yeah. It's unfortunate. And the roads that we put down don't last as long as the other ones. The old roads used to last 30 years. The new ones last around 10 or 15 and start to degrade. Okay. Well, did not know that was a
state mandate, but thank you for hearing me. You're welcome. Thank you for your time. Thank you for the comment. Thanks, Blair. Any other comments from the floor? Um seeing none if uh does anybody want to take any of the items separately? Anybody from the
deis? If not. Okay. May I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda items one through nine? Motion to approve. Second. Roll call. Committee ridding. Yes. Committeewoman Hand. Yes. Committee. Yes. Deputy Mayor
Payne. Yes. Mayor Cherelli. Yes. All right, onto the budget. We have a 2025-07 ordinance to exceed the 2025 municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank. Do you want
do the presentation first? Uh, do you want to do the presentation first? Presentation. All right. Yes. So, we've got that ordinance. Um, yeah, if they want. Do we do we need to set up the presentation at all? It's here. All right. So, why don't we why don't we do the budget presentation
and then we'll go through the uh the various ordinances that will be associated with that and uh have a good night. Thank you. And congratulations, guys. Thank you. Yeah. Off to work. It does involve you. It'll help you sleep. I promise. Sorry,
Jeff. Yeah. Thank you. Uh, so yeah, Joe Monzo, our acting CFO. Thank you. For those of you who don't know me, Joe Monzo, I'm the acting interim CFO. In the audience is your next CFO, Christian Buchelle, who I
ask to be sitting in the audience. Um, so for tonight's meeting, I've done a couple things. Um, you should have received over the course of the last several days, most of it, I think, was on Thursday, um, a copy of a presentation, which we're going to
talk five page memo going over some of the highlights and low lightss of what happened last year, what we expect to happen this year. You should have also got a copy of the revenues and appropriations by line item compared to last year's budget
adoptions and this year's budget proposal. They got a copy of the 8 half by 14 PDF, very big PDF of the official state budget document. Very difficult to read. What I thought we first is talk a
little bit in terms of a California presentation. I did not have time to do a bells and whistles presentation, but I wanted to give the governing body and the audience members a sense of what to expect this
year. So, who's running the controls? Mic closer. I'll just put it on. I didn't realize it wasn't on. I'm sorry. Okay. Uh so um what is a municipal budget for those of you who don't know? It's like your it's a township's you know checkbook just like your household
budget. It shows what we expect to bring in in terms of revenue and how we plan to spend it. And you'll see a couple slides on that a little bit later. Most importantly, these are your tax dollars. Everybody here is a township resident. Uh it impacts everything you do from fixing potholes, which we've talked about, keeping the public safe, police
are here, uh keeping the park lights on, plowing snow, recreation, senior activities, everything. Next slide. Um what I'd like to talk about first is that on January 1st at 12:01
a.m., this is how you started out the year, okay? You had three budget revenues in last year's budget that are not available for this year's budget, right? You had municipal relief aid, which was a two-year state aid program. I believe it was mostly funded by the
ARP money that the state got. That revenue is no longer available to any municipality in the state of New Jersey. Uh for Hillsboro with $339,000 that you will not have available this year. You sold a liquor license that was approp,000. it did come in higher, but
in terms of the budget, and then you also sold a piece of property for $626,000. So, right off the top, three revenues that are $1.4 million that are not available in this year's budget. In addition, I only highlighted three items, but there are there are several
others. Uh, your pension bill went up $377,000. That's the township's obligation to the state of New Jersey to fund the public employees retirement system and the police and fire retirement system pensions. Okay. um your joint insurance fund assessments
went up 83,000 and your health insurance fund assessments went up $345,000. Those six items together are $2 and a4 million that when when the calendar year started on January 1st,
you were already in the hole. $2 and a4 million. Okay, you were not alone if that makes you feel any better. All right. Uh everybody in the state lost the municipal relief aid money. Everybody in the state saw their pension bill, their joint insurance fund bill, and their health insurance fund or if they're a member of state health
benefits saw those bills increase, right? Every every one of the 564 towns experienced those ex those same things. Okay? So, makes the budget year difficult. You know, every year is difficult. It makes the this coming year more difficult
because the loss of the loss of revenue and some statutory increases that you have no literally no control over. Uh, next slide. Okay, next slide. Okay. Um, as you're aware from having sat on the committee for a few years, um, every municipality
has to deal with two um, caps, right? It's not an acronym. It's a artificial limitation, right? Uh, the first one is on spending and the second one's on the tax levy. So the spending cap says that you cannot
increase uh municipal spending for those items that are within the municipal spending uh categories by more than 2 and a half% or if you adopt the cost of living adjustment ordinance which is the one you started to read um you can add another 1% to that and then there are
some other um escalators that can add on to that amount of money. Okay. Um the maximum you can increase your spending for those items from last year to this year is a little shy of $ 1.5 million. Um when we put the budget together, um
it required us to move some of the items from inside the cap to outside the cap. Um shared services because you have several shared services and you're allowed to put some of the costs associated with those shared services outside the cap. Okay. um still an appropriation for you, but it's in a
different bucket of money. And uh the director of local and government services um as you saw in one of the local finance notices that I sent you also um allow towns to take any workers comp health benefits or um general
liability costs over over a certain percentage and move them outside the cap because the uh also garbage and trash and recycling which you didn't have any of those um because the cost of those have seen have you know risen to the level that municipalities can't operate within the cap because of the increases.
So the budget that is before you tonight for introduction is within the spending cap. It has to be or it cannot be introduced um officially. Uh the other cap is the levy cap. It's a limitation on the total amount to be raised by taxes within your municipal budget.
Okay? You find that on sheet 11 of your state budget document. The maximum you are allowed to increase your levy is $2.8 million. Um, you're allowed through the legislation to have certain items that again the law it's 2% increase
statutoily and there are items that allow you to increase your levy by more than 2% if you are over increase those approp those appropriations by more than 2%. Group health insurance pension and then you also have a a bank from the prior year. Um, so the budget we're
presenting to you tonight is a 2.47% 47% increase from last year's levy, but it's a 8% increase less 8/10en of one penny in terms of the tax rate. Okay. Um a distinction should be made that the cap is not on the rate. The cap applies to
the levy itself. So obviously that's more than 2%. But the law allows certain exceptions for pension, health, u capital, debt service. Your increases, your appropriations for capital and debt this year are not
greater than last year. If they had been, you'd have exceptions for those also. Okay? But you don't. Okay? Next slide. So, where's the money come from? Uh these are the major budget categories, major budget revenue categories in your budget from fund
balance all the way through other. So the introduced budget that we're putting forth tonight is $40.1 million. 71% of that comes from the current year's tax levy to Hillsboro residents to to support the current municipal budget.
Not the school, not the county, not the fire. Okay. And you can see how where the money comes from but obviously you know almost threequarters of it comes from from taxes. Okay, next slide. So where does the money go? These are the major uh spending categories. Again
these are from the state budget document. Um public safety 25% public works 10% insuranceances that includes health workers comp liability 11% of the and pension and social security 13%. Those are those are the
four big ones. Okay. So, you can see how that what that breakup is. Um general government includes the governing body, clerk, elections, finance, assessor, collector, engineer, audit, all those sorts of things.
Okay, next slide. This is my favorite. It's also the governing body's least favorite generally, right? What's under governing body control? Okay, these are my categories. These are nobody else's but mine. Statutory expenses, those expenses that
are required to be budgeted whether you like it or not to be perfectly blunt, right? Debt service, your pension obligations, um any deferred charges that you might have had, you have one for $60,000, right? Those are statutory. Okay, it's
25% of your budget. Contractual includes all salaries and wages, right? Health insurance. It's part of your labor contracts. You provide health insurance, right? Joint insurance fund. You've signed a contract to be a member of the
joint insurance fund. Any other contracts the governing body has awarded, auditor, engineer, planning board attorney, zoning board attorney, all those sorts of contracts that you may have awarded in the beginning of the year, right? They're contractual. Certain things that are in the labor
contracts for police are contractual, right? So, we've pulled that out. 60% of your budget is contractual, okay? In some some fashion, some some form of a contract, okay? The cost of your utilities from street lighting,
electric, gasoline, telephone, water, sewer, right, fire hydrants, right, is 6% of your budget. That leaves 9% of the $40 million budget. That leaves 3.6% I'm sorry, $3.6 $6
million that is within the governing body's control. Now, you could say contractual since I've included salaries. Obviously, you could change the makeup of the organization, right? Um but just in terms of trying to put these items into a bucket to see where
you are in terms of your um conversation about the budget, this is the document that I provided for you. Okay. Who pays for your taxes? Oh, you're way ahead of me. Thank you.
Um, Hillsboro was 8 86.2 86.32%. These are last year's percentages from the Somerset County abstract aratables. 86.32% of your taxes come from resident residential property. Okay. The next
biggest is commercial 6.06%. Okay. So your the residences are impacted by your budget more than any other component. These are and these these seven items are these are the classifications per um the state
division of taxation and the county. Okay. Last year's tax bill uh the tax rate overall was $2.14.3. Of that the local tax bill was only 14%. Okay. I say only just in terms
of the other ones. Um the schools 65% the county was 17, municipality was 14% of the total tax obligation that residents uh commercial all those property values had. Um the fire district was 2.66 and
you have a local open space tax which is 1.31% of your total tax bill from last year. I don't expect those numbers to change much. the school one might increase depending on what they do with that thing, you know, whatever you want to call it, right? Um, but that's the
these are pretty normal percentages actually across the state. You know, if you have if you have a school or more than one school, I live in a town that has two, lucky me, you know, a regional and an elementary school, my numbers are greater on the school side, but this is these these numbers are pretty normal
across the state for at least for a town of your size and makeup. Okay, next slide. Okay, this one's a little busy. I couldn't figure out a way to make it less busy. Your taxes are determined based on your assessed value. Okay, of all the
properties in town, every from from the farm through your utilities, all those properties that were on that classification. Last year's assessed value was $8.3 billion. This year's assessed value was $9 billion. Okay. Yours has value increase from last
year to this year, $686 million. Okay. Uh, a lot of that has to do with the fact that Somerset County, in my mind, is the leader of the 21 counties in New Jersey in terms of how they manage their tax assessments. Maybe them and Mammoth, right? Um, they require revaluations. They have
compliance plans. They keep this they keep the values of their communities up to the market value, right? That's just an outside example. I don't know what Edison's. I won't embarrass Christian. East Brunswick is 19%. Right?
So, if a house is valued in East Brunswick at $200,000, right? It can sell for a million, right? In Hillsboro, you're value pretty close to 100% of market, which is where you're supposed to be. Okay? And I bring this to your
attention for a couple reasons. One, as I said before, the tax rate last year was what? $2.14. In order to change one penny of your tax rate, either up or down, right? You have to know what the tax point, what the what the value of that is in
your town. And the way you do it is you take your assessed value and you divide it by 10,000, right? That's the number. So your tax point, one cent in your town is worth $96,000. Right? So, if you sat here tonight and said, uh, let's say I had given you a budget that had a one penny
increase, and you said, "We don't want a one penny increase. We want a zero increase." We'd have to find a way to to either increase revenue or decrease appropriations to the tune of $96,000. Okay? That's difficult to do. So, as I've said to some of you
individually and some of you collectively, your assessed value is a blessing and a curse, right? It's a blessing because your property values are close to market, right? And you can in you can increase appropriations in your town for employees and for other
things and not really change the tax requirement to fund those because it takes $900,000 of increased appropriations to add one penny to the tax rate. Okay. Uh on the flip side, if you're trying to reduce the tax obligation, you have to find $900,000
somewhere, which may be a challenge. Okay. Um, so as I said, the the tax the budget that we're looking to introduce tonight has 8/10en of 1 cent increase, okay, from last year from last year's rate. And I just gave this little
exercise to show you something. If you if your assessed values had not increased from last year to this year at all, your increase would would have been 3.3 cents with the exact same budget. Okay? So 8/10en of one
penny as opposed to 3.3 pennies just because of the increase in your assessed value. Okay. 2.5 cents eaten up by the increase in assessed value. Okay. The average residential property in Hillsboro is about $550,000 assessed value. So with a
budget of an 8 cent 810 of 1 cent increase, it's $44 annually for uh a residential property that's valued at $550,000. If the assessed value had not increased at all, that same increase would have been
$181.50. Okay? And I just bring it to your attention to show you how significant the increase assess value is. Okay? 9 billion is, you know, it's pretty significant. You know, I worked in South Brunswick for almost 16 years. Pretty significantly sized town. The
budget is twice yours. The tax point was when I left was $380,000, right? So, their assessed value was 3.8 billion. Okay. Again, their ratio is like 36%. And that's why, right? Your ratio is somewhere north of
90, I believe, right? Which is why you're at $9 billion. Okay. So that's just a couple, you know, finer points or dollar points depending on how you want to look at it. Okay. Um, so what are the legislative actions that I'm asking you to take tonight? Next slide. I'm asking you to introduce the municipal budget
tonight, April 22nd. Um, that will then go to Department of Community Affairs, Division of Local Government Services for their review. Um, last year, I believe you were local exam, which means the state did not review your budget.
They do it every three years on a rotating basis. This year, the state will review your budget. They'll present questions to myself and to your auditor based on the budget document and the annual financial statements and maybe we messed the number up here or there. A couple things don't don't match up and
they'll ask us to correct those. Um, and then we have scheduled the public hearing based on the information that's in the resolution tonight. The public hearing and hopefully the adoption of the budget on May 27th. And I say hopefully um the state may require an
amendment. Maybe the governing body may require an amendment from the introduction to the adoption. They may want to increase or decrease something somewhere along the line. And if that's the case, we'll probably be able to adopt on the 27th, but there may be a situation
where we won't and then it'll get delayed another 10 days, but or two weeks. So that's the that's the time frame that we're looking at right now. April 22nd, May 27th. Okay. Um, so I've asked you so if you
have any questions about that, I'm I'll be happy to answer them. You have any questions about the memo, I'll be happy to answer those also. Um, so I just want to just address the uh the ordinance that you're going to introduce. So, it's the effectively known as the COLA ordinance, the cost of living adjustment
ordinance that um again, it's not a requirement, but it's a necessity. Um if you adopt that ordinance, what that does is it adds the ability to increase the spending side of your budget by an additional 1% over what the state said
the cost of living increase was for this year, which is 2 and a half%. The statute says you can go to three and a half%. Okay? So you get to add one extra percent um if you if you need it. Okay, on this is on the spending side. If you don't need it, which we do, but if you
if you don't need it, um whatever you don't use, you get to use in future years. Okay. Um so that's that's the the benefit of adopting the the ordinance. Many years ago, maybe 10, the legislature didn't require it. You just
got the benefit of it no matter what. Uh, now you're required to adopt an ordinance. Um, I don't like the language in the ordinance. It makes it seem as if you're absolutely going to go over the spending that the state state says is appropriate. On the flip side, the state
statutes allow you to go to three and a half. Just because the director says in any given year that the cost of living is between zero and three and a half, the statutes say you can go to three and a half. That's their limitation. there's no reason why you should not take advantage of that in the years in which
you need it. Okay, so that's that's what that ordinance is for. It has to be introduced before the budget introduction legislatively. That's just a quirk. And then when you adopt it, it has to be adopted before the budget is adopted just in terms of timing. Okay.
Um so that's my presentation. I'm obviously here to answer any questions you have about, you know, what we've talked about here and and the memo that I distributed and anything else I've distributed. Joe, a couple. Thank you, Joe. Um the uh I the one thing we did
talk a little bit about if you could touch on it was um the an amended budget versus having to reintroduce it. What are the guide, you know, there's guide rail guide guidelines with percent increases? There's no such thing as reintroducing.
Okay, you introduce it tonight and if you desire to have an amendment to any revenue line or any appropriation line, you have to do an amendment by resolution. If the DCA requires us to do an amendment, let's say, for example, that you know the debt service number
isn't appropriate, right? Based on what your schedules say, we'd have to amend, right? Um but let's say the governing body had a um a wish to amend the budget, you know, for whatever reason. um we pass a resolution before the
scheduled adoption the same night. Okay? Can't pass a resolution before the scheduled You can't do it at a separate meeting. Pass a resolution before the scheduled adoption. Okay? Typically, you can then adopt the budget as you just amended it. Okay? There are, however,
three triggers. And if I was a mean professor, I'd ask Christian to stand up and say what they are, but I'm not. Um there are there are three triggers that um require you to not only do the resolution to amend but then advertise
that resolution separately. Right? The three triggers are if you took the budget I submitted and you increased the amount to be raised by taxes by more than 5%. Which you're not going to do. If you added a new item of appropriation that was not in the budget at all by
that was more than 1% of the 40 million. Right? So, $400,000 or more. Um, let's say, for example, the attorney said, "Oh, by the way, we have a judgment we have to pay. It's $500,000." And I didn't put we didn't put it in the budget. We'd have to amend
the budget. That would trigger having to advertise that resolution separately. The more common one is if you decided as a governing body you wanted to amend the budget to increase or decrease any line of appropriation in the budget. Okay? Now, by line, I mean that big budget
document where it has clerk salaries, clerk OE, finance salaries, clerk OE. That's a line, right? Not the lines within the departments. That that's considered a line of appropriation. If you changed any one of those by 10% up or down, we have to amend the budget and then have to advertise that amendment
all by itself and hold a second public hearing just on that amendment. You still hold the public hearing on the 27th on the introduced budget and then the second public hearing would be just on the amendment. Okay? Those those are few and far between, right? And I've
never seen any I've never seen anybody do the 5% increase in taxes ever. Um the 1% one I have seen a couple times, right? But most the common one's the 10%. Right. Thank you. Okay. So, first off, thank you. That was
perfect and super helpful. Thank you. The other thing is that slide is it going to be um shared with the public, Sarah? Yes. There's a typo. Uh no, really? Yeah. Um uh can you start at the beginning really fast?
Go. Uh go back back. Wait. Okay. Go on. Sorry. Go. Go. See who finds it first. Right there. Um, current year taxes. Fourth line down. No T. It's missing a T. Okay.
Current. Are we just like current? Okay. I will I will correct that before I send it back to the clerk. We all slur a little. Is current. when when I was a a functioning CFO. Uh I had three towns. Um three separate
counties. Um two of them were councils, one was a committee. So I was cutting and pasting and I people were always finding, you know, I'd say Somerset instead of Burlington or set of it happened all the time. It's all good. Okay. Thank you. That was the only thing I noticed. If we're going to share it to
the public, if that's your only comment about the budget, I appreciate that. Thank you. Well, I've asked and prodded every other line I could. So, yes, but this was uh this was exactly what I had in mind when I asked and it's perfect. Thank you. Thank you.
Even with the spelling error, Mr. M. I just want to thank you for that. I think that was incredibly well done, well spoken. I think it was great for for the public to see. I I think we we need to make sure that the public recognizes that this the time during this meeting is available to them and we'll get that out through social media because I think
this description of the budget was perfect. Thank you. Because somebody who doesn't in the st in in in the seats who are watching that doesn't understand how municipal government works and there were only 13 14% of their taxes and how this whole thing works. They come here
pay you 100% and only 13 of it stays in the building. That's correct. And that's really important for people to understand. And also just how you explained it was so well explained. I think anybody could understand it and I think that was very well done. So I just want to give you the other 87% does actually leave the building. You know it goes to other organizations. Absolutely
does. Yes. And it's going to be a lot higher this year. Yes, it is. Y Christian, just as a side note, I would like to keep this going forward. I think it's super clean and organized for the public to understand year-over-year.
So, don't lose this. Any other comments for uh for Joe? Fix it and I'll fix it. Uh I'll just thank you Joe. Obviously, we spent a lot of time together, you know, committing um and myself in in
meetings and explaining and uh you know, obviously for those who aren't necessarily math wizards or budget understand how the government works, I again I'll reiterate that it was very clean like we understand and we've been trying to alliterate that to the public
for a long time and they still don't necessarily always get it. Um but uh this this made it simple I think for I'll call budgets for for idiots like me. Um but uh I think where where we're we're you've explained is that where we
are is is where we are. You know we've we've um addressed the things that we need to address um moving forward. We're we've got got a plan. Um and uh I think that's what the people of Hillsboro shoulder feels that we're in the right
direction. Thanks. And mayor, if I may, I just want to I really want to thank Joe for coming in here very quickly on short notice, spending way more hours than he needed to um at night and weekends to put this together for us um and really come in
here and save us honestly. So, uh he's been great to work with with all department heads, with each one of you, and uh I really want to thank him for all his time and experience and bringing the right person in here. So, thank you, Joe. So I would just add so I think it was
really helpful and I think it's great that folks can you know look at the look at the film and and really dig in and understand. So we have a really great opportunity today's the 22nd of April. We're not approving this until May 27th. Actually funny you say that because the
actual terminology even though I don't like it is approval. The budget's the budget's being approved tonight but it's not being adopted. Correct. This is state state lingo. So when I say I use the word introduced because it makes more sense to people, but the techn the
state actually says approved. The resolution probably says approval, but adoption is the final step. So just to make a distinction, you said it's not being approved. I just wanted to in case anybody says you approved the budget tonight, and I've had people tell me that, I've said yes. But that's just the terminology the state of New Jersey
uses, which I have many, many problems with their terminology. The final step, the last step in the legislative process is adoption. So, yes, we're introducing in parenthesis slash um yeah, approving the budget. Yeah, thank
you Sarah because I think even the slide so I I hear you. Technically, this is supposed to be an approval, but it's really the first time folks folks are seeing it. So, you know, people are seeing it for the first time tonight on the 22nd. We have about a month May 27th
when we have the public hearing and the adoption. So I think we need to clarify for residents now that you have heard the explanation from Joe which I think was well done. You have the budget information. What would be the mechanism with which residents would be able to be
heard? How is their voice to be heard between now and then? um because it seems like on May 27th is not the moment when folks should walk in here with a calculator and and want to talk about this. So, mayor, could you please
address um that mechanism? Well, we we uh at some point we would we would have said that uh so between now and the 27th 27th is a public hearing, but if anybody from the public has questions, they can
send it to Sarah Break, send it to the township clerk and we'll respond accordingly. So, anybody has any questions on items in the in the budget, uh, send them to the the township, send them to the clerk,
and we'll handle them and and you know, and if if there's a question that the governing body or Anthony cannot answer, just again, just forward them to me and I'll send them back around the chain and they'll get back to the resident. Yeah. Yeah. And and to be fair, you know, obviously Joe's buckets there, there's
very little that quote unquote we have control over, right? There's certain things that can't be changed. You may not like the costs, but they are what they are, right? Um, so we're we're down to that 6% at the bottom there with discretionary spending is really what where the uh the rubber
meets the road. The rest of it is pretty much uh OE, pensions, contracts, which are pretty much in in right. So the revenue, right? This is what we were talking about was the revenue and the uh the levy sheets. I mean there are there are there's always considerations on the
revenue side um there's considerations to be made if again if the committee as a whole uh was not happy that the tax rate was going up 8/10en of one penny right and they wanted to effectuate a change to make it a half a penny or
whatever right I think the the way to do that would be on the revenue side um because there's more leeway there you know as to your point and my point for the operating budget, you're looking at 6% of the line items, right? And some of those, although they may not be
statutory or contractual or the cost of utilities, some of them are things that you do for the community, right? They're all the department functions from the clerk and administrator and and finance, collector, assessor, recreation, aid to your um squads, right? You money you
give for social service programs, that's all part of that 6%. I mean they're not huge numbers and again it takes a lot of changes to effectuate a change of one penny, right? So you can make better headway on the revenue side
by looking to possibly increase some of the revenues that we've anticipated or use more fund balance. I was caution against that. Um I don't believe that New Jersey in any town has a spending problem. People might scoff at that. I happen to believe
that. I don't think towns have a spending problem. Um, they have a cost of services problem, but they don't have a spending problem. They have a revenue problem. Right? You can't just create new revenues out of thin air in New Jersey, right? Can't have a head tax, can't have a local tax, right? The two
the two big, you know, players in the last 10 years are pilots, of which you have a couple, and cannabis, of which you have none, right? Um, you can't just make revenues. It has to be approved statutoily by the
legislature, right? Um, you can increase all the fees and permits you want. You won't put a dent in changing the tax rate. Um, we we tried one of our departments was trying that and they were getting shut down. Okay. By the state anyway. So, right. See, um,
uniform construction code, I'm sure. Yes, you got it. You nailed it. Um, that's because the lobby for the other side is pretty strong. Um you know but my caution would be that u your fund balance is at a pretty good number um but it's it's a fluctuating number. You
know you don't you try not to use uh fund balance in a given year's budget as a revenue unless you are pretty sure you can regenerate that somewhere close to that same amount of money. So, one of the one of the items in the memo I wrote was how I expect the town to recreate
the majority of the fund balance that we're asking you to use based on past experience, right? Uh, excessive revenues, cancellation of prior years appropriations, added assessments from the assessor, those sorts of things, right? Um, so you're starting the year
out with a fund balance if you adopt once the budget's adopted at a greater level than you did at this time in 2024, right? Um, but you never want to use so much fund balance that you you're concerned about regenerating it. Okay? The rating agencies don't like that.
Okay? The rating agencies like tax increases. They like tax increases and they like hefty fund balances. They have a little checklist of things they go down when they're talking to you and after they have their conversation with you, they go back and have a round table of all the all the reviewers and they determine what your bond rating is going
to be. And if you haven't checked a couple boxes, they can change your rating, right? They like tax increases and they like healthy fund balance. Right. Um the bond rating in Hillsboro is what is it Anthony? Double A. Double A. Right. Um double A. Double A. Right.
Um that rating determines the interest rate you pay when you go out for bonds and notes, which turns itself into debt service. Right? So you don't want to, you know, you don't want to get a negative outlook. You don't want to get that rating reduced because they look at you and go, "Well, you
don't have any fun balance left. to use it all in one year to to lower taxes 4 cents. You know, they wouldn't like that, right? So So anyway, the the uh so the the items, right? Is that the line
items line items? Yes. Will will be are posted. The comparisons year-over-year as well is uh public. So, um, it's up for review or up up anybody can access it and any questions can be sent to
sbreak at hillsborj.gov br. So again, the the budget is a statement of our values. I know the the board of ed was able to pull together a public session within three days or thereabouts
because they were going to raise the excuse me, you would think that we would at least provide an opportunity for the residents of the town to be able to be heard. Yes, they can email Sarah and thank you for taking those emails. But
to be in a room and to be able to have a discussion, I I you know, if you participated or watched the BOE, it was, I think, really helpful for folks to to be heard and to express um to that board
what values they want represented in the budget because they're the ones writing the check. And and that's why I would again urge that we have some sort of public session for our residents to be heard. We could absolutely do that between now
and May 27th. The hearing is the 27th. To be fair, there is another township. We had a meeting today that was noticed that we could have people come to and hear the budget. Secondly, um at the at the the meeting the 20th, they can have their conversation. Um the board of ed
at their normal budget appropriations does a very similar way. The only reason they had a meeting the way they did that you referenced that I didn't was the fact that they were going to raise a 20 plus million dollar additional tax service and without it going to a vote for the
public which is outside the cap. We're not violating any of those laws. So yes, they had a bunch of people come and talk to them. U but that was an extenduating circumstance. Their normal procedure is not
that. and our budget is um in with in exceedence and significantly less. Um so I welcome people to come in and make comments uh send emails to Miss Break. Uh there was nobody here tonight to be fair in the record. There's just a couple people
here, two of which are employees or three, sorry, chief. Um and there is more than I have time between now and then to sub submit uh questions and answers. uh they can come to the next township committee meeting and make comments in general because it won't be on the agenda. So they have that
opportunity also to make comments which is in two weeks. So they can make comments then too. They don't have to have a special meeting. So if they're truly want to come and make comments that would be a time. All right. Many ways. So I had a
question on number two. We had introduced this just trying to understand the difference between number two on the budget and what we'd introduced I believe on March 25th. It was the same um cap bank establishment. The only all the numbers are the same.
The wording here just also had public hearing on May 27th. Is there a reason that we're doing this again? Mayor, I don't you said number two. I'm not number two under budget. We had already done this complete on March 23 meeting
to establish a cap bank identical. Are you referring to the second bullet? I'm referring to budget number two. The second bullet ordinance to the memo the cap bank. The second bullet
2025-07. Is that the one you mean? Yes. We had already done that. I was told it had I was told it had not been introduced. So, I prepared it for tonight and and I guess that's that's why I'm just trying to clarify because we had done it. It looks like the March
25th we had done that and it was as well it was um what number? So, it requires two readings. I'll put it exact same numbers and it was ordinance um 2025-04 and that was the March 25th meeting. I just I read the So in the
comment it says it requires two readings similar to an ordinance, right? But this No, no, she's But to her point um if this is I put this forth for the governing body tonight for introduction. Okay. And then adoption on the 27th just
like the introduction of the budget and adoption of the budget because I was under the impression that this ordinance had not been introduced by the committee yet. If it has, it has. Okay. If it has, what was the public hearing date that was set on the other ordinance? And if
it was, then you can just not take action on this one this evening at all. Sarah, I think it was Yeah, we did address the cola ordinance. That's what this is. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, the public hearing might be your next meeting on the
So it would be the next meeting. Well, depending what the depends what the ordinance said. I mean it said it set a public hearing and adoption date. What is the date on that Sarah from last tonight. You can't do it tonight. You didn't
advertise it. We We did have we did have comment from you on that at the meeting. Prepared. Not not prepared like you. Yeah. Yeah. Remember that? That's why I was asking if because it
says it requires two readings. So they're two separate like introductions. No, introduction and then adoption. So the the that resol that ordinance would have would have set a public hearing date. Yeah. You know, normally we put that in the title for some reason wasn't in the title.
Can they set the public here before time, right? By the way, it's not a big deal. I mean, it's just you let that one die and you move with this one or you don't introduce this one and you and and you move on that one. Oh, we're trying to figure out if act on it tonight or No,
no, no, no. If she didn't next week, right? Hold on. If she didn't publish it after it was introduced, then you can't act on it. It's not on the agenda. You can't act on it tonight. So, that's why I'm saying it's either you let that one die and you rely on this one to introduce and just proceed with this one
or B. But either way, it doesn't. You know, it looks like Well, go ahead. No, because I'm I'm showing the dates on the bottom of the ordinances. It says it was introduced on February 25th and adopted
on March 25th. Correct. Yeah. There there's no way you introduced the cap bank ordinance in February. We did. So, just know we actually did in February because I questioned why we were doing it in February and not with the budget. So, it was February 22nd and then again on
March 25th. And I'd questioned why we were doing it because I thought that it should go with the budget. Maybe maybe the prior CFO wanted to get it done before she left. That could have been. So maybe you've already adopted it. We did. It's in the minutes from March 25th
that we adopted. So it might have already been adopted. If it's already adopted, then you don't even have to do anything. So, let's check that out right now before So, it said upon a motion by um Deputy Mayor Katherine Payne, seconded by Committeeman Sean Le Penney to close the public hearing and adopt ordinance
25-04. The motion was approved upon the call of the role. So, that was in the minutes that we approved for tonight. Done. And just don't do anything with this item on the agenda. So, then if it's already been uh introduced and adopted and we're done with it, then there's no need to move this tonight.
And that's it. I'm glad I didn't finish. Okay, nice catch. Thank you. Thank you. So now should I move on to the wait so you have two resolutions, second bullet, the the uh first bullet, third bullet and fourth bullet.
first bullet. Well, we're not voting on the first one. Correct. That was a presentation. Yeah. Emergency just three and four. Yeah. Your next action is to increase increase again. I hate the terminology. Increase the temporary budget because we have not adopted our budget. It's not bullet points here. So,
um so we're good. So, let's uh thank you committee hand for that. Let's move to the uh second and approval. A motion and a second to approve the resolution authorizing emergency temporary appropriations prior to adoption of
budget. So moved. Second. So comments from the deis. See none comments from the floor. Seeing none. So so I'm sorry. So again, for number three, and and this
speaks a little to um potentially Joe's point, after adopting this emergency resolution, we will have approved 20 almost over over $23 million of the 28 million under the cap.
So on, you know, April 22nd, we will have already spoken for. It's not just it's not just in cap stuff. That's your second um temporary budget. You you approved the appropriations for the pension. So Oh, so I'm over Yeah. Right. So it's you know you have to function
between now and May 27th. No, we have to pay the bills. But again, a huge portion already for Yes. True. The chief's happy. Chief Chief has more money in his budget. He's happy. Right. But that's all accounted for in the budget. It will it'll be accounted for in the full budget. Right. There's the
whole budget. There's no appropriation in temporary budget. Every penny will be accounted for that will exceed the full appropriation of the budget by line item. Correct. Just a way for us to manage between January 1st and hopefully May 27th. Yes.
Not uncommon to No, not at all. And also not over budget, right? No, it can't be. It's a portion of the budget, right? It's a portion of the expected adopted budget. Correct. Exactly. All right. Comments from the floor.
Seeing none, roll call. Committee Bing, yes. Committee woman hand, yes. Committee, yes. Deputy Mayor Payne, yes. Mayor Trell, yes. Thank you. And may I have a motion and a second to approve the resolution authorizing the introduction of the 2025 municipal
budget and setting the public hearing for May 25th, 2025. So 27th May 27th. Is that not what I said? May 27th, not 25th. 27th. So moved. Second. Whatever. Whatever Sean wants. Roll
call. Comments. No. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Comments from the deis. No. Any comments from the floor? Seeing none. Can I have a roll call? Committeeman Bringing. Yes. Committeewoman Hand. Yes. Committee.
Yes. Deputy Mayor Payne. Yep. Mayor Jelli. Yes. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Mr. Monzo. Awesome. Very well done, Joe. Thank you, finance committee staff. Good. Thank you, Christian. By proxy, you're awesome. No public
hearings, no introduction for new ordinances. Now, I have a claims list. May I have a motion and a second to approve claims list 20258. Motion to approve. Second. Comments from the DES. Hear none. Comments from the
floor. Seeing none. Roll call, please. Committeeman Bing, yes. Committ Hand, yes. Committee Levan, yes. Deputy Mayor Payne, Sure. Mayor Jarley, yes. Uh, we have no new business. Public comments for matters not on the agenda. Miss Brake, please read the statement
regarding public comment. The township committee welcomes input from the public. Please state your name and address and spell your name for the record. You will given You will be given one three-minute aotment for your comments. Please understand that this public forum is not structured as a question and answer session. Comments are to be addressed to the mayor. Again,
please keep your comments to three minutes. Thank you. Come on up. Come on up. You waited so patiently. Yeah. Yeah. Where is everybody? All those basketball players. Hi, I'm Susan
Bristol. B R I S T O L. I'm a resident of Rocky Hill. I know you. Hello. Your your presentation was so excellent. I'm sorry. I didn't I was gonna say I'm a former council person and that was the best presentation of you know budget
that I ever saw. So I wish I had seen it sooner. Um anyway I am here tonight from the watershed institute where I work as the municipal policy specialist. And the reason I'm here is that we have been
working with uh regional watershed groups of municipalities. We we call them watershed working groups and you all are largely and a majority of your lands drained to the lower millstone. Uh the lower millstone is our third regional
working group. The Stony Brook towns have already joined together and hired a consultant to work on their watershed improvement plan which um to cut through you know a bunch of acronyms the MS4 permit as you know is a municipal permit
but it's based on watershed improvement which wersheds do not respect municipal or political boundaries. So the ideal scenario for watershed improvement plans is to look at the watershed geography
which is actually required of anyone doing one of these plans. So um your uh town would benefit greatly by participating in the regional watershed
management plan. And at the last lower millstone meeting, we had amazing participation from not only uh county level people, state DP people um but municipalities and staffers as well as
electeds and um the original watershed gathering gatherings in Somerset County were organized by their their planning department, Walter Lane, who's now at the state working on the state plan. Um but at the last meeting um Paul Drake
attended and he's been um you know staying current with this work and he's very supportive of this work. So I recently sent I believe to the mayor and the clerk um an email uh for leadership. I welcome you to share it with your
whole council um which provides some of the updates and some of the really positive um u developments. Um, one of them, uh, being that it it sounds like, well, first of all, the scope of work is
going to be, uh, much more relevant to the future projects required of this permit, the eventual projects, because it includes water quality testing. Um, the second thing is that Montgomery Township, which is completely in the
lower Milstone, is considering being the contractual agent and offering this as a shared service to the neighbors. Um, and in case you don't know, the lower millstone includes North and South Brunswick and all the way over to
Hopewell Burough, and it ends uh downstream, which is north. So, it's anti-intuitive uh at Manville. Your other wershed, the Raritin, would be a perfect uh place for your consult, your other consultant to
work because that work has to be done, you know, based on its watershed. So, if you just hire someone to do your town, they still have to do all the work of both the watersheds. And if um if you all, you know, I'm assuming that your community
wants to see the most efficient, most accurate, most you know, future relevant work done, you know, so that their tax dollars are are spent in an effective way, not just for paperwork that sits, you know, on a shelf.
um then this is a great opportunity. Uh being from rock where I live in Rocky Hill, you know, one of the small burrows, you know, we obviously uh are a pretty small area. So we have a tiny
participation in this, but the larger towns are really like you all are like the workh horses. You generate a lot of storm water. you contribute a lot of runoff, you know, into the river and what you do here is really going to
affect others outside of your municipal boundaries. So, happy Earth Day. I wish you well on your water conservation um um initiative. Um but remember that a lot your community's drinking water, you
know, ultimately comes from this river that you drain to. So the improvement projects that you um can participate in whether they are upstream from you or in your actual town can be identified by
this regional consultant. And I really do think you're going to get the most bang for the buck. and I wanted to just um come and introduce myself, ask you to share the information with the whole council and please reach out if you'd like to get into more of the
nitty-gritty. I believe I shared a draft resolution which is based on other towns doing this um Lawrence, Princeton, Pennington, and Hope Township. So, as a former council person, I know it's always helpful to get a glimpse of a
sample resolution, but um we also are hearing a lot of um good information. You know, the DP is encouraging this. We expect them to offer some grants and you know, and benefits for the regional approach. So, I wish you all well um
with your work, but uh please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We're doing this because, you know, we want the best outcome for the whole watershed and we want your community to not just contribute to improving cleaner water,
but avoiding flooding and the tragedies that unfortunately you all have experienced um in the recent past. So, thank you very much. And I'm sure your clerk knows how to reach me. Correct. And the mayor, too. I hope. Have a good
night. Thanks for your good work. Thank you. Thank you. Um just you know while to comment on that I think that is mostly with our engineering department right now. I think we have three waterersheds in town that we deal with and uh we are looking at the options
with our consultant to address the MS4 issue. So we are we've involved our departments. I came tonight because most municipal staffers like engineers and planners like myself, we understand the benefits inherently because of our our
work, but it's not always possible for elected officials to have those areas of expertise. But thank you for your consideration. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment? If not, I think the next is a motion and a second to
adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Second. Roll call. Committee Bing. Yes. Committee woman hand. Yes. Committee. Yes. Deputy Mayor Paint. Absolutely. Mayor Trelli. Yes. Thank you. Happy Earth.