e e good evening this is the Village Council special public budget meeting the date is April 1st 2025 the time is 5:03 p.m. adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in
Village Hall by mail to the Ridgewood news news the record and by submission to all persons entitled the same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting roll call council member Mortimer yes Deputy Mayor perin yes council member whites is
absent council member winegrad here mayor Vos here will you all please join us in a salute to our flag IED Ali to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God
invisible liy and justice for all I want be D okay let's let's go right to public comment um Dylan I notice we do not have
a monitor here so I can't tell if there's anybody on thank you very much nobody on hybrid access no one coming to the mic in the room so I will close public comment and we will go to our discussion items Keith
thank you mayor um so tonight will be our final budget meeting for 2025 um as per the direction of the council when we last met for our last budget meeting uh there were a number of items that the council and the
administration were looking to revisit with the various department heads uh through the efforts of each of those department heads who who after that last meeting were requested to cut back between 5 and 8% of their operating budget um and through the due diligence
of Bob broney our Chief Financial Officer and his staff in the finance office um we were able to cut back um some s make some significant Cuts but none that would directly affect the services that are rendered to the residents here in Ridgewood um so if I
can call your attention to the backup that was provided to you um there is is a packet um that you received it's entitled budget cuts impacted by Department current fund 2025 introduced
budget I'd ask the council to refer to page nine and we're going to go through each of these um as the meeting progresses but I'm going to sort of take you to the bottom line um on page nine on the right hand
side in that Center column uh it's the cut column um we were able to reduce in order to get under the Appropriations cap um by almost $2 million you see the numbers 1,989 41592 um that was the number we needed
to get to in order to make sure that we were under the state imposed Appropriations cap and if you flip to the last page of that packet you'll see that the total amount that we were able to either reduce or
move Grant funds over uh to cover some costs we've also moved some trust fund money over and again we'll detail this momentarily uh but that Center column there uh equates to uh 2,445 3450 uh that's the total number um
that's been able to be removed from the appropriation side to be raised by taxation um again some of it were outright Cuts some of it was moving trust money over uh to cover the cost so that it did not have to be raised by taxation um but I just want to thank each of our department directors and
their respective staffs along with Bob and his staff uh for the incredible work they have put in over the last month uh getting us to this number um we're going to take you through uh what was cut so that you are aware of how the budget has
changed since we last met um and then we will review the bottom line when it comes to the tax levy at the conclusion of that exercise so with that um I'm going to turn it over to Mr Rooney and um again as we go through this document starting on page
one I would just ask the council to pay mind uh to that Center column uh marked cuts and he'll explain to you um the process we went through to determine what the reductions would be to each of those line items so
Bob you want to take a through sure so the first item you see is uh Village Council that's an add-on that's for the Sid consultant that was discussed previously uh that we hadn't anticipate in the original budget the second is the Mis Department we've cut
back uh $199,000 in contractual services and 4,000 in training the tax assessment the reserve that we discussed several meetings ago for tax appeals uh we removed from the U tax assessor's office which which by the way uh just so the
council's aware the appeal deadline was today at 4 o'clock I received an email just a little while ago from Bill Palumbo our tax assessor um it looks like we have 15 County appeals um at least five of them were already negotiated at the state level um and
filed with the county to make the process go faster in comparison we had double that amount last year at 31 um so that's our new tax appeal uh our new pending tax appeals um would be an additional 15 got 15 appeals or 15,000
15 appeals that were filed as of today uh for this next go around now we have pending appeals from prior years uh but these this would be the the new batch in which the deadline was today sorry Bob no problem um next one is Village attorney uh we took Cuts in there for
our anticipated reduction for labor attorney Union negotiations and the conversation I have with Matt Rogers regarding uh litigation that's outstanding against the village um engineering we're reflecting $118,000 that's going to be charged to
Capital to offset salaries and wages um not hiring a a part-time employee for $40,000 and a reduction of overtime in 20 um when I make reference to reductions we've scrubbed this to go back to what actual time was or costs
were uh put against in the last two years against these items and adjusted for January and February purchases to date so we're comfortable where we are with what those numbers um next one storic preservation $500 that's just a general cut the next
one is planning board uh looking at the uh $6,000 General cut and a cut in planning consultant of $133,000 next is zoning board adjustment for uh $5,000 and that's Professional Services for zoning
consultant Papa I I have pled for 19 as a cut yeah but that's 13 plus 6 13 plus 6 got it got it no problem um police salaries and wages uh again all these were discussed with department heads so um some of them
may see large um $70,000 for police salaries and wages 5,000 representing a reduction in higher rank um uh working in higher rank $25,000 in reduced overtime $40,000 in reduced compensation time I also utilized unappropriated
Grant funds of 26884 which will be applied against salaries and wages later on you'll see how this is offset it's just a wash it's not a a reduction in total um police
OE uh let's see we reduce that by 100,000 $11,600 5,000 for reduced training 148 for service contract and radios $800 for an alarm system reduction 75,000 police
vehicle maintenance 5,000 for the maintenance of equipment and applying 14,700 for unappropriated Grant funds that I had available next is OEM um we removed the $115,000 MREs uh
we actually have money that these would qualify for in capital um that the purchase can be made through this with prior years uh $200 reduction in printing for $1400 maintenance of equipment 700 supplies 400 uniforms
1,400 in certifications 500 freezer replacement and 500 for emergency Provisions next is fire uh PR rating the start of a new fire fighter beginning uh July 1 an adjustment for the service
contract for radios the next is streets um 25,000 reduction for part-timer $150,000 which is offset by snow trust 10 thou $55,000 which is reduced for uh purchase of snow equipment and 5,000 for
chemicals under Fleet we reduced the overtime by $10,000 reduced lubricants purchase of tires and maintenance by total of $50,000 traffic and Signal snw reduction of 11
$1,000 uh $6,000 for the removal of a um maintenance employee 5,000 reduction on temporary seasonal hiring 12,500 Noe 2500 representing course training and 10,000 reduction and sign
supplies recycling I used $131,500 in Grant funds that were available uh 62214 is reduction of the purchase of materials um materials and supplies uh disposal prices based upon January
February prices and $75,000 will be used from recycling trust from the recycling trust or for the recycling trust from the recycling trust okay in sanitation uh we have a
reduction for the replacement of employee we had a retiree and a new hire was $220,000 less salary than what we had when we ini initially requested the budget I'm utilizing 122,000 in Grant funds uh and then uh office supplies and
safety equipment we're reducing by $6,100 in yard waste um we're using $25,000 of recycling trust and $221,000 reduction for contractual services and reduced purchase of
equipment um Property Maintenance reduction for Building Maintenance overall 5,000 in sanitation $44,000 in Village Hall maintenance department of health the shared service we have with Mawa will be
reflected as a an appropriation offset by Revenue down at the end of the U uh Grant section uh another 19,500 utilized in Grants and a general cut of 1,155 animal control shows $800 in a
general cut Recreation 50 almost $60,000 to be used uh from Grant funds that are available Community Center we have reduced office supplies Parks is down 189,190 employees three fulltime in one
part-time are not being hired a $5,000 cut in overtime uh OE is down 65 365 reduction of purchase for herbicides and fertilizers equipment repair dumping fees and irrigation repairs fertilizer
acquisition of equipment cashio shell printing reduction CDL testing removal and horticultural supplies reduced Gren pool $4,000 um adjustment for um salaries for lifeguards 15,500
reduction which is made up of $7,000 in beach sand $2,000 in sodium hydrocloride and 6,500 in equipment World um water pollution control 55,000 reduction not hiring a new employee
landfill disposal utilizing gr funds of 39,6 and reduction of disposal fees of 34,000 based upon the January and February fees that have been charged building department we have a change in staff uh utilizing Grant funds of 24,000
offsets um move some of the expense out to the grant fund as well uh accumulated leave use of a terminal leave trust is needed for $20,000 and a reduction of salary negotiations for 10 so that gets me to page 10
and page 10 is where I moved the 58,60 for Mawa Health out of Health into um appropriation uh for shared services and on page 11 these are all the grant amounts that were uh available to us
from unappropriated monies that I utilized against the Appropriations so if I can just interject at this point um we were unfortunately notified at 5:30 on Friday afternoon uh this past
weekend um that two of the three grants that the Department of Health has been utilizing um to run programming uh postco um in addition to funding two staff members that we have here in the health department that both of those
grants were frozen by the federal government effective Friday so we have been in discussion with the state um the state of New Jersey uh who administers these grants once receiving those federal funds um
has piggybacked along with other states on filing an injunction uh to try to prevent the freeze on these particular grants so we are in limbo to some degree um as to what the direction is going to
be here um we've already talked about what we would need to do in the event that we needed to reduce Staffing um because of the absence of the grants uh We've started to undertake those conversations the last few days um I'm hoping that we have some better
Direction before we introduce the budget next Wednesday as to where we'll be with this um but there's no guarantee to that so there may be some numbers that you see tonight that may change by the 9th or they may change by May 14th which is
the date we're slated to have the public hearing and final adoption on the budget um but the situation with the um Health Department funding that comes from the federal government is very much fluid at this time uh Keith I know that there was another grant that would keep those two
employees in place for some period of time we didn't know how long so we we've done that calculation um and there's approximately as it stands today about $177,000 that can be utilized for salaries um until that money expires obviously we would like toise Ain those
folks here um but you know and there's also a civil service aspect to this which I don't want to get too deep into um just based on the fact that it is a Personnel matter um but we are wrestling uh with the announcement of these two grants uh being cut and uh trying to
determine what the outcome is going to look like do we have any idea how long that $177,000 will last later into the spring so month and a half two months give or take give or take okay thank you all right so coming down the home stretch on page
12 there there was a reduction for the interest on notes and the payment of bond anticipation notes as a result of the January Bond sale we had so the notes were paid off and then the last item is uh 17,94wh include in the budget and that
gets me to the total of the 2,445 83450 it's a shame that Evan isn't here tonight this would have been his favorite budget meeting he missed all the good Cuts so mayor let me also say um that one of the outstanding issues that we
were also wrestling with was the reserve for uncollected taxes um based on the change over uh to traditional taxation by Valley hospital um we needed to submit to the state what our tax
collection rate was last year um gratefully through the efforts of Bob um and others here at the Village uh they were able to explain to the state of New Jersey to the depart uh to the division of local government services that the
village never received traditional um tax revenue from the main Valley Hospital campus and instead we were collecting a separate tax uh not calculated in the property taxes um relative to the amount of beds that they
had at the facility they were paying per bed based on state law that was passed back in 2021 um that being said uh the state has allowed us to calculate our three-year average
starting with 2021 so it be 21 22 and 23 as the rate to to be applied um for tax collection in calculating the reserve for uncollected taxes for this year um so we um we not going to see um an
impact or a significant impact um as we might have on the line item for uncollected taxes um and that resolution that was passed last month um was will be will be submitted to the state of New Jersey um indicating what that tax collection amount on the three-year
average will be and that's what will be applied to this year's budget Bob I don't know if you have anything else that you want to add on that no I you hit everything okay I try um so that's where we are on that um and I think that about sums it up and I
think Bob is prepared let's say the council has any questions on any of the things we've discussed so far I think he can summarize where we are from a tax levy standpoint so we've maintained our tax levy cap we've stayed under it um and
after after taking in consideration all the revenues that are available and the Appropriations that we've put in front of you we've come up with a tax rate increase of 3.14 for
2025 qu questions comments for the public who may be watching or seeing this through the archives um can you explain the cap again the theory of it why we have a cap and what it is so so I think I think you
should start with the Appropriations cap right and then separately speak to the tax ly cap so there's there's two caps that have been with us for quite some time the first is the appropriation cap so you have to do a calculation of your Appropriations reduce it by certain
certain items that are required by law such as Debt Service shared services things of that nature that comes down to a bottom line then you take 2% of that um in order to determine what your cap
Max is for the year you then take that number and add back current debt service other operations shared services the same types of deductions that you had then you get a credit for new construction so you get to take the
municipal rate and multiply it by whatever new construction certified by the tax assessor for the year and that gives you basically the increase that you're going to work with that you cannot exceed the second cap that you have is a
tax levy cap and that takes the uh Appropriations from the PRI that takes the amount to be raised from by taxation from the prior year and basically does the same thing makes adjustments to it that are allowed by law to reflect Debt
Service increases in health care costs uh anything that's a movement from one year to the next um since for two years now we've had substantial increases in health care costs that allows us to raise more money by taxation uh above
the cap uh to pay for those types of costs so when you're done you take the you do the 2% calculation on uh those aspects and that gives you the maximum amount of money that you can raise by taxation now in the state's budget um
there are calculations that are advertised to the public that shows how we arrive at those numbers and um so everybody's comfortable with with the calculations thank you you're welcome and mayor the other thing I would like to add um roughly speaking and and we
still have to to finalize this spreadsheet and when it's complete we'll certainly share it with the council uh but one of the major talking points at a previous budget meeting was the employee headcount um as it stands um in our last calculation we had
310 employees full-time last year I'm sorry full-time and part-time uh total going into 25 would be 314 um and that the the net four uh would be all be back filling positions in the public safety area that had not
been previously filled when people either left or retired so the four are police and fire yes and actually there's more than that because we've reduced all the new positions in the civilian areas but
we've maintained trying to achieve getting back the ranks at both fire and PD um so there's more than four but the net number is four and the four above last year would all be tied back to Public Safety and and even with those
four we're still not up to um a full contingent of police is that accurate that's correct okay and it's going to take some time to get as many members through the academy as we can to to fill the ranks yep questions no comments um I I was
wondering um how does our U increased burden of Pensions last year was it last year when it was 23% that was Healthcare Health yeah healthare okay um how is it this year I
believe the numers 11 or 14% one or the other it's less than it was last year good thank you so a little more than a third of our budget is health care and pensions is that
accurate 23 and 11 34 sounds about right okay just yeah rough and dirty just just good to know because some because that's those are the things that we can't touch we can't touch we have no we we we have to work around that and and whatever whatever want to I mean nor would we
want to for oh no no no no no I'm not I'm not saying I'm I'm what I'm what I'm saying is that is that when we craft a budget we only have 2third of the budget to work with I I I think it's important to note that the
only the only area that the council has some discretion is operating budgets and salaries and wages right and and when you have collective bargaining agreements you try to negotiate the best deal that you can for the employee and
for the taxpayer um but then for traditionally a four-year period you're bound to to that contract so once that contract is settled it becomes a fixed cost the other big ticket items in the budget are fixed salary uh pension and benefits uh
both on the healthcare side and and the pension side uh utility costs you know we have no control over what PSC rates are going to be um what the cost of fuel might be in a given year um we have to take all those different things into
account um but a major part of the budget and this applies to every municipality every county in the state um many of the big ticket items are fixed costs that you don't have the ability to cut so what Bob just went through with you on the those 10 pages
or so of budget cuts are the areas that we have some level of discretion um and I think what we're most proud of is the fact that we've been able to to cut into the budget to get us this number of of 3.14 which I think is a a manageable increase again
when I came here I talked about you know slow and steady wins the race I'm not a big proponent of zeros in one year because two years later you're going to be dealing with a six or s% increase because you have to make up for the zero that happened two years prior um I just
don't think that um those types of budget gimmicks are the way to go if you're looking for a a consistent and steady um ability to retain to restrain what the tax increase is going to look like no I and I I personally agree
completely that that we need to maintain steady budget increases people ask me all the time can you make our can you make our taxes go down no it's impossible it's absolutely impossible um but when you're talking about a an
approximately 3% budget increase in a time that that number pretty much mirrors inflation um I want to give kudos to um the department heads and to the administration to management for putting
together an incredibly responsible budget that I think touches all the buttons satisfies all the needs of the residents um doesn't make any any cuts that affects that affects services so um
uh because I know in in in this community service our services are critical and something that our residents expect and and I'm and I'm really happy that we're able to deliver them so thank you all for doing a great
job on this I just wanted to say um clearly for the public watching for the staff I'm incredibly thankful this is a lot of effort my joke was going to be Pam's the happiest because the page font was so big and
um so I want to thank everybody it's true it got much bigger this year um and I I want to remind people that not in the budget are countless hours of volunteer hours that we get the luxury of having a very deep and wide um pool
of volunteers who did give countless hours um not here and reflected are the donations we are very lucky with our library board the the librar is are asset and they very much offset issues and to Paul's Point um if we ever wanted
it to go down down we would have to touch services and that's not really what Ridgewood wants and additionally within this budget is capital necessary to still address the lingering issues this year we saw Capital support the down you know the Town garage coming
down hopefully this coming year we'll see the capital do things like the West Glen sidewalks and shedler um so I'm very grateful to everything and to all the Unseen including countless staff hours and child care and all of that driving home late at night um I just am
incredibly thankful it's it's been sometimes you feel really lucky to volunteer here anybody else all good take it away Keith um I think you have to open it up
for public comment let's go back to public comment I see no one in the room Dylan do we have anyone on hybrid access seeing no one I'm going to close public comment and entertain a motion to
adjourn so moved second all in favor I opposed let's go home what