pretty good. >> Yep. >> Good evening. This is the village council special public budget meeting. The date is January 21st, 2026. 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 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 >> here. >> Deputy Mayor Parin >> here. Council member Whites
>> here. Council member Windgrad here. Mayor Rajanos >> here. Will you all please join us in a salute to our flag? To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for all and let's go right to public comment. I don't see anyone in the audience but I understand we have people on Zoom. So Dylan, would you put them through please? >> Comments are limited to three minutes
per person. At one minute, I will ring a bell and then when it beeps, I will say time is up. >> Boyd, please unmute. >> Hello. >> Hello. >> Hi, this is Ann, not Boyd. I'm on Boyd's phone. Annne Loving, Bridgewood
resident. >> Good evening. Um, I believe that parks is not on the agenda for tonight, but I wanted to make a general public comment about the budget that I sincerely hope you will consider putting 250 trees into
the budget in honor of the 250th anniversary of our country. Not just little saplings, but actual trees. So, I'm really hoping this can happen and that it won't fall down and just become part of if there's any money left, but
it'll actually be a priority. Thank you for hearing my plea. >> Thank you, Ann. Uh Dylan, could you turn the volume down here in the courtroom? It's a little loud. >> Yes. >> Thank you. And bring our next person in,
please. Uh >> Denise Lima. Denise. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Okay, good. Um, I think this is coming through on the phone. >> Is it echoing? >> Is it echoing?
>> It is echoing. >> Excellent. >> Excellent. >> You have your You have your computer turned up the volume. >> Did you catch that, Denise? If you turn the volume down on your computer, we believe that will get rid of the feedback.
>> Now we lost you. >> She hung up. >> Bring us the next one and perhaps she'll call back. That's all we have. >> That was it. Well, let's give Denise a moment. >> Let's give Denise a moment. See if she can call back.
>> Hi. Can you hear me? We can. Perfect. Okay, super. Thank you. >> So much better. >> Uh, thanks for making this available uh for the residents via Zoom. Uh, the financial budget and discussions I know is pretty complex. >> Excuse me, Denise, if you would give your your full name and um whether
you're resident or non-resident, I of course know, but so that everyone else knows. >> Denise Lima, I am a Ridgwood resident. >> Thank you. >> Uh, yes. So, thank you for making this available via Zoom. Um, and I know that financial budget discussions are never
easy. They're pretty complex, especially being on Zoom without any handouts. It's going to be super hard for us to follow. Um, so I guess I just have one or two um favors to ask uh of the speakers. One is
um please make sure you're speaking into the microphone clearly, slowly, loudly so we can hear you. I would say even overemphasize your voice um because sometimes it gets really hard to hear through the phone. Um I don't know that
everybody knows all the department heads. It would be great if you could provide your first and last name before you start for each of your departments. Um and then um just a little bit of information again so we can follow is can you provide the 2025 what the budget
amount was and then what you are going to recommend for 2026 hopefully it's zero um or even better decreasing but just like two three pieces of information that we can kind of capture to help us follow um and if you do have
an increase um it would be great to understand if it's a mustave or it's a nice to have and if it's a mustave um what's the impact if we don't do it from either a risk or residence or legal or
you know some type of synopsis. I know the procedure is coming next and maybe most of this will be covered but um again it would be great for us that are on the phone. Thank you. >> Thank you Denise Dylan. Anybody else?
>> That's all. >> Great. Thank you so much. And with that, I'm going to close public comment and we will go to our manager and CFO. >> Paul, before before we begin, just because there's going to be a record, I just want to we don't get this chance. Yep. So, with respect to trees, because
that's sort of between Frank and I. Um, >> with we've had the many discussions within shade tree. Okay. So shade trees by definition are only the trees in the right of way. And then we have park trees. So there are two separate budget items and I just want to clear that up
for the public. We have shade trees which are in the narrow strip um next to the sidewalks. And then we have park trees. Um we have never ever planted 250 street trees ever. Um since I've been here, since we've been watching this, we
have done a good combination of number of hundreds of trees and then saplings. That being said, we've had this discussion. We are somewhat warm on, you know, collectively adding 250 if we can do it. I just want to make sure that the public understands it will most
definitely not be 250 street trees. We don't have the capacity. We also, just to be redundant, don't have the appetite. Um, where we've been very successful with street trees is upon request. Um, my first year here, as you guys remember, we had carried over
$240,000 over in capital. we don't want to see that. Um, so we like it when the homeowner requests it and then we we say, "Oh, this is doable." And we go to that. Um, we have our number for that. I have talked to Pam and Frank on this because you there's places that will
help with flooding, but for 250 to be achieved, it will not be a shade tree number. So, when people see that number, don't think 250. Um, we also have uh just to keep in mind, we have park development coming. Should Shedler move forward this year, they will it'll be a
huge commitment at least for me and I believe Frank and Pam to make sure that in addition to the many amenities in that park, we're able to put many trees in there. So, um, just from does anybody have any questions about that? Because I just want to make sure that's okay. And then >> and just to just to clarify one point
you say when you say we don't have appetite for that, you mean that the residents don't have appetite for trees. >> So, and and just to make sure it's not us, >> right? Uh just to clarify that that in since my time on the council, we've done many things to engage the homeowner and Pam and I went out on what we thought
was going to be a victory lap to a certain street and we talked to them about the benefits of the trees and the homeowners rejected at the rate of 50% when we had over in your neighborhood, Paul, we had rates in the 30s of rejection. So, we want to make sure that the trees that go in front of the
homeowners, even though there are trees, they're loved, they're cared for, and most importantly watered. Um, so just when we get to the budget line item, so there's no um confusion when we say shade tree is going to be let's say 100,000, which is not going to be enough, but let's just say um the
balance of the remaining numbers could be in parks to achieve 250. Sorry. And and then I believe Bob and Keith you can address last year's budget is still in the budget friendly form online. >> Yes. >> Okay. So Denise, with respect to that,
prior budgets are in all forms on the website. There is no one right now, but I'm assuming as this process goes, Bob, there'll be more online information available. >> That's it. >> Thanks Siobhan. Appreciate that explanation. And I know um you and uh
Frank are deep in the weeds on trees so >> or the roots. >> We we we appreciate it. >> Keith, thank you, mayor. Uh good evening, everyone. Welcome to our first budget meeting, formal budget meeting for 2026.
Um first, I want to thank um Bob, Steve, and Olivia for all of their hard work in the finance office. Uh just to give a little history here, this process begins in the summer before uh the year's budget that we're addressing. Uh last August, Bob sent out a memorandum to all
of our respective department directors uh encouraging them to start to prepare their thoughts and numbers assigned to the 20 thou requests for the 2026 budget process. Um last fall uh Bob and Olivia did a first blush with each of the
department directors um to kick off this process. Um and since the first of the year um Bob, myself and Olivia have sat down again with each of the directors to refine um the numbers that are being considered tonight. Um, I just want to
announce that tonight we will be meeting with the health department, which also includes animal control, the tax assessor, the building department, the MIS department, uh, the public library, the police, uh, fire EMS, emergency
management, um, and the village clerk's office. Um, on Monday, January 26th, we'll be meeting with the municipal court and public defender. uh the parks and recreation department, the building uh the signal division, uh water
pollution control facility, streets and fleet, the board of adjustment, the planning board, engineering, um all of our utility line items, the village manager, the village council, and the village attorney budgets. On Monday, February 2nd, we're slated to meet with
solid waste and recycling in addition to Ridgewood Water. And at that point, we'll be reviewing um our our initial capital recommendations, um debt service, talking to the finance department, going over parking, uh revenues and current funds, staff
levels, uh surplus and trust funds. And then our final meeting for the budget will be on Monday, February 9th, uh which will include the final capital budget proposal and discussion of the overall tax rate. Um after all the adjustments are made to the budget, it
is our intention uh to introduce this budget at the next public meeting which is February the 11th um and adopt the budget on Wednesday, March 11th. Um all those dates are subject to change uh depending on the state signing off on
our budget proposal um and any changes that we need to make internally. Uh but that is the tenative budget schedule as it stands today. Um, we also have a snow day built into the calendar um for Friday night, uh, February 6th. Hopefully, we're not going to need to be
here on a Friday night and we won't need to use the snow day. Uh, but we do have that a duly advertised in case it is necessary. And thank you, Heather, for uh, having the foresight to put that on the calendar. Um, with that, I wanted to just go over a couple of things before we ask Dawn to come up. Actually, Don,
if you want to come up and grab a seat while I go through the tutorial very quickly. Um, so in your budget binders, um, and some folks I think are are using, um, the laptop version of this, um, but if you go to the public health section, which is the first budget that
we're going to discuss tonight, you'll see that the third column in is the 2026 budget request. Um, this is the summary sheet. Uh, the first part, the upper part of the page is a summary of
salaries and wages. the area below that where it says other expenses, that's are our operating budget numbers uh for the respective departments. Um as you go to the right, um you'll find on the far side of the page um the actual number that was
expended in those line items in 2025 with a caveat that not all of the bills for 2025 are paid yet. So Olivia can flag if you do have questions um about balances um on that side of the spreadsheet. uh she can answer whether or not um all bills have been processed
uh relative to the 2025 budget. Um the column one in from the right hand side it says modified 2025 budget appropriations. If there were transfers that were done uh by the council um in the last quarter of 2025
um or in January, uh you'll see that number is reflective of the change and adjustment that we made at the end of the year um to satisfy those line items that uh were affected by transfers. The third column from the right where it
says 2025 budget appropriation, that is the number that was appropriated in last year's budget uh for that particular line item. Um and then there's also a comparison for the prior year of 2024 uh which is the fourth column in uh from the right hand side. Um the percentages
that are between those numbers um indicate the change in appropriation and the actual change two columns there. Um and as you get down to the bottom, you will see the grand total um of the salaries of wages line items and the other expenses line items uh which are
the grand total for department. Um something new this year down in the bottom leftand corner um there's a yellow highlight um at least on the live sheet that says 2% increase over 2025 and E. That is what a 2% increase would
amount to. Okay, that's not actually uh reflective of what's in the budget above that. It is what the number would be if there were a 2% increase in dollar amounts. The second line down which says actual is the increase over last year
that's actually being proposed. Um and the 2026 over under is the number that is the delta between the 2% increase as calculated over last year's budget versus the actual request that is being made tonight. So I know last year that
bottom lefthand corner was a little hard to understand for people. We tried to make it as simplified as we possibly can um so that you know exactly what each of those numbers um in summary reflect. And Keith, can I just ask just using this as an example because I was not following
and thank you for adding that 2% increase box, but here we're saying 2% increase would be about $15,000 and it says we actually are about 2% over at about $15,000 give or take a couple of bucks. But looking at the numbers for the health department, it looks like we're coming in a grand total budget
request of $453,000 and it looks like last year we appropriated 371,000. That's a seems like more than $15,000. Where's >> the So, the health department is unique and we'll we'll get into the the nitty-gritty of this, but one uh we have
a lot of grant offsets that get us to an actual number and we also have the shared services agreement with MAWA um that offsets a significant portion of um Dawn's compensation. So, we'll get into the nitty-gritty of those numbers so that you fully understand that. Um but when it comes down to it once all those
numbers are applied um you're about $170 of that department over 2%. >> So that's actual out of pocket expenditure by >> how it would affect how it would affect essentially how it would affect taxation after you apply the other revenues that would be applicable to the health department. >> Sure. So I I would ask certainly that
Bob or you explain >> we're we're going to go through the whole thing as Dawn makes her presentation. And just two other points I want to make before we before we dive into uh to Dawn's budget. um the capital budget that you will look that was provided to you in your binder. I want
to put this caveat out there right from the start. This is only being used tonight and at our next meeting uh to talk about the priority order of the department requests. So where you actually see budget numbers that are in the actual column or in the department
request column, those numbers are not really applicable to the discussion. This was provided to the council so that you can see what the priority projects are for the various departments as they make their presentation. So, please don't hold us to those numbers because that's still a work in progress. We also
postponed our capital budget meeting until February 4th from last week um so that we have some idea um of what the impact of the bids at Cheddler will come in like. Uh that date is February 3rd. So, our capital budget meeting is now February 4th. so that we can put all the
pieces of that puzzle together. Um so again, this is just for uh illustration of priorities by department. And then finally, um in hard copy, I think Bob and Olivia shared with you tonight the um employee count. I know this was a significant part of our discussions last
year. Um I can tell you that it's actually built out um by Bob and his team uh to be reflected in the order of the budget presentation. So, if you want to keep this paper handy, um it will give you the employee count as we go department by department. The left side
of the sheet is 2025. The right side of the sheet is reflected of what's proposed in 2026. However, I'll deliver the punchline before we get through all the presentations. And that is if you go to the last page um in summary um our
employee count is slated um to actually be reduced by two part-time employees uh two full-time employees and be increased by three part-time employees due to the agreement that we're about to enter
relative to the grant for the community center and the commitment to staffing the senior programs downstairs um that was made last year. That's all reflective in this budget, but the full-time count has actually gone down by by two positions. >> That's great, Keith. First of all, I know I asked a lot about this, so I
appreciate you putting this sheet together in advance. >> You you were high in my mind as we're preparing the stock. >> Really? Wait, wait. Evan was on your mind when you did this. >> But to be clear for folks at home, that's a big difference in the sense that for part-time employees, we don't pay um for benefits like healthcare, which has gotten exceedingly expensive.
Ultimately, I'd love to see us, you know, as people leave, potentially look at whether we need to backfill and would love to see us potentially shrink areas where we could find efficiencies. But the idea that um you know, we're at least holding flat and in some ways getting better because we're not paying for those um for those benefits um is a really great way to kick off the
meeting. So, thank you. >> And and as we go through after we talk about the the budget, we'll take a look at the uh the impact of the employee count in each department as we go through the process. >> All right. >> Could I say two things? First of all, because you're sitting next to Frank, Frank, you have to remind Evan, this is grant money with the health department.
So, Evan, when we talk about grants, Frank and be like, "Yes." And um two, with the additional headcount, I just want to make sure that recreational specialists, you know, we're expanding senior services are unique people in general. So, it's hard to take somebody and put them in that role. So, the prior
decision that we made, you know, with the Liz Cloak presentation, we need people with unique skills to expand that. So, and we kind of already had that discussion, but I'm expecting a big shout out to Grant 7 at the end of Don's presentation. >> I'm a huge fan of grants, so that's great.
>> So, the um Don, if you want to start uh by just talking a little bit about the um adjustments that are being made in the salaries and wages section of your budget. >> Your your mic is not on. Let's run back. >> Can you hear me now? >> Yes, we can. >> Good evening, everyone. I'm excited to
be the first one to go. I had to say that I was never the first one in all these years. Um, so I just want to start off by saying I have no changes in headcount from 2025. Um, juggling two maternity leaves, so it's we got some part-time people coming
in, all paid by the grants, which worked out really well. Um, I have one going out, one is out. There's going to be a little overlap. Um, hopefully by August we'll all be back working again. Um, with our grants. >> Don, if if I could just interrupt you.
Um I I know in your mind cuz she's been gone for a little while. We do actually have a reduction of a full-time employee in your department. >> Oh yes. >> But she left she left mid year last year. So the headcount's not different from the end of last year to the beginning of this year. But from budget time to this year, it's actually a reduction of one full-time employee who
actually now works for Dawn up in Mawa. So >> Oh, right. I didn't even think about that. I'm sorry about that. Yes. Um who's now working for me full-time in Mawa. So that worked out. Um so um and we also did some we
cut the registar last year we cut some of her hours so she's still staying part-time. Um and the grant is covering we have three grants currently. Two of them are covering um some nursing. Um we're buying another electric sign that
we're sharing with the police. Um we uh some printers, some uh repairing of typewriters. Yes, we still use typewriters. and paying for um both part-time RE staff, REHS staff through June. So, >> RHS, what's
>> the the health inspectors? Oh, >> yeah. So, and we um we'll we will have more grant money July 1. We just don't know how much and we don't know when we're going to know how much. So, hopefully and then we're going to put that towards the part-time inspectors
and also towards um one of our um health educators. So he's saying more grant money over and above >> July one. >> So your so your budget's going to look better than it does now. So >> so so
depending on the amount of the grants um we won't know what will be granted to the village by the time the budget is adopted. >> So we can't forecast that in the spending plan. However, any notification that we get of grants that get will be
implemented on 71 will be entered into the budget later as a chapter 159 resolution that the council will need to approve. So, um it won't be factored into this because we don't know the numbers, but it will be applied to the budget later in the year.
>> Good. So, so can you talk me through how >> So, Olivia, if you could um if you go to the second tab um which is a summary of the um the salaries and wages calculations. Um Olivia, can you just take us through um that section there
that shows the applicability of the grants? >> Hello. Yeah, there you go. >> Hi. Um, okay. So, if you'll see the health 2026 tab, so in the 25 all the way to the left, that's their headcount
from 2025. And then I also put next to that the 2025 increases. So, you see how we got to the numbers that we did last year um with all of their grants and Dawn's offset for MAWA um and any other uh shared services and and things like
that. So then moving to the right where it says 2026, you'll see um that they are one less employee in 26. And then if you move down a little bit, it's their total plus less the grant less the offset for
Dawn's revenue for MAWA. And then they have um a maternity leave that she is not going to be paid for some of it. So that's a reduction in um one of her employees salaries as well. So, the grant money is essentially offsetting what we're paying for salary,
which is how we're coming in at budget or at 2%. >> Yes. And then we're only um budgeting for half of the year at this point for the one full-time employee because we don't know what's going to happen um with the second half of the year with the grant yet.
>> And so, right now, these numbers are based upon grant money that's already been given to us. We know they're good. That's not a question mark. >> Yes. And it can only go down if we get more grant money >> essentially. >> I have a question. >> The the shared services from MAWA, I see
a figure of $68,000. Is that revenue or is that an appropriation? >> So the contract is for $68,000 and it offsets my s half of my salary. It's revenue. Half of it's revenue. Half of it offsets my salary,
>> but it's all it's all for the village, >> right? But but the $68,000 is revenue from MAWA. >> From MAWA. >> That's what I just wanted to be clear. >> Yes. >> Good. >> Okay. If um if we're if there are no
more questions under health, if we could just move to animal control. >> Well, >> yeah. >> That also falls under uh Dawn's purview here. >> So, as far as animal control, um basically stays the same. Our contract with Tao goes up every year. Um we're
still actually she showed me she was here today. She showed me the statistics and we are um charged the lowest in the other Bergen County towns. So that's a good thing. Um the only other increase I really had was with the geese piece program which last year it was offset by
the grant. Um but this year we didn't have the grant money to take care of it but we're going to continue that program. So, on that issue, we actually had a meeting this afternoon at 3:00 with Tao, the recreation department, and and with Dawn. Um, we've gotten a
significant increase in complaints about geese, geese droppings um on our grass athletic fields at Graden Pool. Um, so we are we are working right now with Tao to try to come up with some strategies.
Um, one of the strategies is trying to expand uh the geese addling program which Dawn had been doing successfully um very successfully before CO. Um, it's been a little uh more difficult since CO uh to gather people and and and have
folks go out there and do that. Um, so part of the increase that you see in line item 150, um, is the initiative to to better control the geese population through Adling and through working with Taico to have them here to, uh, to police our areas.
>> And Keith, I see we only spent about $4,300 so far. Do we still have outstanding bills? Is that why the number is so low? >> I believe. >> Yeah. Yeah, we still have outstanding bills. >> Okay. So, we think we're probably going to come in around the $7,100 that we budgeted for last year,
>> right? And in in addition to that, on the on the geese piece, um we're looking to um use a company, correct me if I'm wrong, Dawn, to to actually come out and do the geese addling so that the eggs don't hatch. Whereas, prior previously, it was done by volunteers in the
community. >> Okay, >> that was my question. Who's going to do it? And is it addling or is it oiling? >> Adling. The gentleman that we used last year did adding >> which is they shake them. >> Great. Any other questions on this?
>> Yeah, I want to circle back just on the the grants that we are not sure we're going to get yet or how much we're going to get. If we look at that um 2% increase over 2025, which is basically even,
does the money that you're going to get in July go directly to that bottom line to decrease that 2% amount? I'm just trying to >> I think that's I think that's a better question for Bob to answer. So, if I'm not mistaken, those the grant
that we're looking at in uh July is all salaries and wages. >> That's the Yeah, that was the plan. So, it it could be $20,000. This grant was 400,000, then it was $40,000. So, we don't know. >> I understand that. My my question is let
here let's say here um the the actual you have here is $15,150. If we get a $5,000 grant, um, does that reduce that number to $10,150? >> No, sir. Because this is just other expenses.
So, these are salaries and wages. If the grant was specific to other expenses, then yes, that would change. >> It's limited to what we can spend the money on. So, >> the number you see in the yellow is just other expenses. It's not salaries and wages. >> I see yellow. >> Oh, I'm sorry. The bottom left hand
corner. >> And then it's yellow. It's Yeah, it's yellow. Remember Paul, last year we had the interruption or the potential interruption with the federal grant and that was a salary and wages. >> I do. No, I was just I was just trying to get a handle on I'm not >> being critical one way or the other. Just want to understand it. >> So you are correct. If it's other
expenses then yes, that number would change. >> Got it. >> Got it. Thank you very much. I'm good. Thank you, Don. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions for Don? >> Nope. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Don. >> Good luck. >> Good luck on the summer grant. >> Okay. Hey, I'd like to call out Bill
Palumbo, our tax assessor. And >> I have to say, Dawn has been the the grant champion. Um she's, you know, practically uh uh filling her staff with grant uh paid people. So, thank you very much.
>> Really appreciate it. >> And I hope the wellness program next year is as good as it was this year. >> Oh, it's it's going to be better. So with regard to uh Mr. Palumbo, uh first of all, welcome Bill. I just want to uh remind the council that at the end
of last year, we entered into a shared services agreement similar to the agreement that we have with Dawn and sharing her with Mawa. We are now sharing a bill with the township of West Milford. Um if you look at the second
tab um you'll see the 2026 um salary summary um and the offset of $33,480. Correct Olivia? >> Yes. >> Okay. So that will be applied similar to the um the dollar amount that the mayor
referred to uh when he was speaking to Dawn. Um but Bill with that if you want to just run through your salaries and wages and then talk about your other expenses. Um, and you are going to see some increases in the O and E on this, but Bill will walk you through as to why those increases are present.
>> Uh, yeah. Uh, so good evening everyone. Uh, no change in staff, just myself and my assistant Renee. >> Um, you will see that yes, it is not a 2% increase. Uh, it's much larger. Uh, but it's because we do have situations and things coming up this year where we
do have the reassessment. >> So, this is a way the tax reassessment that's going to be taking place. So part of this much much of this is that number or at least half of it $500,000 worth in order to pay for that part of it for
this year. >> I thought I know Keith when you briefed this on this I thought this would be paid out over several years. Am I misremembering that? >> So So on line item 029 uh which is the contractual service uh for appraisal systems to conduct the reassessment this
year which would go into effect in 2027. Uh there's two ways of funding this. One is to split the costs over two years, this year's budget and next year's budget, because they won't actually finalize their work until 2027. Um the other approach if it doesn't work
based on where we are with the 2026 budget is to pass what's called a special emergency. Uh which allow and the reassessment qualifies for a special emergency which would require a council resolution that would authorize Bob to spread the payments of this cost out
over five years. Um our initial blush at the at the budget is to put it in and pay it over two so we don't carry that burden for five years. I'm not optimistic that it's going to be able to stay in the budget as a two-year payment. I think we're probably and likely going to have to move to the
special emergency. Um, but on our first round of this with the council, we're going to try to split it over two payments rather than five. >> So, this represents basically half of what we're going to have to pay for this. >> That's correct. And just for folks at home who didn't have the benefit of the briefing we had from you earlier in well
I guess it was last year. This is a statemandated reassessment where somebody comes in looks at every property reassesses the appropriate tax. We have no discretion. It has to be done by law. >> Yeah. As a matter of fact I think Bill can add some color to that if you want. >> Yeah. We were actually ordered for a revaluation for 2027. It's essentially
the same idea. Reassessment is actually a little bit less work for the um company. So, that's why actually doing a reassessment, we're going to save a little bit of money. I think it's almost $400,000 over this two-year span. Um, it is a countymandated order. Uh, once ratios be
go below a certain point, you get ordered to do a revaluation because your assessments do not match the market anymore. >> I see. >> So, we're losing we're technically losing revenue. And actually, as the council was briefed on in executive session, the um the cost
of doing a full revaluation significantly more than doing the reassessment. We went back to the county tax board and the county tax administrator. Um Bill did on the village's behalf and we were approved to do the reassessment, which is still a costly endeavor, but it's a less costly
endeavor than is a full reval. >> Yeah, like I said, I think it's 300 to $400,000 difference. >> So, it's rather significant. It's not a small number. >> And for those of us who pay taxes here in Ridgewood, my understanding is we didn't expect the values per property to change dramatically. Am I correct in
saying that? >> Well, the assess the general rule of thumb is uh a third go up, a third go down, and a third stay the same. But if you want to >> Yeah. What's going to happen is the assessments will go up. You're going to your assessment will now become 100% market value. M
>> you're going to be if your assessment's 900,000 your sale price is 900,000. They're going to be equivalent to each other. The tax rate will change because the revenue brought in by the municipality cannot increase by saying, "Oh, everybody's values went up 50%.
Let's increase the budget 50%." >> That's what I was getting at. >> The budget has to stay based off of what is actually required, not because everybody's values went up. So the the the the assessments will all rise >> but the effect on taxation is is
traditionally and again it's not an exact science but you know looking at these things historically it's a third a third and a third go up a third go down a third stay the same. Okay. >> I was going to say, yeah, for for the most part, everything number-wise is the same except for what you would look at
029, which would be the uh preliminary um >> same page where the request for the reassessment is. Uh we do have to still do our tax maps. So, that is an increase of 36,424 per year. We're paying off a
sum over the next couple years. Um we are looking at an increase for our attorney to deal with the uh outstanding valley hospital situation. Um we did have a number last year but we had to keep increasing it due to time being spent on the project. And then you will
also see the appraisal services for defense go up because um I know with the reassessment coming up, a lot of people might try to get more of an appeal this year for 2026 in order to try to get themselves ahead of the game, you know,
trying to worry about, oh, am I going to go up in 2027? So, I would like to have a little bit more money in that account just so that if we do need to hire an appraiser and an expert to handle 2026 before the assessment in 2027. >> And then I'd also point out to the
council um line item 099. So 099 is the reserve for tax appeals. Um this is a number that Bob uh champions every year to try to get back into our budget. Um, so far, at least during my tenure here, the $75,000 has not made the cut in the
in the final uh in the final edit. Kept hitting the cutting room floor. Uh, but we are again, you know, as we present this tonight, um, you know, it would be very healthy for us uh to be able to have that reserve for for uh tax appeals
in there. Um, again, whether it makes the uh the final version of the budget is still yet to be determined. Um, but we have, you know, both that 029 line item and that 099 line item both flagged uh for potential cuts um as we get
through this process. >> I I just want to say I I think with taxes being like so relevant this year with this, I think the reserve is a good idea. My question is how much is on on hand? Like do you know you're saying 75 to sit in reserve? Do we have anything
in reserve that that would acrue to like go add in? >> I believe we have I believe I believe we have 50,000 recent. >> Okay. I think it's smart. >> Any other questions on the uh tax assessment? >> Good. >> Budget. >> Good.
>> Okay. Thank you, Bill. >> Thank you, Bill. >> Have a good night. >> You, too. >> Okay. Next up is uh Anthony Merino from the building department. Evening everyone. >> Hi Tony. >> How are you? >> Good. How you doing? >> How's everyone?
>> Good. >> Actually, you're coming in under budget. We're very good. >> Right. >> The uh Yeah, I was going to say that the the operating main operating part just about the same as last year. I've requested this year
another employee. Tony, could you speak up just a little bit? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Um, I want to give you some numbers. Um, we we're up on the number of permits again. 1834 permits last year. That's just the
UCCC building permits and this year we're uh I'm sorry, 2024, 1834. 2025 last year was 1938. Our inspections, a total of 7,478
inspections. >> Wow. >> That's all disciplines. Building, electrical, plumbing, fire, elevator, and um this year it's 7,162. We've done the our biggest problem is we
are in violation of the uniform construction code. within 24 hours I have to come out make inspections within three business days after that and we're woefully plumbing electric fire are okay it's the building portion we're two
weeks it's been for almost two years two weeks behind on building inspections uh I go out when I can um or one building inspector part-time building inspector is a retiree like I am can only work a maximum number of hours a week he he
chose Monday Tuesday Wednesdays And on Thursday and Fridays, our building subcode official, who's also an inspector, subcode official does plan review. Uh goes out Thursdays and Fridays. Thursdays and Fridays, plan review stops. If I can take a plane
review here and there, I do. Uh so the request for the part-time building inspector who can work up to 29 hours a week and not be considered full-time um will put us in line with the requirements in the code which is that
30 that three business days 72hour uh window that we have. That's basically it. It's I mean I know it's it's asking for an employee is pretty significant but uh we we're
hurting for that. >> So Keith it says here you're coming in under below the 2% increase. How are we doing that if we're adding an employee? >> So that's that's just on the operating side. >> That's got the all the all the salaries and wages um are either contractual or
um based on the need that's being presented to the council. So Tony, do you need a part-time building inspector or a full-time building inspector? Because the two weeks, as you and I have discussed on a number of occasions over the last 30
years, is is an issue for so many people, so many businesses, so many residents. Um, what do you need to bring that within the three days? >> Well, I'm I'm asking for part-time because I think that'll work. So, one part-time employee,
>> one part-time building is it has to be building. I mean, it can't be right. >> It's got to be the building discipline. Um, and I think with 27 or 28 hours a week, we could catch up without a problem. >> So, Tony, is it safe to say that the
minimum you would need is a part-time employee to do billing inspections? Ideally, if you had a full-time employee, that would really clean things up. Oh, well, a full-time employee would be wonderful. You can hire a full-time employee who has multiple licenses, which would offset vacations for
electrical and plumbing and and uh I didn't I full-time would be wonderful. I asked for part-time because I think it'll work. I think that'll help us. I mean, I I think that sounds beneficial
to the community, the central business district, to your department, and I support the full the part-time um for the obvious reasons, but I mean, that does seem like a long delay, and when people are tied up in that delay, it's not good. I I do want to say good job
this year. I know it's been busy, and um this is this is good. I'm glad we found an electrical engineer, but I I think a part-time employee that's going to make people get into their space, whether it's commercial or residential, faster and of course safer. I think we should
really consider that. >> By the way, the the what you approved last year for me has been a tremendous help. You approved a full-time employee administrative person last year. It's really helping us out because that
that young lady is taking a little bit of work away from the other two in the office. One being zoning. Again, zoning stops when she has to deal with counters, phone calls, scheduling, and all that stuff. So, it's been >> the fact that the that the zoning
officer can focus on zoning work and rather than counter work and that we have another person in there who's able to deal with the folks coming in and servicing them at the counter. Um, I think that's made a a remarkable difference in uh in moving some of the workload down there. It's noticeable. Yeah.
>> I have to ask, how is SDL working for you? Are you a bigger fan of it than last year? >> SDL's working >> good. That's good. >> It's all we have. It's all we have. It's got some flaws, but it's working. Yes, it works. >> Good.
>> Any other questions? >> All good. All right. Thanks, Tony. Appreciate. >> Thank you. And I'd like to invite uh both Neil Gone and Dylan Hansen up to make the uh presentation for it.
>> This is MIS in the binder, right? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Hi, how are you? And I I just want to stress to the council as as Dylan makes his way up um with regard to any of these requests
that are being made um for additional staff. And again, it's as I pointed out at the beginning of the meeting, it's it's somewhat minimal this year in comparison to last year. However, um all of the department directors um and supervisors are aware that these are just requests at this point. um and
depending on how we close out year end for 2025 as far as revenues and surplus um and all the different factors that go into um delivering our final budget. Um you know, all of this is potent there is a there is room for potential cuts um
even beyond what's being presented as priority to the council uh tonight and at the next two subsequent budget meetings. So, I just want to stress that um similar to the discussion we had with Bill Palumbo um about spreading out some of those payments and possibly reducing
that one line item. Um that really is applicable to to all the departments making their presentation. So, I just want to put that out there. Um Neil, you want to start us off? >> Welcome Neil. Dylan, >> good evening. >> Good evening.
I uh have just recently taken on this role and this is a budget that uh Dylan has spent time with Bob and Keith going over. So I'm very gratefully here with Dylan who's going to run through it with you guys and uh be able to answer any questions you may have.
>> Take it away Dylan. >> All right. So our biggest increases are on tab 29. Uh has to do with the first one is the Exchange server at the bottom. Um Microsoft's going to be charging licensing fee. you're not sure what the pricing is going to be. So, I
put 19,200 in for that. And then our other increase was from the VMware for the phone system. Uh, in previous years it was like 16,000 last year went up to 14,000. The company was bought out by a company called Broadcom and they changed
the licensing instruction structure. So, we increased uh that line item up to 16 right now. Uh, it says uh VMware 2000 per licensed phone system annual. Um, >> I'm not seeing it. Where's VM? >> It's on tab 29.
>> So, it's 29. Oh, VMware. >> VMware. >> Oh, okay. >> That runs our phone system of like the voicemail um logs, transferring all the software for it. So, it's it's important software to have.
And then our next uh two that are new, well not new for this year, it's a renewal every three years. It says email archive and email filter. We renew those every three years in April. >> Where are we looking? Because I see >> tab 29. >> Oh, here page page number >> email >> page number. >> I don't have page numbers. I'm sorry.
>> Oh, there it is. Email Barracuda. >> Is that We have the summary on top. So I'm trying to >> I got it now. >> Yeah. No, you're on. >> I think I got it. If you if you look through um you'll see maybe on the upper
right third line down it says account number. >> See where it says account number. So the last three digits if we refer to 029 030 the last three digits are reflective of the tab in your book as a as it compares
to the tab on the Excel spreadsheet. Does that make sense? >> On the lower right hand side Frank almost like it's a >> page. I found good. >> Yeah. Just just so just so for as we refer to these line item numbers, it's it's easily accessible for you. >> And if we were all paperless, this is for you, Olivia. We'd be able to just
drill down on the Excel spreadsheet. >> Just saying. >> So Dylan, you want to you want to jump a little heavier into line 29. >> All right. So um down on email archive and email filter, $6,000 each, uh increasing the budget by 12,000, but it's every three years renews.
Um past that everything else uh pretty much remains flat >> and these are all annual subscriptions. >> Yeah. So as we get into more cloud services and more software packages um we're at the mercy of the renewal price. >> What can we cut like what what what here
is not 100% needed because this is like almost a quarter million dollars in like subscription fees. >> But this covers the entire village. It's not just the IT department. It's the phone system for police, fire, OEM, all village departments.
>> But is there anything here that if we had to we >> um I mean this there's really nothing. This is all software that we've been using for years. And to go back to the VM, you said that
that's every three years we have to >> No, VM is every year. But that was a big jump. >> It was the company that bought it out changed the licensing structure. >> I'm looking at an alternative package for it and I'm trying to get a price
from our soft from our vendor for the phone system to see if it could be migrated over to a different VM software package. >> So I only had um a very granular question. I noticed that we're paying for subscriptions.
Do we have to do that? Like some to the the press. And then my next question is sort of um my kids have said that academic institution and government agencies are afforded free subscriptions. Have you ever heard about this? So we're paying for local subscriptions. I'm wondering do we have
to do that? And on >> which subscriptions? >> Bergen Record. I don't know if Heather needs that. We so there's one free account that we get but any additional ones we we have to pay for so the one is
being used by one office already. This one since they let me sign up I share it amongst a group of people. I'm not the only one. I gave access to multiple people to uh look at articles online. We education gets it free. They get
multiple accounts. We only got one. We're only entitled to is it >> the one one user but the other one that I signed up for they allow multiple people to sign in under >> okay and have we just on the free side have we explored all the free options that are available for government? I
>> I asked them they don't I even try once in a while I call up too and they'll give me the monthly service for like $6 a month or $3 a month for six months. So I normally keep on top of that. So, so gentlemen, the the last line item
on sheet 29 or account 29, uh, the Exchange SE hybrid cloud, the new system for the 400 accounts, that's a that's something new that that wasn't there last year. I know the the phone vendor jacked up the price pretty good um, up above, but can you just talk about that
that la that $19,200 um, and how that what that work effort looks like? So, what it is is we have an on-site mail server and they're pushing people to go hybrid or full into the cloud. So, they're licensing the on-site
prem servers. Uh, but they don't they didn't come out with a full price yet. Right now, it's it's up in the air and Microsoft's not sure if they're going to apply it second quarter, third quarter, or the following year. They haven't I've called up our vendors and everything. Nobody has any pricing yet because Microsoft hasn't released it. What it is
is it pays for each of our users on the survey here to allow them to use the service or or to use email. So like each one of you would be a licensed cow. It would be considered >> and that's why you have 400 accounts. >> We we also have specialty accounts. So like we have mailboxes for water
metering. We have mailboxes for uh tax assessor. We have all different specialty mailboxes that people can email into. So we have to pay for those. Additionally, we we are looking to filter some of them out. They're not no longer being used or if we can find an alternative for like a distribution
versus a standard mailbox to cut down on the count. But every single person has an email address. >> And docuign that went down by half. Why? >> Um they so last year the company that originally quoted me the price for it,
they quoted me the wrong pricing. quoted me business enterprise versus government. >> Oh, >> so this is the government pricing and I caught that and they were like, oh no, we it was a mistake on our side. >> Dylan, did you say every person who works for us has an email account?
>> Yes. >> And I'm just curious, does every person need an email account? >> Yeah, >> I I would say yes. I I'm just curious if you don't like >> to me I'm more wondering does everybody need voicemail? I mean how often do
people >> voicemail we're not paying a license fee? >> Uh just to follow up on the >> So regarding the email account yes because of our time in attendance. So for people log in and out of our time in attendance they have to have an email address. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Then Paul we have many more because
somebody like uh like Dina Cat would have Dina Cat but then she has the generic shade tree. So, and I'm and I'm thinking more of of our of our frontline staffers who um uh you know work work in the uh sanitation department that you
know >> it's tied back to their time and attendance. >> Got it. Now I understand. >> Am I allowed to make my mayor email joke now? No, just kidding. >> Thank you. Let's move on. So I I think that the um the ask that I have still um is is for
you both if you can go back and to the extent that you can and again I'm some of this stuff is vital to our operations and if we weren't funding this people would not be able to do their job or as effectively do their job. So I think that's totally understood. Um it is the
backbone of every operation we conduct here. So, with that being recognized, I I think it would be prudent just to go in and see if there's any of these uh line items, especially um on sheet 29 that can be scrubbed um going into next
year um and you know, if in the next few days any feedback that you might have in that space can be sent back to myself, Bob, and Olivia um so that we can make adjustments. Um but I think we should just go over this page with a fine tooth comb one more time.
>> Yeah, agreed. I mean, this is like $50,000 more without any additional services being added. I know there are things that we have to pay for. Um, but even outside of 29, I mean, I I think this does really deserve a really strong look. >> Yeah. The the one thing I will say is,
you know, signing some of these vouchers during the course of the year, Dylan and I have had this discussion. you know, some of these vendors have us, let's just put it that way, in in how they, you know, escalate their prices because we're essentially married to their
systems and if we're not paying for these subscriptions and these licenses, you know, we're we're not able to function. So, but I do think, you know, to the councilman's point, it is it is necessary to go over this one with a fine tooth comb again. And I just want to say I agree with all
that. But on a very nice note, I do want to thank the IT department for allowing this council to explore things like hybrid access. I want to thank for me because I run so many platforms that are hybrid within my very grateful. I know it's not easy and um I want to just say
it's never sounded better in here. So for all the things that we have really been this needs to get done. Um it's super important I think for all five of us. it allows us to interface with our community and we are very grateful for that and I don't think we say thank you
enough and I hope everybody heard me clearly and um just thank you for everything this year >> and we did hear you clearly because the IT department fixed the sound system in here so thank you for that because that was always a bone of contention with
those in attendance really good job on that one Dylan >> I'm glad to hear it so if we can um quickly just move to capital um and MIS is on page 204 of the capital
master sheet that was uh provided to you. Um so Dylan, I think the request that you and Neil have this year is for computer replacement on the capital side. Um you want to talk a little bit about that? >> So we try to replace computers uh
between every five to six years. Um this way we have working computers and we try to cycle through the rest of them. So this is to replace uh a few computer oh bunch of computers within multiple departments including police um
fleet uh village hall departments. Uh some of the computers cost around 6,000 for like an engineering computer where uh smaller computers cost around 3,000 a piece. Um, I rough estimated because I don't know what the cost of the of the computers are going to be right now. So,
this might be maybe two or 3% adjustable, but this is my rough estimate with the current pricing of the computers that we look at right now. >> But then, like, so last year we had you had 65,000 there. >> No, last year I didn't ask for anything.
Um, we actually went through all our old um capital and we cleaned out previous year capital. So, I didn't really get capital last year. I don't >> So, last year, uh, at the budget hearing, I think there was a capital request similar to this. Um, once we did an audit of the open capital, which if
you remember last summer, we did a lot of cancellations to capital. Um, Dylan utilized uh some of those funds to to sustain himself in 2025. Um, but this would be for 2026. Um, so again, we're still discussing what the final number
would be here. Uh, but I think there's there's definitely an acknowledgement that we need to maintain the replacement of computers on a on a reasonable schedule. Um, otherwise we're going to be spending a lot more at one time down the road. >> So, this is about $260,000
rough math. Am I reading that right? >> The the the number that was initially requested was 80. I think we're down in the 65 area. >> Oh, I see. to cover all of I mean because there's a servers, laptops. >> So, so that if you look at the priority order uh the the only priority um for
this year um would be number one with all the departments. Yeah. So, that's that's where we get that computer replacement line item. >> So, it's only 65,000 in capital. >> No, 80. >> I'm sorry. 80 >> 80 was the request. >> Dylan, can you with the servers? So, we
are all all our servers are local >> uh for the most part. Yes. Is that legal reasons why? Like I'm just curious like you know like there's different >> if we went to the cloud per se um we'd be paying a subscription fee which would
increase the operating drastically for the amount of users we have and we'd also have to increase our bandwidth. We'd have to increase a lot of things to make that function correctly. >> So it's actually cheaper to own our own machines >> in the long run. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Just I was just curious
because you don't hear many local servers anymore. So, >> no, there's quite a few that use the local services. >> Any other questions? >> Anything else? >> Well, good. >> Thank you, gentlemen. >> Thank you both. >> Thanks. >> And again, if we could um look at that
line 29, get that back to Bob by Monday, that would be most helpful. All right. Thank you. Okay. Next up is the uh public library. might ask Lori and Alex to come up. And I just want to remind the council um
especially for for Frank. Um this is um a courtesy budget presentation. Uh the library is statutoily funded. Um they receive a third of a mill um based on the assessments of the municipality. Um
so and the budget itself is at the discretion of the library board of trustees. Um, but Lori's been working closely with us um on all things budget over at the library. We've had some good discussions and she's got some good things to share with you tonight. >> But this is at the the minimum required
by law. >> Correct. There's no there's no additional amount. It is uh it is what is statutoily required to fund the library. >> Welcome you guys. >> Yeah. So, I don't know if you need a reminder of how how the third of a mill is calculated, but it's based um it's 33
cents per $1,000 of equalized property value. So, it's not based on assessed value, but on home prices, which as you heard when the assessor was here, there's been some discrepancy between assessed and um and
>> and forgive me, you know, um uh Denise mentioned something that we've forgotten to do. if you could identify yourselves. >> You know what? I forgot too. >> Yep. I I completely forgot. >> I'm Lori Steinbacher. I'm the library director. This is Alec. Alex Wasenda. He is our business manager and that is Gail Campbell, our um uh board of trustee
president. And you just um made it very difficult for me because Alex told me to write at the top of my presentation to introduce people and I said I won't forget. So I forgot. Anyway, thank you for having us here tonight. Um as you know over the last several years the
library's appropriation has increased our minimum appropriation and in 2026 the trend continued and um our budget is approximately 15% higher than um last year's. So we recognize
that this is a a fluctuating number. So we understand that you know there are good years and there will be years that are leaner. So we >> could you Lori, could you speak into the mic a little more? >> Sure. Thank you. >> Is that better? >> Yeah. >> So we tried to approach the budget from
a sustainability standpoint and not adding anything to line items that would require us to to fund things uh going forward. Um we um the the increased minimum appropriation for the library uh directly benefits Rididgewood residents.
It allows us to expand their access to books and digital materials and gives us um the flexibility to address capital and facility needs when we have residual funds available. Um we're we're also fortunate to supplement our municipal funding through the our newly merged
Friends Foundation. Um, and they support all of our cultural and educational programming, uh, selected databases, museum passes, some technology, and bu building improvements over and above our capital expenses. And this allows, um, that eases a little bit of the pressure
on the municipal budget, particularly in lean years. Um, so, as you know, libraries have limited um, ways to generate revenue, and we still do try to generate revenue outside of the municipal budget. Um, in 2024 the
library started um to become a passport acceptance facility. We started out at three days a week and um in 2025 we've now expanded that service to six days a week. Um for 2025 we processed $1,250
applications and we generated a gross revenue of $62,000 and our net income from just passport acceptance was just under 30,000. So in 2026, we are budgeting a 15% increase in that line item based on demand. Um so we're happy
because the revenue is meaningful. Um but we also are happy that um we can offer a highly requested service um at our customer service level. So um the PE's library building, are you all familiar with the building? um is also
an income generator for the library and um we do have two long-term tenants, Northwest Berg and Central Dispatch and Bowler Engineering. Um in 2026, we project the net income of those leases to bring in about $64,26.
It is slightly lower last year because we do um have plans for some sewer mitigation and uh facade work that has to happen. So, we'll bring in a little bit less income from the peas. um leases. Um as far as expenses are
concerned, uh our um staffing remains lean. Uh we do run a seven day a week building and um at optimal service level. So there's security issues. So we do have to have a certain number of people in the building. Um and we are um we had to
incorporate a 2.5% union negotiated salary increase. And as we all know, health insurance costs have uh gone up about 35%. Um on the technology line, we did
accomplish a lot in 2025. We upgraded our wireless network. Uh we connected to the Bergen County fiber network and which will save us money. And um we began our phased approach in replacing our computers which um we've absorbed
that capital um expense into the operating budget. Um so we'll be able to upgrade without making um any cap any additional capital requests and whenever we have a surplus we uh put it
into buildings and grounds because that is an area that we continue to focus on. uh in 20 um just this past year we did um replace the the HVAC system downstairs and um in 2026 we have some slate roof remediation that has to get
done uh elevator work. We upgrading automatic doors and we continue to pursue the generator hookup um in case anybody was going to ask about that. Um and >> generator that generator >> we are poised to uh start uh renovating
the public bathrooms in the next two weeks. So um that is some great news and people will people will love that and that is from our capital um requests from previous years. Uh and we also expect to begin renovating the auditorium, our mostused program room uh
with private funds uh from the Friends Foundation. And just on an off here for buildings and grounds, if you walked over to the library today, right now, we are packed to the rafters with kids studying for
midterms. >> Yay. >> So, good stuff. Um, books, databases, and media are are central to our mission. Ridgewood is a community of readers. If you ask anyone, you will know that. Um, we've allocated additional funds for both physical and digital collections. Um, one little
tidbit, in 2025, we circulated more than 96,000 digital items, um, which represents 24% of the total circulation, which used to be single digits. Um, digital materials often cost
significantly more than physical books. And if we had a couple of hours, I could go over that with you and you would be appalled. So, um, this the investment in this line item allows us to meet demand across all formats, uh, and serve readers of all preferences. And, um,
finally, the budget includes a capital request of $115,000. Um, first priority is replacing the 20 year old swing automatic doors with sliding glass doors to improve accessibility and traffic flow. And the
second priority is 55,000 for the final phase of carpeting replacement in this on the second floor. We the carpeting was replaced uh with capital funds downstairs. We asked for half of it last year, asking for the second half this year. and um that will align with the uh
the fundraising that we'll be doing for the second floor renovation. And just as a final note, the the library's top priority always remains to to be providing highquality service programs and assistance while maintaining um while minimizing the
impact on Richwood taxpayers. So that's always at the forefront when we're uh preparing our budget. So, thank you for your continued support and I would be happy to take any questions that you might have. >> So, Lori, just to confirm your capital request, it's $55,000 for carpeting, correct?
>> Carpet is number one. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> So, I don't have any questions, but just two quick comments. Um the first is I have the privilege of being liaison to the library and I and I I will leave it to others to go on about the wonderful things that you all do but I just want to note how um struck I am with how well
the finances are run um by the library. Um the reports we get every month are exceptional and it's very clear that you're meeting your goal there. Not only providing a a tremendous service but doing so um while keeping the taxpayer in mind. So as a resident, thank you for that. Um, but folks don't know how much
work goes behind the scenes and I get to see every month how well it's done. Um, so thank you for that. Um, and then the second is people probably don't appreciate how much funding you get from all the volunteer work through the Friends Foundation and that the budget that we're talking about tonight doesn't
represent really your real operating budget. That there's a tremendous benefit to the taxpayers in that much of what you do, especially with some of those big improvements, is completely funded through private donation dollars. Again, something to be super proud of and really one of the things I think makes the library so great is that you
get so much money from other sources that don't go into everybody's property taxes. So, as a citizen, as a councilman, and as the liaison, I just want to thank all three of you as well as the entire board. >> Thank you. Uh Lori, I have a question. So, um, you mentioned that your health
care costs have gone up by 35% and I know this year was a big jump and I know that the village um changed health care plans that virtually everybody signed up for. Um, Keith, do you do you have an idea of of what our our increase was uh
on the new program that we're on? So, had we done nothing with structural change to the state health benefits plan here in Ridgewood, uh, our projected increase going into this year's budget was going to be $3 million with encouraging employees to move to
the high deductible plan and implementing the difference card. Uh, we project somewhere in the neighborhood um to be confirmed around $900,000 increase over last year. Um, we had 178 of 233
>> 33 >> about 60% of our employees moved over to the high deductible plan. Um, unfortunately that was not the case at the library, not from lack of effort. Um, but you know, employees are very um accustomed to their current employee
health care plan. Um, and I think, um, I'm hopeful that as folks at the library and other employees in the village who chose not to move see what their friends and colleagues, um, here in the village experience on the high deductible plan,
which is not a plan change. It's just a use of the difference card and us paying all the out-of- pocket expenses um, for the employees. Uh, that maybe there'll be some change of hearts during the next open enrollment. So, so with with the new plan, you don't anticipate our
employees having having this cost them any more money over the old plan? >> No, actually, it's going to save the employees money because we're covering all of the out-of- pocket expenses and their contributions under chapter 78,
which is their um what they see reduced from their paycheck to offset their health care contributions. Um the premium for the high deductible plan is half the cost of the direct 10 plan, right? So they're putting our highest earners in the village are actually
putting uh $11,664 back into their paycheck in 2026 if they've moved to the high deductible plan and are taking advantage of the difference. >> So it's actually saving the employees money and saving the village money. >> Correct.
And so, >> so we ask Alex, I was dancing as fast as I could in October. Um, and we had a meeting and we tried to convince everybody librarians are natural researchers and I think maybe they needed extra time and we didn't
>> I as long as as long as you are fully aware of >> fully aware and and I am fully confident that next year we will have conversion >> and again it's it's not our budget. It's and we we appreciate the the the courtesy review. I I'm just thinking again in terms of and I know you're
dancing as fast you can on it. I got that. Is is to save the employees money as well as the library and the taxpayers because if if it just saved the library and taxpayers money if I was an employee I wouldn't change. >> But if it saves them money
>> and I know that again you're you know I'm preaching to the saved on this one. Right. But I'm I'm hoping that maybe one or two of those staff members might be looking in on this and hearing that if it saves them money and gives them the same coverage. >> Yeah.
>> Um you know that's and and believe me I understand we're all we're married to our health care plan. So um >> if if you could speak into the microphone Gail. >> Hi. I was thinking um we've been discussing this um and I is it possible
for Keith or someone to come to the library and give a presentation about this again to library employees. >> I'm gonna volunteer them. >> Yeah, please. >> So through you, mayor. I'm I'm ahead of you. Um when we had our budget meeting last week with Lori and Alex, I offered just that. Um I off also offered to
bring in um our representative from the difference card who is exceptionally versed in answering just about any question that an employee can come up with because they do this in with multiple government agencies in New Jersey. Um so more than happy to to come and have that conversation and there
there is some rumblings in the rumor mill in New Jersey that they may do an open enrollment midyear. Now there's nothing that's official. There's nothing that's been said, but it's certainly something that's being contemplated. Um, and with this new administration in
Trenton only being there for the last 24 hours, uh, we'll give them some time to figure that out, but that is something that's being contemplated down there. So, if that's the case, you know, we should align the education program for the employees to happen before any early
enrollment early enrollment in this year uh, takes place. If not, we'll wait till next October and we'll we'll align it for that. So I just had a couple things I want to say um because people are listening. So our council has been deeply committed to alternate sources of revenue. So not
only do you have the dedicated tax but peas library because Gertude Peas was a genius uh benefits only the library. And so that rental of that building which is over on Garper Square not to be confused with Wily Square offsets your budget by
$64,000. And that's just smart. Um, and I think the general taxpayer, and you guys, you know, should only be complimented on that. Additionally, um, I have a couple anecdotal things here. Um, my daughter got her passport renewed this year. It was such a service. She
forgot one of her papers. She came to the gym and then three people up on my gym heard about this and went and it is such a service. And then financially, it produces such revenue. I'm so impressed. I also want to let the public know that as a reader, this year's author is so
prime time and going to generate such income. It's Anna Quinnland. So, um that is the first book that I read in a public place and cried about. Um so, congratulations on that. And lastly, just an idea. Um Frank Keith and I and I the police are here. We've there's a
Real Idea Crunch in New Jersey, right? So, like you know, Real ID is like kind of a nightmare to get and DMV now has a new head. In other states, libraries do processing and they get the revenue. And so this is not allowed in the state of New Jersey. It's not like something that we can do now, but I like ideas and if
okay with you guys, I'd like to talk about that. We have a new now appointee at the head. So in New Jersey, you just go to DMV or you torture Heather and get the DMV van, but in states like other states like Massachusetts allows you to apply for it at AAA. Um, and other ideas
at the state level or library. So, I'd like you guys to think about that because if you can do passports, you could do Real ID. We could get some revenue. We could get some service. It could make identification in the state of New Jersey better. And I just am really warm on the idea that this is a good service for Rididgewood. And it
it's just an idea, but maybe Rididgewood could write a letter. We could talk about that and bring in some extra revenue. >> Yeah. I mean, the library is poised to, you know, take over any kind of system like that, especially now that we're up to speed on passports. We have uh really
solid staff there. We understand, you know, the the bureaucratic uh rigomearroll you have to go through. So, we'd be happy to to >> do whatever we needed to do. >> So, I'm going to I'm going to send you that. But I think this is like, you know, a huge part of our function is to
make these governmental processes easier. And the library is just that. It's like a dream. If you haven't renewed your passport, it's a dream. And, you know, they're very good. >> It's great. And I I hope this will work. So, uh, I'm going to write, Lori, >> and then your librarians can research
it. It'll be like the best paper ever that we send. Best best written letter in the state of New Jersey. >> No AI. >> And by the way, just on that note, I I am and and we've had this discussion, I'm so in awe of our library, how it has evolved over the years from the library
that I used to go to to what it is today. I mean, and again, just by way of example, that you process passports as a service to this community that supports the library that is there for the community is is just one shining example
of the many many things you do and and how and how the library has evolved. And you mentioned before how the auditorium is is the most utilized space. Um, I I have been in there for more programs than I can count over the years. So, I I
just want to thank all of you for the and your and your wonderful staff for the incredible work you do. I know that everybody who works at the library loves the library. So, thank you all. Really appreciate. >> Thank you so much. >> And I'd like to say that um my daughters
are in the library all the time. So, um they probably account for a lot of that 96,000. Um, and as Paul said too, like the the library of things is real important and everything from the Wi-Fi hotspots um to just movies and everything. So, it's it is and and my my
kids are always and my wife too say how it's the best library in the area because of all this stuff. So, thank you for all you do. And we have the best historian at our library as well. So, thanks for that, too. >> She she's very good. Well, thank you. >> Great. So, let's let's see if we can if we can save some of the some of the
staff some money on their health care costs um while maintaining the high level of health care insurance that they have now. >> Thank you. >> Here, I will assure you we will have some reduction. >> Thank you so much. Thanks. >> So, mayor, my suggestion is we have the
police department up next. I think we should take them and then maybe call for a break um before we finish with the fire department and with the village clerk's office >> if you insist. Okay. Chief, captain. So, as the chief and the captain uh make their way forward, um I just want to
again call the council's attention uh to the salaries and wages line item. Um obviously, the cost of police and the cost of um the fire department um are two of the bigger line items in our municipal budget when it comes to to
compensation packages. Um I will take a moment of personal privilege here that um very pleased that we were able to sign the new PBA contract um or actually physically signing it on Wednesday. Um but we were able to um agree to the
terms and conditions uh before the end of last year. Um this year's cost of living increase uh for the members of PBA Local 20 um is a 1.5% increase. Um, and a lot of that had to do with the the
negotiations and the willingness uh to work with us on the difference card. Um, and the changes to the health benefits that we just discussed with the library. Um, and obviously there's steps also built into the uh to the salary and wages adjustments that you see before
you. Um, the operating expenses again summarized in the bottom um are not too significantly beyond where they were last year. Um, but I'll let the chief speak to the specifics. um on his budget. >> Good evening. How's everybody?
>> Welcome. >> Thank you. Uh I just wanted to go over really quickly um we kind of went over our our kind of accomplishments throughout the year. I think we've all seen them. Uh we are very busy. We're only getting busier as I've said year-over-year. We uh responded to
25,780 calls for service which is not insignificant. Um, our main goals for 2026 is the final finalization of our statewide accreditation. This has been a massive undertaking. We had to redo all
of our evidence, all of our policies, and our rules and regulations. While that might sound just like logistical paperwork and stuff like that. It is basically the heart and soul of the department. every single policy, every single procedure and the evidence is literally from some of the stuff we have
is 75 plus years old because it's the retention schedules mandate us to keep it that far. So we've done a complete overhaul of all those things. We are completely done with all of that. Now it's just a matter of what they call obtaining proofs. So, we're just proving how we operate. And I'm estimating March
to April, we'll be able to have an on-site inspection for the creditors to come in and actually do the accreditation. That's when we can schedule it. When they actually get in will be another story, but I'm going to say before the middle of the year, that should be done. But that was kind of a massive undertaking. That's why it takes
a little bit more uh kind of explanation. The other thing we've done is we added some more people to the traffic safety division. As we know, our traffic in Ridgewood is one of our paramount concerns. Um, so we've added some more people there to actually go out and do the enforcement. We have a fantastic sergeant in there right now.
We have lieutenants who have extra extra knowledge. We have a lot of good, knowledgeable people. Now, what we were doing was adding the people to actually go do the enforcement to slow the people down to educate the motorists and residents on how to be safe. Uh the last thing that's a primary goal for 2026 is
the attorney general's office has created a new uh call it task force but group for law enforcement education. What that means is that they'll be coming out with more mandated training. We already have
unbelievable amounts of mandated training. But now that the attorney general has come out and this was one of the last acts they took um with a whole new section to dedicate to training, I am positive that there will be even more of this type of training to come out. So
that will affect us because as you know we have a minimum we have to keep a certain amount of people on the road while still getting everybody trained. We can't just pull everybody off the road and train them while they're on duty. We have to actually bring them in sometimes at at a cost. But I do, as
much as that's difficult, it is one of the reasons that New Jersey law enforcement is so far ahead of most other states when it comes to liability consciousness, safety consciousness. You know, the way we use treat use of force incidents is just heads and tails above
everyone else. Um, really quick as it goes to salaries and wages, I just want to say if you look at the salary wages from 2025 to 2026, it looks like it went up, but that's because we were very short. >> If you look back at 2024,
we're only about $200,000 over that, which would account for the raises and the steps and all of that. Um it 25 kind of gives you a false sense of a number and it looks like we're $767,000 above that number, but that was because
we were very very short on staffing. So I would I would ask you to just look back the one year to 24 we were closer to our optimal staffing. I would like to take a brief second and just thank the council for helping us get back to where we need to be. We are very close to our
our actual number. We are are asking to hire two this year because we have one person who did not make it through field training and we have another person who is retiring August 1st. So if we hire somebody in July, it will not exactly make up for it, but it's as close as we could possibly. >> So Chief, if I could just clarify that
that those would be both replacements. >> Both replacement. >> One one person who resigned at the end of last year and one anticipated retirement for this year >> and that person has actually put in through the state. So they are >> and what does that bring our headcount to? >> Right. So we will be exactly at 40. Our
authorized number would be 49. Not including the class threes, >> not including >> the class three specials because class three >> those are they they're technically sworn law enforcement but because they're only on school grounds I'm not counting them and they are actual numbers >> and they're being paid by the school board
>> by the board of education. That's right. >> So currently we're at 47 with an addition of two. >> Right now we're at 48. >> Okay. And we lose one. We're going to lose one to go to 47 by the time we get the other two and get back to 49.
>> Um the other expenses really quick, the maintenance of other equipment. Uh we were we actually I'll give you the highlight first. The the operating expenses it looks like it's going up about $320,92.
Again, it's really not because last year we were under the budget close to $200,000. The reason we were under the budget was we were still short last year and while we were getting new people there, we couldn't actually get some of the things we needed. We couldn't get to all the trainings we could needed, we
couldn't also get some of the people up on some of the systems. So, while it looks like we're going up 300,000, it's really about about a 100,000ish. And again, most of that and I'll go through that's what the handout I just gave you for there. A large majority of that 50%
actually is one project and that's villagewide security and all the other ones are just basically basically inflationary costs. I mean that the range has went up. Um all our contractual services are going up you know 5 to 7%. So that's where that's all
coming from. But the lion share of that is the one that I I'm figuring we will discuss which is the villagewide security um contractual services which will be discussed clothing uniforms will be going down about $24,500 again because we're only going be uh
asking for two and last year we did um six so it goes down a decent amount. Conferences and meetings uh is down. Vehicle leases are about the same. They they hold pretty steady because we're trying to maintain the same amount of our fleet. And again, I'll ask that you
look uh while that's a large number at 210,000, it did reduce our capital by about 320 to 360,000 a year. Um the police vehicle maintenance uh we have as 125,000. We did not end up using all of
that last year, which is a good thing. It's just to make sure our cars, uh police vehicle maintenance, >> 56 56. Yep. >> We ended up not using a lot of it, which is a good thing. It means we kept our cars in very good shape and didn't damage them. But it is something that we want to make sure we have available so
we don't have dented and dinged and dangerous trucks. Uh is there any questions about the operating I can go on to capital or can we just go back to I wasn't following the salaries. So you're at 7.9 million proposed on salary. In 2025
you were at 75. 2024 you were at 7 like 7.1. So I didn't quite track with what you were saying. >> So I was saying if you look closer to let me get back to my page here. This the total salary wages in uh 24 was like
72 and the total salary in um 26 is 74. >> So they're much closer. I was saying if you look at the 2025 it was like 67. It was much lower >> from the number I have because we we didn't have that many people were 69 was the ended up being the exact
>> I was looking at total not not I I see what you did you were looking at the full-time I was looking at total okay >> oh you're looking at the yeah I was looking at just the full-time salaries and I I was trying to explain that it was because we didn't have that many officers we were short. So I would rather look back two years to where we were closer to being full staff than
look at 25 because otherwise it looks like we jumped up dramatically. And I'm and I'm going to assume that the bulk of the difference then overall is just I mean because two I get the two people issue is just contractual. We're required to pay our two to three% every year. >> The rest of that is just contractual and steps. A lot of the officers we have
junior officers and they're stepping up. >> So they they they're in their steps and they're they're coming up. So that that makes up all of it really. There's no extra personnel being added to this. >> And then if you were fully staffed, you wouldn't have overtime. >> I would love to say you wouldn't have overtime. the overtime will be
minimized. That's why we lowered it here. But overtime in police service, fire service, anything that's 24/7 is, you know, the FBI gives you the uh the estimate of 5 to 10%, which is a massive estimate, but that really does end up coming into play when you have, you
know, just take a major storm. When you bring in six extra people, it really is one of those you have major incidents. Overtime will always be existent. The idea is not to have it out of control where some places are in the 10, 15, 20% because they're not well staffed. When you're well staffed, it's not something
that we rely on. Whereas you actually have towns that have overtime every weekend, every, you know, Sunday, every month. We are not going to be in that case. We'll have it only when there's a critical incident, a storm, you know, a major crime to investigate. That's kind
of what will always happen no matter where you are. But it's to prevent the this shift is short and we pay overtime every time it's supposed to be there. That's the key because that's where overtime costs just skyrocket. >> And the training mandates as uh Captain
End just brought up. We're not 100% sure what they're going to be. Last year they added, and again I I'm not against what they added. It's just it's it's hard to fund them. They added um defensive tactics, which I strongly believe in. They added active shooter. Again,
strongly believe in, but you know, they add eight hours. This year it's 16 hours. Well, 16 hours is two full days for every one of our officers. Say we have close to 50 officers. That's a decent amount of time. While we can get some on duty, we cannot get all. It's impossible. We need people to be
working. And they keep increasing that. Next year there will be, you know, another component of critical incident management. I don't know what that's going to be yet. They don't know what that's going to be yet. They just came out with that guideline on um how everybody wants to do active reunifications, which again, brilliant
idea and we do need it. But are they going to make us every officer do eight hours, every officer do 16 hours? We don't know. And when you're looking at those, those are 50 to $60,000 price tags every time you say every officer has to do this amount of training. So Chenzo, that's one of the primary
increases, not increases, but causes of overtime because I look at these every two weeks and whenever you can have guys that on training, you have to staff to get your minimum staff. So you wind up having these guys staying over for the next shift or coming in to satisfy the shift. So that generates a lot of the overtime.
>> Yeah. The mandatory training and we do a lot of training. Um most of it is not mandatory and that will cost us no overtime. We make sure we schedule adjust and we actively manage our department so this does not create overtime but the mandatory training that's going to be overtime and it's one
of those where when you when you say somebody has you have to get every officer somewhere it there's really nothing we can do and again it's not a Rididgewood police problem. It's not even a New Jersey problem. This is nationwide the officers that have to go to the overtime that have to do the the
mandated training. They're almost exclusively on overtime. other countries figured it out, but they've kind of militarized their police forces and they just have like squads and there's no overtime and it's a whole separate system. But we uh we're kind of on this this spectrum here. But we do do our
best to minimize it by kind of actively managing when we can move people, how we can adjust them. But there's unfortunately a very very strong limit to that because we need to be able to provide services to our residents 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There's no time where we're like, "Oh, everybody's off. they can go to
training. >> Other questions? >> No. Capital. >> So, moving on to the capital. We're still in the process of switching over the radios that we had started last year. We have a little under half of the
portable radios bought. This would allow us to do what a lot of the other towns have um went to. First off, it's a a different system that allows us to use county frequencies, state frequencies. So, in an emergency, we can actually switch to a frequency that's universally
used, whereas on the current system we're on, we can't switch to that. So, right now, we have about 24 radios that can do that, but we need to finish it out for the rest of the department. Uh it also allows encryption and a lot of that other kind of safety stuff that most towns have moved to now. It's just
the price tag is not cheap. As you can see, that's 360,000 to finish the project. And that is just we're just talking about portable radios. We're not talking about infrastructure or anything like that. These portable radios will allow us to use county frequencies in an emergency, state frequencies in an emergency, things like that.
>> Yeah. We had this conversation last year and I and I remember doing the division um of how much each one costs. I'm not going to do it again because it's only going to make me upset. the I don't want to call it good news, but they they haven't went up yet this year. >> They're still about the same, which is
still a ludic a ludicrously high number, but >> Yep. >> Um the next one is the outfitting of the vehicles. We do lease our vehicles, but to upfit a vehicle, these are not standard vehicles. You're looking at very close to about 47 $48,000 that we put into each vehicle. The good
news is a lot of times we can you reuse some of the equipment. That's why we've been trying to stick with the same cars. say it be a Dodge Durango, you can take the stuff out of one Dodge Durango and put it in another. The bad news is, as everyone knows, technology leaps and bounds. So, you try to use some of it,
but technology-wise, they're like, "Nope, that's outdated. We no longer support that." And you have to keep switching them up. >> Yep. >> Um some of the hard like the cages, things like that. As long as they're, you know, in decent shape, we can kind of move those. But of course, that's not the lion share of the money is electronic. So it looks like the ask
here is for 145,000. Am I reading that right? >> Yeah. So basically it's it's three cars. >> Oh, sorry. So and so what does that get us? So what's your total what is the 140? That's your total ass is 145 >> total. Yeah, that's a total. So >> what does that get us? >> Three cars fully outfitted, not not the
cost of the car. That's just the outfitting of the car. >> And I But what about the radios? Where's that? >> So that would be Well, the radios is above the the 360. That's portable. So we're talking about portable radios in the top one. just the the ones that are on our belts and then the the the car radios and everything would be in that
150. So, you do get the uh amazingly enough, the portable radios, the the mobiles are cheaper than the ones that go in the car, even though the ones in the car are much stronger. That's just how that works. I guess the smaller the more expensive. >> What's the life expectancy of the
portable radios? >> Uh 3 to five years. >> That's good. or or until technology changes. >> Yeah, I mean they they say 3 to 5 years, but I mean it's you know that they keep changing. The the only good thing I'll say is these particular radios are right now the the new ones.
>> So we hope three to five years you know in the past and I'm going way back prior to this council way back sometimes people would try to save money get like two generations or iterations below. The problem with that is then all of a sudden you can't even get them and they're no longer being serviced or
maintained and they're like, "Yeah, those are not in warranty. We won't even support those." And you're like, "Well, now we're now we're in trouble." >> Can we look at flip phones? >> Yeah. It would be a lot cheaper if everybody have a phone, but not safe enough. >> Um the other one was the another big item here is the body worn cameras
through Axon. >> This is another one that I I mean a lot of my capital there's really no fluff here. This is a an attorney general mandate. We have to have body warn cameras. Uh, Axon is kind of the game in town. Now, what Axon allows us to do is
all of our discovery requests, all of our information sharing for the prosecutor's office, everything like that is just a drag and a drop and a secure link gets sent. The way we used to do it was you burn a disc, you drop it off, they'd say they didn't get it.
You burn another disc, you drop it off, they say it doesn't play. They don't have the decoder. 900 million things and you'd end up having personnel hours out out of hand to just do the same job that now you just go drop. Boom. And not to mention when that disc is gone,
it's very hard to say who had it, where it went. We used to do trackable. Hey, you signed for it. This is all digital signature. This is just the way everybody does it now from the NYPD, LAPD, Burton County Prosecutor's Office, state police. It's kind of the thing. That being said, that's why Axon is
charging what they charge because they are a one service, one-stop shop now. They are kind of what you do, what you use. Everyone in this county, in the state, pretty much the nation uses. >> Other questions? >> The last thing I want to bring up because this is in my budget, but it's
not primarily police department is that's why I had to bring it up. Uh, villagewide security. This is for the cameras, the the swipe cards, the um pretty much everything at from the stable to >> this in this includes panic buttons, uh
security upgrades at some of our ancillary facilities, including the the village garage, Chestnut Street, the stable, um some of the the smaller facilities that don't have a direct line to the police department like we do here in in Village Hall. um that in the event
of an emergency, you know, have the infrastructure um to um to put them in the safest space necessary. >> So that that is what this is the hardware for it and that 50,000 that was in operating that I said was 50% that's
like the software, the licensing and all that. So it's a major project but I did pretty much the police department's in charge of it. We're making sure that, you know, we coordinate it all, but it is kind of a something that could be looked at from multiple budgets because these are not all going, actually, in
fact, none of these are going to the police department. They're all going to multiple different areas of town. But >> and at at Monday's budget meeting, you'll hear more from some of the other directors about what their concerns are and their needs are in this space. >> Does this cover the library as well, or
do they have separate security? They have mostly separate security, but we do have a lot of stuff that points towards them. And you like we kind of overlap with them, but it's not completely dedicated to them. Okay. >> Anybody else?
>> Gentlemen, thank you so much. >> No, of course. >> Thank you. >> And with that, >> mayor, if you'd like to take a break, I think uh Chief Judge will be here around 7:15. >> Great. 7:15. >> Yep. I can't stop.
from different >> Oh, yeah. Good. >> I'll just call a roll. Uh, Council Member Mortimer >> here, >> Deputy Mayor Perin >> here, Council Member White >> here, >> Council Member Winterrad >> here, >> and Mayor Vatanos
>> here. And we will now resume and begin with uh fire department chief. Thank you so much for being here. Um your department is something that we are all proud of and we know that you lead this department really well and we are fortunate to have you. >> Thank you mayor. Appreciate it. >> Sure.
>> Good evening everyone. First off just a thank you to finance and manager's office for this budget. You guys put so much work into this. So appreciate all the hard work to helping me out with this. Um, starting with salaries and wages, uh, no increase of
personnel, so the only increases are contractual percentages and steps. It's really all you have for salaries and wages. >> And you're at full strength. Any concerns or >> We finally are right now. I will >> What's your head count, John?
>> Uh, 46. >> Okay. >> I will always say I'm looking for more. I'll never deny that. If you want to provide three this evening, I am happily going to accept that. Six would be even better. Um, >> so gracious of you. >> Of course, I'm always aiming for those NFPA standards. However, I understand where we're at and right currently we
are at full strength. So, yes. >> And any expected retirements anytime soon? >> Not this round. I'd say in a three-ish years. Okay. I think we're going to start seeing some change. >> Moving on. >> Okay. Uh, other expenses. I'd just like
to bring your attention to, I guess, a couple talking points. 051 to start. just to explain why the increase was so much. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. In ' 051, what we did this year was after talking to the garage and after talking to we're
looking at the problems we had with summer apparatus this year and the expenses that we had uh we are going like to go to Campbell who is um doing the repairs right now in our current vehicle and they do a preventive maintenance once a year on the engines, the rescue, pretty much all the big
major vehicles. Uh the garage is wonderful. Just these vehicles are getting more specialized, more technical, more electronics. There's so much more in them. And by sending them once a year here, we truly feel that they'll almost like buying insurance. It'll pay off on future repairs by
having them do a full once through every year. So that's why that increase is there. Um 029 are the other two increases like to bring to your attention. Um if you're on the actual 029 sheet, there's something called first due software. It says 21,000.
Um the true net cost of that will be about 156. Uh what that is is everything that runs the fire department. So we currently have a software that is incredibly incredibly old. And I mean really old. Um we do all of our mandatory reporting on it. We do all our
inspections on it. We do our ISO rating uh drill tracking on that. We do everything on this thing. Um the program's very old. The owner has told me they are looking to go away with the program in the near future and it can't keep up with our current needs. Uh we spent the last couple years going through about six to seven different
softwares and some of them range between 25 and 30,000 most of them. This was the most the best one we found and it does everything. So it'll do response for us. It'll do everything I talked about. Um and it's an all-in-one. We had to make the move sooner or later but that's where that cost is.
Uh and the other cost I'd like to bring your attention to is the uh payment for billing services. uh the 42,000. Um so just to explain this, the men and women at the department are amazing and they do a really fantastic job with the job
they do has increased the revenues from EMS greatly. Um since the fire department uh started overseeing EMS, uh early on we broke 400,000 for the first year in revenues. Then we broke 520, we broke 540, and this past year we're
almost 700,000 in revenues. With the revenues though comes the expense of paying the billing company. So that is where that increase is from is just increased revenue cost. >> So that's where that number is. That number used to be about 28,000 give or take. Uh so we've increased
about 15,000 for revenues over the last two years. So that's really the changes to OE though. Uh, and the POS account we were able to lower a small amount just to reduce um, with the SCBA we got and the
not hiring, we're assuming we'll spend a little bit less on repairs and uh, >> uniforms this year. >> So, it looks like the changes are pretty modest. >> I'm sorry. >> The changes are pretty modest. >> Yeah. So, that's the only reason for the increase there was that and the as the
the um, P is a very modest >> change below. So I worked through with our department, I worked through with finance and despite the 20 actually I think about 31,000 in increases we were drastically able to bring that back between um reductions really
streamlining some operations, efficiency costs and things of that nature. So the increase is nowhere near that. >> Okay, capital. >> Wait, wait, wait. Why is why did um fire prevention go down at 015?
So fire prevention there is the annual stipens that we put in there and I think at the end of the year there's some balancing of accounts it seems because I think somewhere in here there's about 38,000 credits. I think that's where it kind of balances through.
>> Okay. >> So Olivia, can you can you talk us through um a 15 >> because the budget request is 23. However, the actual was over 63 and last year we appropriated 23. So just give us
a little backstory on that. >> Oh, right. John Young's salary is already paid elsewhere. >> That's okay. And repeat what you said so the folks at home. >> As you point out, John Young's salary is up in there. So if you take that out, you're comparable.
>> Any other questions? >> Salaries and wages, operating expenses. >> All right, Chief, can we pivot to capital? >> Capital. Sure. Um, three things. Please don't go by the list you have. Uh, things have changed a little bit, but um, the first one is what's on there,
the sinking fund. Um, NFPA is, uh, says 15 years front line, five years to reserve for an engine. Uh, our vehicles 23 years were up to. >> Um, we have been thankfully saving money over the last couple years. You guys have been gracious enough to provide us with that. We have about 520 in that
account. I'm asking for 600. That 600 would bring us to about 1.1 million and would put us in this place to place the order for the engine finally. >> And chief, can you talk about the delivery time on that vehicle? >> I remember this. >> If I said two, that'd be very generous. You're looking at at least probably
three and in some cases other departments. I've heard four. >> And and they don't even let you order it until you have the money. >> Yes. You cannot. It has to have the money, place it, and then I hate I haven't heard so much with fire, but some places I've heard in the past it's been you want it, here it is. Oh, it's
an extra 100 grand more when you ordered it if you still want it. That happened to us initially with an ambulance is why we actually had changed our provider for the ambulance. We had were given a price. It came in they said someone else was willing to pay a lot more and it went >> do we have to give a deposit for this or
do we have to pay in advance? So, >> you have to give him a PO, purchase order, which is a contract. >> But just but but no, no money. >> All the money has to be appropriated. >> Has appropriated, >> right? But you give him a purchase order. >> Yeah. The issue that John's talking about is very interesting though because
they know that you need this vehicle and so they're bumping up the price and they say to you, you don't want it, we'll go someplace else. We know plenty of municipalities that want to buy this. But once you issue a purchase order, I mean, is isn't isn't there some contractual arrangement?
>> Absolutely. That is the contract. T >> typically what happens is once the money is in place, the fire department will put a committee together and we'll start to draw up what the spec what the specifications are for the truck that we're looking for. And then once that
process is undertaken and the vendor knows what the specifications are, then they'll price that out and they'll they'll issue us a a contract uh purchase order as Bob said, which then is binding. >> Okay, good. Thank you.
>> Good. Okay. Um number two is the garage door replacement. This year we replaced two of the front garage doors. They're about 34 years old from when the building was there. uh replace two and I got a quote for $20,267 to replace the other two just to finish
off the project. And then the last request right now, uh there's no dollar value for at the moment. We're determining a place for the third ambulance. Uh due to changes at Douglas, we're looking for a new location for that. Uh we're in talks with two other municipalities who just built some storage. So we're trying to
get some pricing and how they handled that. And we also have to meet with our new engineer right now just to final finalize some numbers, locations, things about that because I know there's some where we can and can't place things in the town because of flooding and things of that nature and space issues. >> So, we should have a better handle on
that by the end of next week and by the time we come back with a full recommendation on capital, that that will likely be part of this. >> Good. That's all I have. >> Nope. >> John, thank you so much. >> Perfect.
Have a great evening everyone. Thank you. >> You be well. >> All right. And last but certainly not least tonight is um our village clerk uh who's going to go over the clerk's office budget in addition to the
elections budget for 2026. Could you please state your full name >> and whether you're a Richwood resident? >> And you should really she she really should only get three minutes. >> Yeah, that's a little low. >> I don't think so.
>> Very low. >> Here we go. >> Okay. So, I'll start with uh village clerk. We have no change in um uh personnel. Our two line items that have additional
money put into them are the office supplies, which is for minute preparation uh software because of the fact that we are trying to do it through AI. >> Oh, great. >> And so, we'll see how it goes. We're going to, you know, pursue it. And uh I
do know a few other municipal clerks who are using it and they say it's very beneficial. I mean it's still it learns as it goes on. So therefore, you know, we're going to really have to edit it closely in the beginning and then it'll learn,
you know, voices and it will learn who's who and so it's pretty interesting actually how it works. So th that's um the 3500 additional and then for the village code updates um I really have no
control over that because of the fact that the more ordinances we do the more we have to update the village code. So um that um I did put an increase in just in case um you know we stay where we are
and we continue to pass a lot of ordinances. So that's basically the changes in that budget. >> I think it's great with the AI because um when we were at the League of Municipalities, I went to the governing with AI. So in addition to the minutes, like there's also AI that can be used
for um Oprah requests and it can redact what needs to be redacted. And so I would say that in addition to the clerk's office, that AI can be used on our website so that residents can find information faster. So that's an investment that will save uh time and
money over the years. So thank you for starting that. >> Okay. I I haven't seen the Oprah portion of it ever and I don't know of any clerks who are using it. So um that's something that I'll certainly look into for >> Yeah, I can give you the contact from the >> Yeah, that' be good.
>> Um in elections, um legal ads is up because we do have a municipal election. So there are some additional um ads that do have to run for that election. And then under other contractual, we get
charged from the Bergen County clerk for the primary election expenses. We really never know how much it's going to be. It's based on the number of registered voters, the number of ballots that they they send out. Um and so this past year
it was $29,513. So, I just upped it a little bit so that we could, you know, pay that bill. Um, there was a year where they gave us the bill and it was quite significantly high and the Bergen County Municipal Clerk's
association actually asked John Hogan, the county clerk, to review it to make sure it was accurate and it actually came back as lower. There was a calculation error. So, I'm very happy that we as a group did that because um
it the increase was quite substantial and it came back down to where it should be. So, that's basically uh the changes um I don't know if you have questions. C >> can you speak a little bit to the um and I I don't believe it applies to
elections and you would know more about that than I would, but the change in the law that goes into effect this year with regard to legal advertisements. >> Sure. So, um, legal advertisements as of January 1st, we have to put in two ads a
month, one week, uh, two weeks apart. So, twice a month, two weeks apart, um, indicating that, um, this is where they can find legal ads on our municipalities website. In addition, as of March 1st,
the Secretary of State is also supposed to have a listing of all municipalities and where it is that you can find their legal ads. The Secretary of State has not yet provided us with that website. So, as of
March 1st, we'll have to incorporate that into our ad. So, we have to advertise that twice a month from January of this year to December of this year. Then in addition as of March 1st we can start exclusively advertising on
our website which will save us money. Um so this will be all our bids. It will be all our regular legal ads for ordinances resolutions the budget. It does not preclude you from advertising in the newspaper. So there may be certain
things like maybe the budget you would want in the newspaper and we could do so. And if you don't want to, you're not required to, but um you know, there may be certain things that we do want to have in the newspaper for whatever reason. So I do need some money to be
able to do that. Um so we have worked it out that we're using laser fish and we'll be able to direct it to that. And so we'll have the introduced ordinances. Most of them have to be up for a week.
Some do have to be up for 10 days. um or um and then after that they go to an archive. So that it'll be archived for 2026 and then when we go into 2027 there'll be a separate archive for 2027 and this
way they'll be listed. They'll be in there and anyone can look at it at any time. So um >> and and I I believe the election advertisements still need to go through the newspaper because that wasn't mentioned in the local >> Yeah, that wasn't. And so I have a feeling that that's probably the case.
I'm gonna check actually with the Bergen County Clerk's Office because they do advertising overall for all um municipalities. So, I'm going to ask them >> if they're able to just put it on their website. So, um I thank the legislature
because it's definitely a movement in the right direction. Um, and I think, you know, the demise of the Star Ledger probably hastened them in getting this done because of the fact that that was the major newspaper that many mid and
uh, you know, southern uh, municipalities used for their advertising. So, it's a good thing. Anything else? >> Sure. >> Good. any discussion on a reduction of
polling locations? >> No. And and really the the machines are bigger and they have been reduced um in size in the sense that um we we have three districts in one
location but it's one set of machines and one set of people checking people in and then another at the machine and another at the scanner. So actually the number of pole workers has been reduced and um
I think that you know we have two two polling places that have one district. All the others have two or three and so um those are the two that might be able to be combined. Um it's possible. I'd have to look at the population and we
have to go through the board of elections. They have to you know investigate. they have to pro, you know, approve it before we do so. But I mean, as far as cost savings, I don't know that it's going to save us that much money.
>> I I meant more just because so many people are using uh early voting. The demand must be down. >> A lot of people do. However, there are a lot of people who don't want to because they don't trust it and they don't believe that their vote counts, >> which actually their votes get counted
first. So, >> trust me, I have four voters in my house and everybody votes a different way every single time. >> Right. >> In some ways, it's actually more expensive with paper ballots. >> Yeah. >> Because of postage and the printing costs and >> so
>> that's true. >> So, any other questions, concerns? >> All good. >> Good. >> All good. >> Thanks, Heather. >> Oh, thank you. >> So, so >> thank you, Heather. Mayor Through you. Um, our next meeting uh will be on Monday, January 26th. Um, and at that
meeting, as I said at the top, we will be meeting with the municipal court administrator, uh, the parks and recreation department, um, all of the divisions that fall under the department of public works and the village engineers office. So that includes our
traffic signal division, our water pollution control facility, our streets and fleet division, uh the board of adjustment, zoning board, uh the engineering division, um all the utilities, and then we will um hear from
the OEM director um for emergency services and then the village manager's budget, the village council budget, the village attorney's budget. And that'll start again at five o'clock on Monday, January 26th. Thank you everybody. Motion to return.
Some move. >> Public comment. >> Public comment. All right. >> Let's go back to public comment. >> And I there is no one in the room. And I am told that there is no one online. So with that, we will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So move.
>> Second. All in favor? I I >> Let's go. Okay.