e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e ready ready
yep I hereby call this meeting of the Howell Township Council to order uh Diane would you please read the opening statement and call the role this meeting is being held in accordance with Public Law 1975 chapter 231 open public
meetings act adequate notice has been provided in the manner prescribed by law this agenda is complete to the extent known and formal action will be taken I'll begin with the roll call councilwoman Fischer is absent this evening councilman Nell here councilwoman O'Donnell here Deputy Mayor
gajer here mayor leio here thank you resolution 25-19 is there a need to go into executive session this evening Mr Clark there is we have uh several topics to co uh to discuss uh covered by attorney
Cent privilege uh land acquisition and potential litigation make a motion to go into exac second Council Mel yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gager yes mayor leio yes thank you
okay e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e reconvene meeting um Diane please take roll call councilwoman Fisher is absent this evening councilman Nell here councilwoman odonnell here Deputy Mayor
gager here mayor legio here thank you would everyone please rise for the pledge of Allegiance and a moment of individuals prayer of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and
justice for all thank you all right we have Proclamation Lisa who's here Mrs D Lisa here Lisa is
[Applause] here I can see got that hat Ono National National Arbor Day Proclamation April 2 25th 2025 whereas the very first
Arbor Day took place on April 10th 1872 in Nebraska with approximately 1 million trees planted that day in 1949 the New Jersey legislature set aside the last Friday of April as Arbor Day to promote the planting of trees and to encourage the protection of our forest from fires
and pests that destroy the beauty and usefulness of our woodlands and whereas half of New Jersey's total land area is forested or tree covered and whereas trees play an important role in the ecosystem in which we live and trees reduce the erosion of our precious top
soil caused by wind and water clean the air we breathe and the water we drink produce oxygen provide habitat for birds and wildlife and reduce Heating and Cooling cost by monitoring temperature whereas trees are a renewable resource giving us paper for
fine literature wood for our homes fuel for our fires and countless other wood products and whereas trees provide increased property value enhanced economic viability and pleasing aesthetic qualities along streets and properties in municipalities and whereas
tree planting in yards and farms in schoolyards and parks and along streets and highways creates an enduring Heritage for Generations that follow now therefore the governing body of the township of Hal does hereby encourage observation of Arbor Day April 25th 2025
in Hal Township and urge all citizens to support efforts to protect our our trees and Woodlands to support our Township's urban forestry program further I urge all citizens to plant trees to Gladden hearts and promote the well-being of present and future Generations thank you thank you Lisa
thank you Lis I also just wanted to remind everybody in um for Arbor Day we'll be doing our spring ceiling giveaway on Saturday April 26th at the DPW garage from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. so please come out and join us and pick
up some trees and then um we are pleased to work with the how schools to celebrate Arbor Day on Friday April 25th the shade tree commission will be visiting the house schools um and doing an Arbor Day program with the third graders and also
providing seedlings to all the third graders to take home and plant an observation of Arbor Day so thank you you thank you very nice please now H Rebels American Youth Football and cheers we go can you please come
forward read everything read [Applause] the first thing I would like to do before we honor them individually uh who
are the coaches and the supervisors please here's what I would like for you to do I would like for you to come up and I would like for you to speak to the crowd and I would like for you to explain exactly what these young girls did and the
that they went through hello everybody I'm Mindy Doyle vice president of Hall American Youth Football and cheer so in front of us that be coming in the room we sent four teams down to Disney for a national title at the quest tonight we have three
teams that took first place we had one team that came home with the bronze we do eight to 10 competitions a year we also cheer at our football games our local how Rebels football they're a very
big part of the community uh my coaches are such an asset to Howell Township and Howell Rebels we can't do it without them and so our parents our parents are a huge supporter of our organization so we are so lucky to have everyone in our
program getting ready for our next season so we're going to celebrate their accomplishment along with many that they had this year can't list them all because we've won a lot of national titles so we'll be here all night so um you caught cocky yeah oh I know I can't
help it so um I guess we're gonna let you we got we we're all set you're all all set we're all set thank you I think you get the first one too can I get one of those sure so they'll come up and we'll hand the ceric when I call you by name would
you please come up and receive your certificate head coach Alexandra Doyle assistant coach Ashley Baldwin assistant coach Caitlyn [Applause]
vulpi assistant coach Lauren ASO assistant coach Stephanie Wier assistant coach Melissa Rice Junior coach emilyn Savar Junior coach Emily Rice Junior coach Ava Ganda
[Applause] okay now for the girls please excuse me if I butcher your name a little bit first up Marcy weeks next up bever Everly
[Applause] Vargas Payton camani Sophia Hanford Charlotte zil Quinn [Applause]
Baldwin Brielle Burge Juliana [Applause] wer Emily [Applause] Willow
[Applause] Murphy Antonia Guan Alex Alexia asito Taylor Gabriella Ambrose and Vanessa
[Applause] Lopez yeah yeah that do okay what's up I don't care whoever wants to all right all right so next we have the how
Rebels super [Applause] Surge and first up would be head coach Carly [Applause]
Doyle assistant coach Ashley [Applause] Vargas assistant coach Aon classi assistant coach Daniela [Applause]
Hernandez assistant coach Mary Sanchez Kaitlyn and assistant coach Caitlyn [Applause] KH and now for our athletes Ava Alam [Applause]
Gabriella [Applause] Meo Lily [Applause] templeman all right
Leila o e e o e LS [Applause] Juliana [Applause]
ASA Julia [Applause] Thor Nina no Wiki [Applause] M Kaylee [Applause]
Brinson Gianna [Applause] Ambrose Emma clari Lennon Murphy Lyla
[Applause] Vargas Emily streski Kylie pelinski Al Alexandria Coleman Emily [Applause]
Sanchez ree rutki Amelia [Applause] sakaris Skyler Johnson Dalia Hernandez and emn S Savar
[Applause] but they're going to get in a [Applause] always worry about the names like I'm taking attendance first day of school all right next are the Howell Rebels
rage head coach again Alexander Doyle [Applause] assistant coach Mindy Doyle assistant coach Melissa [Applause]
rice assistant coach Tiffany [Applause] saves and assistant coach Joseph simaro [Applause]
no Joe all right our athletes Riley [Applause] anello Sienna how do you say it
Sienna okay I see emilyn saves [Applause] Melania [Applause] kroli Harper
Wht Sophia [Applause] Torres Alesia miglio [Applause] Emily [Applause]
zimo gwendaline [Applause] Mara Olivia [Applause] Bist Michaela Morales
[Applause] Emily rice oh boy Greta Greta say gr okay yes that's it yeah I wasn't
going to say that but I I would have butchered it I think so gret is up next [Applause] Greta say your leg what is it I never got
that that's like saying Anna's name Lennon Murphy and Dalia Hernandez you want to make a second row of where's the B she wants this isation I'm
[Music] Dan we met a few times thank you guys education [Music] [Applause] Ed they I am bring on 17 thank you
thank you you guys did a great job that's hey how are you see back up here that's quite AOW I know both of my Grands there the one is four times she's one I know it's
crazy tell me tell me thank you for victory I know they're back suing everything's part of something you know it's okay we got a good Township committee so
can just try and pray and hope and let God shake out all the good I hope I know know I can't come to any needs my husband's home with dementia it's bad my mom I lost her at 80 it's a
horrible I terrible sorry to hear look good and he said the one guy should actually still be oh you're talking about yeah how did
he that's such a disadvantage for an athlete that age too what's a big problem problem they'll be and cheer up okay all right I'm coming what youself well I had a knee
that was 32 years old I about to say I think your knees are older than 32 how long to you it's a month yesterday thank you good night thank you okay come on
[Applause] hobble oh boy all right we're on to accept acceptance of minutes from previous meeting may have a motion to for the acceptance for March 18th 2025 I'll make a motion to accept the minut minutes of March 18th second
second councilman Nell yes councilman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gazer abstain mayor leio yes thank you um reports from uh Township Department officials Mr
Clark uh few announcements um Easter in the park will be Saturday April 5th at Oaken Park from 11:00 a.m. to 2 P.M uh we encourage everybody to be there and enjoy uh how Township Municipal
Building Thursday May 1st 20125 beginning at 700 p.m. National Day of Prayer Friday May 16 2025 um here at Howell Township Municipal Building 4567 Route 9 North we
are having a babysitting course uh for ages 11 to 15 years old it The cost is $30 and it teaches you some of the first aid and some of the best practices involved with babysitting uh Saturday
June 7th over at echol Lake uh from 8:00 a.m. to 11 a.m. we will have the backers fishing derby always a favorite every year great job Thursday July 24th 2025 7:05 p.m.
cost is $18 it is our annual howl night at the blue Claus that's always a great time as well and 20 25's um Edition of how day and green Fair will take place on Saturday
September 20th from 3:00 to 8 at Soldier Memorial the rain date will be the week after September 27th so right now we are gearing up for it so we're accepting applications for food vendors craft vendors merchandise vendors uh last year
it seemed to be pretty popular so we're replicating a lot of that same stuff and next meeting I will have information about concerts in the park and all of that good stuff like we did last year nothing for me nothing Kay nothing
all right on to a hearing of citizens and public comment on cons genda items in general matters each person shall first give their name and address to the clerk the council should be addressed as a collective body and not as individual
members each person shall have one turn to address the council and comments shall not exceed a total of 5 minutes speaker shall be notified when their time has run and no time extension shall be permitted would anyone like to come forward I'm seeing none so I make a
motion to close public comment n close public second all in favor I there's no need for response since no one came up come in anyone have anything to say up here Mrs Mrs holdon um well just that I'm
very pleased again that we're our national night of prayer and uh typically we have four to six clergy come it's a very moving moving evening and um as always I'm very happy to sort of like co-chair it and and
whatnot Stephen does a wonderful job in collaborating getting all of the clergy here so I hope the public takes the opportunity to come and join with other people in the our community and surrounding communities that all come together for a general purpose of peace
and Harmony so it's it's very nice um that's it thank you Mr Mr gazer I sat in the back before I wrote all this down but I really don't have
the energy to go over all of it so I'm just going to paraphrase it sorry I had to missed the last two meetings I had some pretty serious knee surgery and uh I I couldn't make it but you know while I'm home I do read a lot uh I do take
note of what goes on on social media and I do find things on there I find beneficial and when I do I usually reach out to council or our professionals to say can we take a look at this and C can we take a look at that but most of it I
just dismiss because there really are no checks and balances I do understand the right everybody has to say what they want to say on the First Amendment but that right does not preclude you from the responsibility for what you you say
soor with that being said let's talk about our Council meetings we went a long way when we got elected to try to make our Council meetings more civil I used to sit where you are and watch the fights that used to go on with council members and members of public screaming
at each other we weren't going to have any of that and what we did do was we consulted with attorneys from other town to come up with the format that we have now everybody has a chance to say what they want to say everybody gets their
comments answered some like it you know some don't uh but understand it's not the zoning or planning board because those are Quasi judicial boards and when you come before those you have to tell
the truth so anyone can come up here and say whatever they please and and and that's it and you know if we're here to answer it we're not but I I wasn't here last week but I just want to touch on a couple things that Miss valz gimbal said
and and you can go back and look at them on the tape she made reference to me specifically which I don't mind and she talked about a meeting that I had had years ago which precluded me being on
the planning board of precluded me having to recuse myself from the Victory Road vote now I just want set the record straight because she referred to tutelage by our council person
here no such event happened like that I was asked to meet with some people like we do all the time and I always ask other council members to come with me it could be Ian it could be Sue it could be Evelyn she was the only one who was available and she came that day and
unfortunately when we got there we found out that it was all people from Victory Road which automatically causes a problem so I had to recuse myself based upon just being around them and the Victory Road
application that was before the planning board because that would be a problem if it was ever voted down and it was and I voted no she had nothing to do with that I want everybody to understand that uh Miss valz gimble also made
reference to the term back door deals I want to say something everybody up here and over there knows this I've told all of them that if I ever get any inkling of anyone on this Council or our board being involved in any backdoor deals the
first phone call is going to Ray San dieago so miss VZ gimbal or anyone else can give me firsthand information about a backdoor deal I'm doing that and they all know that and if you don't
please don't use that verbage because it's inflammatory uh and she also mentioned uh about working for the public that's all we do we don't work for ourselves I don't get anything out of this other than the measly
$7500 so we work for the public all the time up here I just wanted to correct that because I wasn't here that day if I was here that day I would have said something but that that's it that's all I had to say and that's enough uh something off topic I just want to uh
give a shout out to our Police Department uh these past month or so or six weeks we've been doing this targeted enforcement uh um ticketing it's been very very successful a lot of uh very positive feedback from the residents I
uh I speak to a lot of them on a daily basis and to those who have given us New Roads in the town that need to be addressed we we hear you and we will be looking at each Road individually because that's how we do it and um if it
uh meets the criteria for those signs to be put up and for us to Target that area we will do that um to the couple officers that have been assigned to it that have been really working hard I I want to personally thank the two of them uh and it's it's I think we need to
change the way people think in this town um you know as far as the way they drive right if we could if we could get everyone's mindset on just coming through the the sensitive areas at the right speed all right as as residents we
can't control people you know coming through town that don't live here or don't care about speeding or or ours that's one thing but if we could change the mindset of of at least the residents to get into a a routine of just you know slow down and we wouldn't have half the
issues that we have and it's uh it's unfortunate that you know there are people that don't care and they pass in buses or they're speeding it is what it is you know cops can't be everywhere 24/7 everyone understands that too and um you know as living here and growing
up here you know the town has grown tremendously since I've come here in 1985 and uh a lot has changed and it's uh it's it's uh busier in a lot of areas and it's uh you know it's dangerous and you know for little kids and for people walk in their pets I understand the
frustrations and we came up with that plan with the police department to uh Target these areas and I think it's working great and uh I just want to give a shout out to Mr staro and his H his Police Department all right on to um consent
agenda we're going to vote on these consent agenda items does anyone wish to vote on any of these consent agenda items separately no right so resolution R-25
d118 through R-25 d15a may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda excluding resolution 125 excluding 125 I'm sorry I'll make a motion resolution r25 1118 through and
including r251 124 and r25 125a a second Council councilman Nel yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gager yes mayor legio yes thank you the consent resolutions pass here's the resolution to be voted on
separately it's R-25 d126 amending the 2025 temporary Appropriations pursuant to njsa 40a col 4-20 prior to the adoption of the 2025 Municipal budget like to make a motion to accept
resolution 25-1 126 second councilman Nale yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gazer yes mayor legio yes thank you the resolution passes on to unfinished business there is none at this time none at this
time introduction of ordinances ordinance 0- 25-15 and ordinance of the township of Howell supplementing chapter 188 article 10 zones creating subsection 73.1 establishing the residential 25 r25
Zone may I have a motion motion to introduce second councilman Nel yes councilman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gazer yes mayor legio yes thank you the ordinance is properly introduced
next is ordinance 0- 25-16 an ordinance of the township of Howell changing the zoning of certain properties within the township of Howell from residential 3 R3 to zoning designation residential 25
r25 May I have a motion motion introduce ordinance 25-16 second councilman Nel yes councilman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gazer yes mayor legio yes thank you the ordinance is properly
introduced and now on to a very popular thing that happens every year right the introduction of our municipal budget I see this place is packed so I'm looking forward to yeah looking forward to going through this and uh speaking to the
residents M Mr Clark so just as a housekeeping matter we have resolution r25 127 up first which is certifying compliance with the United States equal opportunity commission's enforcement guidance on the
considerations of arresting convict records in employment decisions under title seven of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 motion motion to approve resolution 25-1 127
second councilman Nell yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gajer yes mayor leio yes thank you the resolution passes and anounce of resolution R-25 d128 the introduction of the 25 M Bud
okay so we will take it from here um as always Lou will start us off with the financial background uh so I will turn it over to him for right now okay good evening everybody um uh so the sheet that you have in
front of you uh is how we performed on our uh 2024 Revenue um we did uh quite well as far as some of our miscellaneous revenues anticipated um we had a um after conservative estimates we did a very
good collection on interest on Investments as far as having um tried to put our money in the most um um aggressive interest bearing accounts that we can under the state law of New Jersey um this is where our construction
fees are as well code enforcement court fees uh stuff of the like so um so we so we performed very well uh in that regard our state aid has been flat for the last eight plus years uh with some of
the covid money the state released um one-time Municipal relief uh funds that we were able to recognize in last year's budget it was a one-time Revenue uh so that was realized in last year's budget and
um we don't have that available to us uh as well um and as you can see um Allin We performed and collected 108% uh plus of what we had anticipated in the 24 budget this is a review of our uh tax
collections so Allin uh the 2024 Levy that we need to collect for the schools the county the fire districts um ourselves all in 197 million in change and we collected 94.5 million which is a collection rate
of 98.4% which is a very minor increase over the previous year's uh collection rate um this is around average of what we do collect so it's it's it it's a it's a status quo marker which is good
for the township um as far as 2024's budget goes um the adopted budget plus all of the uh grants that were received after adoption that were included uh through chapter 159 resolutions uh 62.5 million which we
spent um 60.5 and change which left us a little bit less than $2 million to settle up some of our uh the remaining 2024 incumbrances uh some of these monies will be moved over to the storm recovery
trust and some of the other trusts as well um last year we canceled 100 almost 120 of Appropriations that were existing in the budget and we will have um whatever is remaining to lapse off into operations at the end of this year for Surplus into next year
uh this is just a snapshot of the Township's debt statement our statutory net debt 76 million uh 31,000 which is uh 719 per under state law we are allowed to max out at
3.5% of our average equalized valuation basis um so our maximum borrowing capacity is over is technically over $369 million which we have no intention of doing um so uh just to show that we
have a a rather large borrowing capacity as well um a snapshot of our current fund Debt Service uh what we will be appropriating in this year's budget versus versus last year as well as our debt obligations that are on the books
as of the end of last year so this is a snapshot at for the r fund balance as of the end of 2024 we opened the year with uh 14.66% one with some of our
miscellaneous revenues deferred school taxes and and other operations which leaves us with a balance of 17. uh 25 million we're proposing to use 7.7 million in this year's budget um and um
the remaining ballots uh leaves us in a very good structural spot as well as adhering to the fund balance policy that was adopted by Council last year so just to hit on some of the points for uh the sewer utility uh we um did very well in collecting over what
was anticipated um in 2024 we uh we were able to realize uh a a very large amount of of uh of connection fees that were not budgeted for um I should say that
that were not that were not anticipated um so uh we collected 120 uh% of uh what we actually anticipated in the budget so so that's a very good thing um a statement of how we spent the 2024
sewer budget 7.63 2 million 7.4 was spent so um almost 230,000 uh left to uh pretty much finish off um uh our our uh 2024 invoices a minor amount of debt
service was canceled off per state statute and that 229 will lapse off into Surplus for the upcoming year a snapshot of our debt service what budgeting this year versus last year uh and the outstanding debt that's
currently um currently on the books uh are for the to uh SE line installation projects on um uh Route 9 South as well as the Freewood acre section of town um so a the 2025 budget for the Su
utility uh we are proposing an increase of $658,000 sewage Authority um their uh their cost H their costs have increased that is the lon share of the increase on the um for the SE utility um our salary and wages
decreased a little bit um and on the next slide we slide we will show you how we're going to um handle that increase so we are proposing 800,000 in Surplus as well as 6.2 million in the
user fee Fe our fees that we get from New Jersey America water are left unchanged at 1.1 million as well as miscellaneous revenues which is your interest Revenue your connection fees and the like um this is what balances out uh to the total appropriations of
$8.29 one million for the uh for the sub utility budget um just a snapshot of the Surplus in the sub utility um 3. 3997 uh to start 2024 we used uh 650,000 uh and we
regenerated 1.7 million um as I say we performed very well with the interest uh on investments Revenue our connection fees and that leaves us a little bit a a a surplus in the utility of um a little over $5 million to which we are going to
use $800,000 in this year's budget uh as an anticipated revenue and I will turn it back over over to Mr Clark for the rest of the presentation okay so here we are with the municipal budget um timeline we're
going to intro it today uh we will advertise it April 7th the public hearing and proposed adoptions uh on May 6th of this coming year so as always we've taken a conservative approach to budgeting we want to provide
costeff effective high quality services we want to make make sure that we are rational with our long-term Capital Improvements so that we are planning properly all the time we're trying to make sure that we flatten spikes in
capital expenditures as much as possible um starting this year we are working with our planner one of the very best in the state to examine Redevelopment agreements as a way to increase commercial ratables we have red
development uh analyses being performed for Route 33 and Route 9 uh We've identified those as responsible target areas uh where those types of agreements eventually will return a
reasonable amount of Revenue um so every year Surplus is always the sort of thing that we wrestle with we have a fund balance policy last year we try to maintain anywhere from 10 to 16% of our
operating budget in Surplus uh the amount we're keeping in reserve this year the 9 a. half million is consistent with that policy it helps protect us against any unanticipated disasters uh and it also gives us a head
start into next year um also want to just before we get to some of the major increases I just want to point out to the public um the budget's a year-long process so we're at
the tail end of this but this started in 2024 shortly after we passed the 2023 budget and we'll do the same thing for the 2026 budget we will sit down probably in June we'll start taking a look reading the tea leaves in terms of
where our assessments are going what the commercial sort of operating atmosphere is out there get a feel for it I will will say our council is extremely engaged in the budgeting process I'm proud to say that there's a lot of great
questions being asked there's a lot of scrutiny being given and I think that as a team that helps provide the public and the taxpayers with the best value for their money having said that now we we'll move on to the next slide which
shows our major budget challenges for the year salary and wages are escalating they are fixed by contract and that is a cost that there is not a lot there are hard decisions you can make about it and
we prefer not to obviously so that is a cost that we tend to budget around so that we can assume it because we have some of the very best employees in the county if not the state our health benefits have increased again this year
substantially um I am hearing r that they are going to go up again next year anywhere potentially from 16 to 30% depending on who's talking so we are dealing with that situation now and we
are trying to plan for it um in ways that do not jeopardize employee health benefits but also find ways to ease the burden on the taxpayers who ultimately are asked to assume some of that cost
part of the cost of health benefits is passed along to the employee in the forms of chapter 78 contribution we all we all pay it um purse and pfrs pension billing went up again liability and workers comp insurance uh escalating as
all insurance has been increasing around the globe over the past couple years couple that with some outstanding revenue losses so the ARP funding which was covid relief we are through with
that and that is$ 1. almost $4 million off of our books and as Lou had hinted at we had a state aid increase that also peeled off our books and that was about $825,000 so all of
those things combined 4.3 something million dollars that is a challenge to budget for but I think we gotten to where we need to be um so next slide our ratables have been
increasing and see this year alone they've gone up another 10% and this is of course prior to County C uh certification so it was about 11 billion in 2024 about 12.1 billion in
2025 uh so that's an increase of about $1.1 billion um now I know people have strong feelings about property tax in this County in the pilot program and I can say back when it was introduced in 2015 the council then
protested it um we still think in times like this where you have higher than normal property increases it's probably not the best metric but I don't know of anything that
anybody's doing to change it so it's you know it's thems the rules and we we try and do the best we can to provide relief internally um our tax rate the amount we need to raise through taxes AKA The Levy
divided by the total assessed value of all taxable property in the township which is the last sheet that's AR ratables and then your property tax is the rate times the assessed value of individual property um
so here is the pie chart that shows you where your tax dollars go now bear in mind when you pay your tax bill to the town not all of that money stays with the town you're paying for one two three four five separate items you're paying
for the local and Regional Schools which is that giant red slice at the top so that's 63 and a half% is of your tax dollars the municipal is that greenish grayish lace in the bottom right side
that's about 16.6% $1,639 on average last year the county is about 12 12% it's the purple slice sort of at the 6 to 7:00
position uh fire districts in yellow at around the 8:00 I guess position and that's about 5% it depends on which district you're in because each one is its separate taxing entity which means by state law it's allowed to set its own
rate so each different fire district in town may have a little bit of a different rate uh and then open space and thank you again to the public for having the wisdom to vote Yes on the referendum that's 1.65% of your tax dollars and we've been
using that for the acquisition and preservation of land so your 2025 estimated Municipal tax rate when we first started this process several months ago we were at a tax on average for your cess value of about
$150 we sat down the professionals Lou myself Matt the mayor Ian all the council people and we started looking and looking and looking at the budget so so we were able to do better the
estimated Municipal tax rate for 2025 is 293 um it's equal to 29.3 cents of tax in every $100 of assessed value that's lower than last year the average household assessment in Howell Rose from
500 to $42,988 9.76 increase so when you take the tax rate and you take that average assessed value the average homeowner should see an increase in their tax of about $19 on the municipal portion of their
taxes compared to last year some people will see lower some people will see higher depending on assessed value as always um Lou has made sure that we are compliant with all applicable caps and here's some of the drivers
again you see salary and wages um Insurance statutory and deferred charges our Capital Improvement fund actually is decreasing next year that is money that we have to put out as
a bonding cost we don't anticipate having to bond that much next year if at all so we're able to shave some of that off to save the taxpayers money our debt Services increased um the good news is we anticipate a decrease in it next year
uh our reserve for uncollected taxes has made a small jump and so our total uh is up $ 2.81 million and again this is just a more granular breakdown of our salary and
wages again these are primarily contractual and they are set by that and short of sort of cutting our Force there isn't a lot we can do to manage that so
we budget around it understanding that we run very lean and we want to keep the very best people we can here a revenue sources so again Surplus which uh we are increasing the
use by 1.1 million um our state aid has decreased by 820 5,000 grants we're anticipating an increase in this coming year those typically won't go into the budget early on there people may hear
the resolutions we may call them the for Vote or want to lose resolution there through the chapter 159 insertion of Revenue we get it in then we put it in the budget as we get it because then we have it in hand our other revenues have dropped by about 1.2 million most of
which is the ARP loss delinquent taxes has increased a minor amount um and so you see the totals Jump by 2.8 million from last year to this so where we're heading 2025 we
again we're adding multiple townwide events um we think that they obviously people pay taxes and they want quality of life and we want to try and provide that as much as possible so we're increasing the opportunity to provide
additional events uh open space we appreciate the Le the the levy vote we're seeking out open space for purchase um we will again be looking to revise our rental ordinances so that we have even more control over rental units
we have not been receiving as many complaints so a lot of the efforts have been well received and have been effective um we're working on a planting plan with shade tree Lisa doubt is always a superstar with that uh and we
just started on a planting plan today over at the triangle of Asbury a and Brickyard we're tilling seating restoring habitat that helps decreas the amount of gas and labor through Mowing and it it restores some of the
pollinators um Gardens so again as last year we're applying for a grant to install solar panels on the roof of town hall and canopies in the in the parking lot um the benefit of that is we are coming at the end of the useful life on
our roof so the installation of solar panels would hopefully include a new roof we're we're applying to our Congressional um members discretionary funds so we will see if we're fortunate
enough to be selected and as I said at the beginning we are examining multiple areas along Route 9 and 33 we're going to leverage Redevelopment because we want to enhance our commercial ratables if you look at our town versus several
other towns our size our commercial ratables um could be beefed up and that will certainly give an opportunity to help decrease the the
um the burden on our taxpayers so next slide oh is that it so usually there's a slide here that says end but that's the end oh
sorry iog so this actually is a new slide we haven't hit the end yet so we're developing strategies so this year affordable housing went through unbelievably we just we finalized it today one of our resolutions that we passed accepted the number that we
negotiated so 304 units is our number we have projects in place to deal with it they are spread out throughout the town I think that we could call this year's Kaa a success to the extent anything
related to that as a success um again we're maintaining Surplus in the budget so we start off on the right foot next year and deal with anything unanticipated this year hearkening to what the mayor said
targeted enforcement it's it's a major hit the the police department's always killing it and we're going to do more um code enforcement through enforcing our rental ordinances it's had a major
impact on preserving quality life in the neighborhoods um farming we finally established regulations that recognize and honor farming's unique place how's Heritage I think that was a great Victory early
this year and as always we're going to continue to listen to the public we want Howell to remain a beautiful and desirable place to live my office is always open Mr Howard's office is always open people can take advantage of it make an appointment come in if you want
to meet at night we'll set time aside to meet at night we're willing to listen and we're we're willing to work with you so and here's this is the I was talking about this says end so here we are nelyn would you like to say
anything it's been an ambitious year putting together numbers um one of the wonderful achievement would be number AFF housing we're very well pleased that we have something manageable and that we are head of the curve on that
situation so until the legisl our Administration did a great job with finding different projects that would be suitable and we're very happy with that in terms of things that we can't control for instance insurance or health
benefits it's a sad statement but we continue to strive to sure that we're able to give our employees the is Affordable and they also contribute I this isn't a free ride for an employee not a free ride municipal government and
certainly not for the taxpayer but we all know that everyone needs health benefits we're doing our very best to the very best to the employees and we continue to do so ways that may be better suited for our town at this point
in time um I always want to say dancing as we can to meet that obligation but Administration is always striving to find something that may be a better fit and should that occur that will be adjusted immediately but until then
we're offering as much as we can so I'd like to thank the administration for getting on board with the budget early on in the year I know that's key to keeping things moving along um Council always felt um that we were involved and
that you had an open door to us and that's a wonderful thing because sometimes you know I know that you get frustrated and so way um you know you take taxes as well as the the res and we also feel that so an open door policy
for us and for the taxpayer is not only a welcome thing but it's a necessary tool that's needed and any municipal government I'm that everybody feels they're being and treated and that policy continues any questions
from the public managers available Deputy managers available Financial uh was available uh we ready you know available by phone and email most importantly you never
Toc this is aess I feel we all take together so uh Mr CL thank you possible certain app uh I like to Echo thank you for what you've done like to thank the fellow
Council because that everybody was heavily involved in this budget and you know when the budget comes up the first question that we look at is our discretion spending and there's not a lot of room for leeway in it uh we also look at the
Manpower of the town and as we find out we're actually down on Manpower but we do have some things in the hopper next year that could be bringing potentially a lot of money into the town and uh I can't say for sure but
I'm anticipating that the uh transfer station is probably going to be going to court next year and which way that goes if the county uh if they rule in favor of the transfer station that just brings a ton of other money in in in for us to
you so but I'd like to thank everybody that and thank you for the presentation all right listen um like I like I promised everyone on the campaign Trail when I was running for mayor that I would uh go through multiple years of
budgets you know each Department uh line by line where it could be looked at you know a lot of the stuff that Mr Clark has touched on is out of our control whether it's raises or the benefits and
um their uh the pensions all that stuff it's it's 100% correct what Mr Clark said we we have no no control over that we have to use what we can you know wisely so as far as
coming in and speaking with Mr Clark and Mr Howard and and M and Mr uh our CFO Ian and I sat down multiple times with you guys and I know we asked a lot of questions and you guys were very receptive okay and uh you gave us an
answer or if you didn't have the answer we went back to the next meeting and we have come to where we are right now uh Ian and I also brought in the police department and sat down with Mr staro and his and his staff to go
over their budget and I will give Mr staro credit where credit is due since he has been Chief Mr staro has really cut back on uh the police budget with overtime issues and um some spending issues and he's uh
I believe he's been doing his due diligence so I thank him you know for you know he has a big department it's one of our biggest biggest you know hits on the budget and uh that's that's uh his due diligence is really really appreciated um you know
just like everyone touched on this insurance going up you know whether it's our homeowners whether it's car insurance whether it's uh health insurance it really comes down to the people that pay are paying for the people that don't pay you know it's a
touchy subject and nobody really wants to address it but it comes down to you know everyone that puts into the pie you know it's just going to pay more for the people that don't put into it and it's not fair and it's frustrating and you live in New Jersey and it's you know
every year it's more and more and you know reach out to our ld30 legislators and take it to take it to the state take it to Trenton it's got to stop and it's uh cutting our Aid is not fair because we pay and then same with the schools
they school they cut the school aid so we have to come up with more and it's just ridiculous and it's not going to not going to change unless we stick together and and pressure our elected officials to uh make that change but um
here like I said to you we sat down and we worked and um I feel that this is a very responsible budget I know no one wanted an increase but that's unfortunately not not the case and it's uh it's tough to deliver another flat
rate and we're going to move forward now into 20 into 2026 and I hope Mr Clark and Lou and and our rest of our crew are going to be responsible again and work with what we have to work with starts tomorrow all right thank
you is that it that's it you've got to vote on the resolu vote on the resolution on the 12 r25 127 128 128 128 and this is just to introduce the budget introduce the budget buget r251 128
please motion Evelyn made a motion second second councilman Nell yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gager yes mayor leio yes thank you the resolution is properly introduced seeing no further business
before the council may I have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all in favor I next regular meeting will be take place on April 15th 2025 executive session begins at 6: p.m.
regular session will begin at 7 thank you and have a good night