council Councilwoman Goldberg here Councilman Pagan here Councilwoman G here Councilman Catz Deputy Mayor Belchure Deputy Mayor Oregon here Mayor Schwarz here Okay
Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by resolution number 300-2024 Sending a copy to the newspapers officially designated for 2025 by way of the resolution number two-2025 Follow the copy in the township
clerk's office and posted on the municipal building bulletin board And the mayor hereby directs that this statement be included in the minutes budget meeting Uh with us the township administration here tonight are Jack the town
manager clerk chief financial officer the deputy town clerk Scott the town attorney is join our volunteer table master for the
publish commissioner currently holding a hybrid meeting people in person and on zoom if you will have an issue where the zoom meeting drops to retrieve connection Please sign up The council may be cancelled the
budget meeting on April 10th The next televised regular council meeting April 8th which remains at 6:30 p.m at 8 p.m Public access channels 477 down You can watch meetings on Zoom Facebook YouTube and the recording of
today's meeting will be on the website tomorrow On Monday April 7 from 7 to 9:00 p.m in council chambers there'll be a community information meeting on the proposed development at 87 road participation is in person The
meeting will be streamed on Zoom Council did not meet tonight in close session and we stand observe a moment of silence for deal will cost you for anything else Okay okay Oh sorry
Yes Good Okay So we got the uh anyone for good Alan SK resident Um next Saturday night uh Jews around the world will celebrate Passover our festival of
freedom Uh at the Passover seder traditionally there are a number of unusual practices that take place and the customary explanation for why we do these things and why we do them year after year is so that the children will ask The manish tan is one of the biggest
highlights of the seder especially for the children So too this budget demands questions Any rational person looking through this budget has to start scratching their head and asking questions Why is this pool different from all
other pools the Tene community pool is a wonderful addition to the township but the question is that there in recent years there have been three pools the Phelps Park pool turned into a dog park Much more recently the Hawthorne above ground pool and the Vote Park ingground
pool uh that have basically been run into the ground These have been so recent that the township's website still lists both pools at Hawthorne and Vote as existing The reason that both pools have been run to the ground is basically a lack of attention a lack of maintenance a lack of resources If not
for the blood sweat tears and let me add again sweat again of Trayvon Romeo who literally with his with his body was taking care of that pool for the past couple of years This would have failed years ago Uh the pools have been running at a tremendous loss and then the
question is how are we going to maintain the TX community pool what are the resources what is the budget for the pool the TX swim club had been running at a deficit Uh the reports that they had made out to the public showed that they were running at a deficit of about
$150,000 a year Uh and that that was basically the main reason why they were led to close Now the question is with the fees that will be charged there will be a substantial drop in revenue uh unless there's a huge spike in the number of former vote park pool
residents who are swimming there uh which will basically uh damage uh damage the revenue numbers while any credit that is given for the bonds that the TX Swim Club was unable to pay in the form of discounts at $100 per year will further reduce revenue How much will
that cost what will that add to the budget for this year this systematic neglect that occurred at the teen at the vote park and other pools is a pattern of what is going on in this township The DPW facility on River Road has long been
neglected It's been neglected so long that for years it's been called a death trap And basically there just been systemat some minor uh cosmetic changes that just to keep it operating year after year This has been part of of a
systematic problem Uh our sewer taxes also raise questions Why is it that in a year where we desperately need to have additional revenue where we're going to have one of the largest budget increases in the past 25 years do we not have an
answer to those questions thank you Thank you mayor Uh good evening council and Tene residents Tonight we welcome our acting recreation superintendent Sean Powers our DPW director Trarevon Romeo our township engineer Farah Galani
and also even though he is always present our township clerk Doug Rousion Um in addition we also have our CFO Issa Abasi here to assist with any detailed questions in reference to our 2025 municipal budget Tonight is part two of
our budget reviews with our departments that have a detailed budget that may have some questions of significant changes to the existing 2025 municipal department budget I'm going to start our budget review with acting superintendent of recreation Sean Powers If you could please come to the podium
Council we are reference referencing tab five page 124 Account 370 the department request is $524,940 $940 Um of which is
9.044% higher this year $43,500 Um sub account 211 I would just comment is down due to the utilization of online registration that has increased over time um and sub account 231 Um I would like um Sean to comment
on this is our equipment Uh the department is requesting $16,200 which is an increase of $285.71% So if Sean um if you could give us a little overview on that sub account that'd be great Sure Uh good evening mayor and council Uh this sub account is
um going up because of the one line item for lightning detection system monitoring fee to replace the siren and strobe lights for three parks Uh we plan to do three parks per year Uh the lightning detection is at its life
expectancy and um is in need of replacement for strobes and sirens Thank you Sean Um also we have sub account 250 which is building maintenance and equipment that is up 83.91% Um could you give us an
explanation as well sure Uh the main reason it's going up dramatically is 28,000 for gym 2 floor sanding which um is required or should be done every uh 7
to 8 years Uh we're currently at 9 years Uh so the sanding repainting and refinishing of the gym 2 roto center floor is needed Um additionally
uh we have uh blind and sign replacements uh $5,000 uh requested for this year um to start replacing broken and missing blinds throughout the roa center Uh additionally
uh folding chair replacements in the senior center and replacing rectangular six-foot tables Okay Um also we have sub account 253 which is um in addition this year our radon testing is due this year That's done every five years So Sean has
included that in um this year's recreation budget This is needed for the state licensing for our preschool and after school program Um that was all of the sub accounts I had Sean but I would like to jump to your capital budget for
recreation just to go through some of the items that you have in this budget Um did you want to go through them sure Um specifically thank you Uh first is the commercial commercial passenger van replacement
$120,000 Uh we currently have a fleet of three vans uh that provide transportation for senior and disabled residents going to local doctor's appointments food shopping and local errands All three vans are at their usable life expectancy and starting to
break down um keeping them off the road and therefore forcing us to occasionally cancel appointments while they're serviced by public works The three vans are 8 9 and 14 years old So they are getting old
and yes I think it's more the mileage and the wear and tear that it's been having going back and forth with the seniors Yes daily they are Yes they are used five days a week Now you call in um Dick residents can
call in um and request two weeks in advance They have a doctor's appointment and they need a transportation service We will provide that for them It's for senior and disabled senior senior and disabled residents Uh Hackin Sack Anglewood and Tene
only Doctor's doctor's visits um food shopping um and and local errands Yes they do They do You see Bergenfield has vans Um there many towns have it Yes
Yes Can I ask a quick question about the dim floor so in the 2024 budget we put in gym floor sanding for gym 2 Did we not do that or is that separate because it was 25,000 last year for gym two floor sanding in 24 we did not do that I think
Issa was taken out correct yeah I believe it was taken out Let me double check it But I remember uh with Dean as a manager we that was one of the cuts we made I'll just double check that the column reflects that Bear with me I'll get right back to you Yes Sean
you could go to the next item and then while Issa Next item is gym fans uh permanent installation in the Roto Center gymnasiums $100,000 This is needed for permanent solution to the lack of air flow in both gymnasiums uh the the gyms get extremely
hot uh and they're used seven days a week Uh so we need a solution and um we put in a uh for a grant money for this for $80,000 Um but it is absolutely needed So Councilman Goldberg to answer your
question last year it was requested 25,000 but if you look at last year's budget book the middle column manager approved is zero and the 23 adopted was zero as well Okay Thank you Mr Mayor can I ask a quick question um so when it comes to
playgrounds I know they don't build them the way they used to when we were little growing up in Tene And I know parts of our playgrounds are going up but um that's totally understandable How many playgrounds do we have down i know that there's Tune Park and that's going to take a while to fix but how many other playgrounds are experiencing any sort of
problems or closure just off the top of your head and if you don't know that's okay too Yeah No I don't I don't think there's any others um that are closed Okay So just her human that little part is gated off Okay Yeah Yeah There's some uh we had a tree branch fall on one of the apparatus in
Martin Luther King Park Um so that's roped off right there Right It's not It's not The park is still open So we're getting pricing to replace that apparatus Thanks for what you guys do because I get a lot of parents that always reach out about any sort of playground issue
Uh next item is a water fountain upgrade in Brooks Park uh asking for $50,000 This would cover the cost of new ADA fountains new concrete slabs new piping and address any drainage issues Um next up is the Phelps Park
ball improvement ball field improvements for $400,000 Um this is grant-f funded Uh by improving the quality of the fields the town can reduce ongoing maintenance costs A well-maintained field will require less frequent repairs saving
money in the long run Heavily used ball fields often experience wear and tear from constant activity More games and practices can degrade the quality of the fields leading to issues like poor drainage uneven surfaces and damaged turf
This is this is for the um minor and major right uh next up is the Phelps Park splash pad $500,000 Uh also a grant was received Um Splashpad uh provides a wide range of
sensory experiences that encourage motor skills crossgenerational play social development collaboration and cognitive and physical development for our youngest residents This will offer various fun and exciting spray features including directional jets fountain
sprays and split stream water apparatus controlled by placing your hand on an activator Any questions uh Phelps Park handball uh hand court upgrade $60,000 This is for resurfacing uh the
basketball and volleyball court Courts are very old I don't believe I I don't know that they've ever been touched Um it's desperate need of resurfacing and painting of the lines Um Sagamore Park playground and
splash pad upgrades including the restroom This was already presented There's a grant money for this was received for this project Um another muchneeded splash pad prefab bathroom and beautiful playground for all to enjoy I'm sure Pharaoh will speak more
on that And finally the ball field replacement 1.5 million for a redevelopment of OT Park's middlefield into a multi-use synthetic turf sports facility this project um to use possible
most funds and PSTNG funds if approved And that's it for capital Thank you Sean Um I'll also u bring up our Tina municipal pool or I'm sorry T community pool um that Sean is will be overseeing as um as part of the
recreation department Uh we do have it listed here um for 350,000 in our capital budget Um it is our best guess at this point based on the information provided by the TX Tex swim club Um improvements um for next
year could include um our basketball courts the tennis and handball courts also being used for pickle ball uh playground improvements to make them ADA compliant um snack bar improvements new new lounge chairs um all pending items
at this time Um as you know we um we took over this property just a couple weeks ago so getting actual quotes that were definitive at this time would not be possible Um but in our um list of items this is the best uh way for us to
have I think the funding and Travon and Sean have sat down with Issa and I and um we think that this will give us um the opportunity to make the necessary upgrades We also do need a new roof on the community uh pool Um so these these are this this is funding that we do feel
um we are confident we will need for um for for uh the 2025 capital budget So um I don't know if Sean you had anything else you wanted to add um about the pool No um these these are uh all things that will improve this uh beautiful facility
um tennis court uh possible pickle ball uh basketball court resurfacing um possibly shuffle board uh playground as the manager mentioned needs upgrading It's it's quite old Um we we did a
little research uh with the vendor and um I believe it's at least 27 years old so uh it is coming to its life expectancy for sure Thank you Sean What about the uh operations costs though for it i mean capital is one thing but I
don't see the operate like the day-to-day operations cost Um those are going um I believe you're referring to the item under DPW under that says boutique Is that what you're um well for the pool itself so is that it's underp and then this the headc count for the
pool is that going to be baked into recreation is that in here the the additional head for lifeguards for lifeguards and then that there was two or three full-time I think you said that for 50,000 is that in here,000 is under
Go ahead So the 50,000 for the lifeguard the what's it called the CPO CPO is under full-time salaries and wages under recreation Life cards fall under part-time salaries in recreation specifically the admin um salary line but you'll see in the budget book in tab
four as part-time but it's lumped into there I mean they're the same personnel correct me if I'm wrong Sean that are coming over from Vote for the most part to the community pool Yes Yeah There'll be hopefully many of our vote guards will be coming over as well as hiring
some of the swim clubs guards and whoever else supplies because we will need more We will need more cards for sure So even though so the the decrease in salary the full-time salaries for
recreation of $15,000 includes the pool Yes that's correct I mean I'd have to check why there was a decrease in it Uh but again there as long as the salary wage line is in the positive let's say there's a resignation or retirement you know you don't have to make any
transfers between them only when November comes around if there's an overage we would move funds there to cover it um typically what I look at with the recreation director is seeing how it trends it does some departments are higher than others in other years but typically they've trended fairly
well and that's why I've kept their budgets where they were some years one's up some years one's down but they kind of even each other Okay Can I before I switch gears to camp I still want to jump if someone has another pool question before I totally change to
camps Okay Um sports and arts So last year sports and arts the salaries lines was I want to say $90,000 It was huge Um which put us at a deficit for the program Did we were were we able to find
out if there was any uh was that part- timerrs if we were able to find out um what that was and kind of where are we with sports and arch for this summer yes So um the $90,000 um it it's we're attracting more
qualified more professional instructors um to lead each of our grades in the sports and arts camp Um and that is needed again this year to run a quality program like sports and arts year after year Is the revenue that we're bringing in
with the adjustments that we just made to the recreation going to close that gap do you think absolutely Absolutely Yeah It's going from 125 to $200 per session So that's a pretty substantial increase
Sorry my mic Sorry All right Thank you Thank you Thank you Sean Okay Now I would like to ask our DPW director Travon Romeo to come up um to go over his operating budget Council we're going to start by referring to tab
five page 96 DPW is requesting $2,98,850 Um in 2024 the adopted budget was $2,577,020 an increase of 12.88% for 2025 Javon we're going um we're going to start with sub account 210 contract
services There's an increase of 35.69% Could you give us an overview as to the increase um 210 that dealt with um contractors um for snow removal and
uh snow plowing Um upcoming sanitary um sewer point repairs Um additional trucks loaders and um contractors for leaf removal
uh also dealt with um the rental of uh three bucket loaders um contractors with crane um for tree removal We also um had requested um
for three treeline streets um to be removed All the trees on that street that Fenmore Rocklage and Whitaw um those trees have um outgrown their planting spaces and generally there was
an increase in contractor um force for the upkeep of um municipal parking lots Thank you Um also sub account 250 parks grounds and tree supplies is up 83% Can you give us an overview of that as well
yeah so we had um an increase in cost for um uh and that dealt with um the purchasing of um certified clean soil for various um recreational parks um increase in toiletry supplies
um for to accommodate the additional um restrooms and recre in recreational spaces that we recently um acquired Um the replacement of um some of the worn flags Uh spray paint for
field markings and graffiti cover up installation of um fall zone protection for parks the um playground areas and the replacement of um some landscaping
um barrels for our parks department Thank you Trarevon Um we're also going to um speak about sub account 280 outside repairs We have an increase of 23.92% I know many of our buildings um Travon and I speak about them daily Uh
we run into a lot of issues So um I'd like him to kind of summarize why we have an increase um on our repairs Um we have um some aging infrastructure Um more so in recent years we have been dealing
with a lot of um HVAC um problems Um and that has been hitting us really hard We have been spending a chunk of money um with the HVAC systems in most admissible buildings
um um to town hall uh recreation and it's in need of a new system Um we are doing work at uh fire headquarters and upcoming um police
headquarters Those units have outgrown their life expectancy and they're requiring more maintenance Okay Thank you Trarevon Um does anyone have any council any questions on this account um and then I
will jump to buildings and grounds Okay So we're going to jump to page 105 which is uh the DPW account 310 buildings and grounds Sub account 260 um will be revised for the Tina community pool
These are just general supplies that Siobhan will need on a daily basis to run and operate the pool As of now it it did uh it did reference the vote pool which is closed so that'll be updated uh sub account 270 um an increase of
67.72% Um can you give us an overview John uh 270 we had a significant um increase due to um grass cutting and maintenance of uh ball fields and um parks
Thank you Uh our next account DPW account 320 It's on page 109 We are seeing a 9.94% increase Sub account 290 and 296 reflect some increase um for tool replacement
Can you give us a summary please travon Um due to um some of the new equipment that we acquired um it requires um specialized tools Most of the equipment um that we have gotten within the last uh two to three years have um the
warranty periods ended and now we are responsible for um full repair and um we are required to purchase diagnostic tools and licensing for those tools to do the repairs on on these vehicles
Thank you Um our last DPW account which is snow removal is on page 114 account 325 This account has remained flat at $83,435 I can attest that it was a very successful snow season I commend Travon for getting us through a very um not not
too much snow but um everything was everything ran very well So thank you very much Thank you Um I would like to just touch on your capital budget Did anyone have any questions on the operating or the
um your capital budget i know we have some vehicles here uh for replacement Total of 70 um 500,000 uh under the DPW public works equipment Um Trarevon did you want to comment on uh what you need here in the capital budget uh we need um
a wood chipper Uh we need to replace um two of um our utility uh trucks that we use for snow plowing and um parks and recreation They approximate they're
2007 and one is a 1999 that it's on the very last leg And we have um one of our packet trucks that has been in service since 1996
And at this point at this point I'm here um 22 years this year and that truck's been here before before I came So it's been running on its last leg I don't think it will make it
through a next um season Thank you so much Siobhan Does anyone have any question go ahead No you first Lasers A quick question Do you have what you uh need in this budget to provide the services to the residents that they're accustomed to receiving
we will uh we will work with what we have to provide the best service we could Mr Mayor um I want to start off by saying thank you because you guys do so much with so little and you help so many people and you guys do an excellent job and you're always really quick Um can
you please remind me how many people you have on staff how many are full-time how many are part-time we at this time we have uh 57 and it varies between 14 and 19 seasonal
workers Thank you I also want to commend you and your staff for the um extraordinary work that you do um throughout the township Um I just want to ask um in terms of um you know grants and so forth do you feel
that we as a township um are doing all that we can as it pertains to identifying you know grant opportunities um for um the DPW Um I know that you've attended some of the infrastructure uh meetings and so forth Um so I just want to make sure
that you know you feel that that we're we're really kind of like there for for you and your staff and so forth I know that there's a lot that we're looking forward to in terms of the future of the DPW site and equipment and and so forth Um so I just wanted to know if you had
any comments on the subject Uh we are working with um we have we have a a collaboration with um some of the neighboring municipalities to get um a grant for uh storm water infrastructure improvement
um that is headed by um the business administrator for Inglewood Um they have taken the lead but we have we have uh we are part of that um um grant
application and as we we are also working to get um some electric vehicles green vehicles um I think they'll be more suited for the recreation department And um yeah so we are trying to maximize
the grants um that we could without um additional uh cost because these grants are matching grants and some of them you have like we have to upgrade our electrical um system to do that And because we will be
um building a new facility um soon it it's not feasible for us to invest in that type of infrastructure right now until we have a permanent home
Welcome I'll jump in I'll actually say thank you I mean it's interesting It's three different departments but you all work together So I just wanted to say thank you based on the representation that you both gave already and there was a lot of talk about grants almost mentioned that it basically seems that this year as a as as a resident and my
taxes will go up We have a huge upgrade in our pools We have new splash pads being installed We have a new bathrooms being installed We have a new park almost a full not almost a full new park at Heric Park installed And it's a lot of it with grant money as well And I
understand grant money a lot of times forces us to spend because sometimes it's matching so we're forced to spend which I like Um so I just want to think because these are some really really good amenities The the new field at at vote there's some really good amenities coming on and frankly that's all people
want to see They want to see like they want to see their roads paved Our pothole comments are down significantly It's because we've been paving like crazy over the last nine years So it's really you know we're heading in the right direction with a lot of new amenities coming on board that people are really getting a great bang for their buck especially because of the
three the hard work Thank you very much Thank you Thank you Travant Uh next we have our township engineer Farah Galani with us Um she's going to come forward This is page 44 account 165
Um overall the request is for $357,250 to include professional services and we also have listed under two uh sub account 241 is our environmental commission Um as you all know we are launching our compost pilot program um April 27th Um and this um
line item will fund the actual buckets for the the 75 residents that have signed up Um Farah is also monitoring several park projects for us ones that we have grant funding for uh which we mentioned in capital specifically the Phelps Park um grants um that we have in
our that are listed Um she also is overseeing as you know the Sagamore Park project Um and I'd like her to give us a little bit of an update on that project Yeah good evening everyone Uh so Sega project um we applied for greenacre uh grant uh back in
2023 and we received 750k uh for that and it's a matching grant Uh and we are uh adding uh new playground equipments Uh we are u uh uh putting new prefab bathroom in
that pro um park and also a brand new splash pad So that's the scope of the work and uh uh we are doing the preliminary design currently and then we will be heading toward final design once we part the project
and um Sarah what about the detention tanks okay so B Avenue detention system so we received a 1 uh um 1 million from EPA uh for uh Bal Avenue detention system in Sagamur Park Uh the design is
uh complete and we are doing the final review for that project and we will be doing uh resident meeting with resident uh to uh uh uh go over the plans and u and then we will go go out to bid uh for
that project Is there any chance any of that work will coincide and be done at the same time or the timelines completely no the Bali new detention system should go first uh and then uh the playground and the other project will go afterward
And um Farah could you um give us an overview i know you're doing the resurfacing road resurfacing project uh under capital Um it's 2.8 million Um I know that there is a full restoration of um I think Palisad A West Triion to
Galway Yes Uh so that is a G NG DOT funded municipal aid project and we received 250K uh grant for for that project and uh it's uh we're going to be some portion of uh that roadway going to be fully
reconstruction but uh it's going to be mill and pave project for from uh West Engle uh sorry not uh West Tryon to all the way to the school uh to the dead Palisad going to be done be done We've been doing this over years Yeah And
there is two other streets One dead end Galloway Place Oh you're you're going to go off into Gallery you're saying Okay Yes And also West Tryion Is Galloway I'm sorry Is Galloway a a grant yes The actual the actual because otherwise it's a dead end Okay Yeah Because the otherwise we will not be able to do it
This is the time when we can do it and it's in bad shape as well So yeah it just seems like we've listed in the last half an hour millions upon millions of dollars of grants right that I that's generally what I picked up on Is that Yes Yes we have we apply for a lot of
grants We work with Millennium almost every I feel like we're on a meeting weekly um just finding out what grants we have and we're trying to be a little bit more conscientious of what we're what grants we're getting and what what monies we have because as you can see a lot of our capital we have money in there but we
have to get reimbursed So we do need to lay out the money a lot of times at the beginning So we do want to be very conscious of what grants we're applying for to make sure we have the funding so we don't have our our actual capital budget But this seems almost like it's record-breaking like the amount right
i'm not crazy We have a lot of guests Yeah it's definitely Okay that's what I thought Just get the listing right yeah Yeah Um you had mentioned about the um community meeting for Bell Avenue Is there a date for that yet um actually
Farah and I we just spoke about it today So I think no we don't have date but it going to be um either uh end of this month uh within couple of uh weeks we we will decide the date Quick question Mr Mayor if I can Um thank you again for what you guys do
There is a sewer on Degra Avenue by Hickory Street and I know the county is supposed to be helping repair that Um do we have a status update and I can ask too because they're just right you know a quick walk down the hall but do we know what's going on with that repair i think the one on Degra I think we're still waiting on an update Uh Farah and
I but I'll find out get you an update I know the one that we are looking the emergency sewer repair was larch and kip that is in our capital Oh yeah that's always has been um so that is capital um to get done But the one on Degra I think we have to follow up with the I don't have Thank you Degra and No no it's
right by Hickory It's on Degra There's a sewer there and it's coned off and the ground is is destroyed Isn't Hickory So you have Hickory which runs parallel to Queen right by that corner as you're going to Ziac Okay Um before you get to Noah's auto mechanic if you're on that
side where Zak is Yeah There's um a sewer there It's just been an issue and a problem that's been co for a while Who's there united Yeah we met with county hydraulic engineer uh for that project for that sewer and then they are aware of it and they have it in their
pipeline to repair that Okay I'll ask you because is it Christos who's working on that christopher Okay cool All right Thank you Thank you Farah Appreciate it Does anyone else have any question in in capital um for municipal
yeah there's half a million dollars in there for municipal facilities upgrades What is that for is any of that for this building and can we open a conversation about maybe not fixing this building since the
basement is a huge project to fix it's flooding and now we've got the upstairs in the engineering department that needs all kinds of work and maybe starting some kind of plans to actually redo this part the old part of the building So do
you want me to answer that uh yes please Okay sure Um so under Dean we used to park a million dollars in that account and capital for the past few years That money was for the basement here initially Um with Bomb Council we've kind of made it as including but not
limited to municipal facilities like a catch-all And quite frankly it has been helpful We haven't got a chance to do the basement but we've covered projects such as fire station 4 fire station 2 the library Um so in a way because we
don't know what's going to happen it is there or anything that can come up that we can handle right away without having to come back to bond count to the council with a new bond ordinance have it introduced adopted advertised get funding So it is kind of a catch-all but it's that's the point It's beneficial
that you could repurpose it Right No I I understand the the um the account I'm I'm actually asking let's not fix anything with it and let's start looking at architecture and engineering and seeing how much it would cost Like this
one room right here has nothing on top of it It's just a standalone room that's always too hot and it's too cold and the microphones never work And um there isn't enough office space for the library and this could become a new building where we don't have to solve the problem of groundwater in the
basement and whatever's going on upstairs And it doesn't have to be this year but I I think it's something we might want to consider And that's why I'm bringing it up with the engineer Question Deputy mayor Are we talking about town hall talking about the basement downstairs the old part of the building If if we do
indeed do that can we please take into consideration how we've told the Chamber of Commerce and ROI as Rotary as well as the food pantry that they might be able to use the basement So that might affect their timeline or our timeline or whatever Just to please keep that in consideration Yeah Well I think it would
it would provide office space for so many more people than just them if there was a new building The people who are working back here are working in old old offices Also Julie noted I just don't want to forget them Expand on where you've been with Yeah So we've we've been to Bergenfield's town hall We've been to
Leonia's town hall and they have much newer courts much newer um council chambers but I mean having nothing to do with those this building is falling apart And I just think we're putting it's being held together by
paint and glue And I think we just keep putting band-aids on it And it might be better to look at it as a holistic project an an entire project instead of trying to make different parts of it work I don't I don't think that's helpful anymore I think each part of
this building is having its own issue and it might be better even if we have to bond for it to start thinking in the next couple of years of redoing the entire building We can move the library offices in here We could move fire offices in here Um I think it it might
um be a nice worthwhile project That's a planning discussion and yeah Thank you Deputy Mayor Um I will share with council Um I when I when I started here I did take a tour of the basement and I do want to share with you that Tron and I we also met with the
architect and Farah is aware we do have a water situation that has not been resolved So as much as I'm trying to resolve that issue that it is from the outside of the building and can attest to it we actually have a bigger issue going on there where the water is still come coming into the building So um we
have not moved fully forward with it at this point So we could have this bigger discussion You know you as a council can have that conversation But I do want to share with you that the water infiltrating into the building has not been fully resolved So we do need to look into that to do anything more in the basement at this time So like Issa
said um keeping this line item there and have a bigger discussion if you want to do something more here um is definitely something we can do Thank you He's never supposed to be Thank you Farah for your time Um next I would ask our township clerk
Doug Rion to please um come on up Yes Then present the clerk and advertising budget council we will be referencing page 20 and then page 11 Uh the advertising budget it does remain flat at 24,000 Um but um Doug if you'd like to
go through your council budget on page 20 please Yes absolutely Good evening council fellow department heads residents Uh yes So our office is in charge of three very important budgets
that are yes very important but thankfully not too heavy in regards to some of the other things that we've heard from over the last couple weeks especially this evening um most noteworthy to speak of from our budget um usually looks at our election
expenses and I just want to note that we uh were able to decrease that a little bit this year um from last year uh you know we're going to continue to monitor that budget and make changes as needed Obviously we all know and are uh
acquainted with the relationship that we have with Bergen County and the cost sharing that all of our municipalities have to undertake with our uh county counterparts Another very important thing for us to look at is uh our advertising budget I just want to make a
quick note Miss Hashmat did say indeed that we're not making any changes to the operating budget for advertising We spend a lot of money on advertising but what we did change Yes Mayor So just real quick I'll make that point It might be answering your question We
did make a change this year of uh knocking off a couple publications from our official publications list for the municipality So we don't have as many required publications that we have to do Um and I think that we'll see I I don't know if you're looking at the exact page
number for advertising um account 10000-4 you'll see we spent way more than we budgeted for in 2024 Um and I'm hoping that we won't do that this year with that change that we made Uh and absolutely Yes So my question my
question to you then I've heard the new you know back forth back forth with the laws about publications not public not having to publicize Where where is that state law holding right now uh for now we still are bound by law to publish in
publications different legal ads Yes So you know we're assessed a fee every time that we give them a publication and that's still the law for now There's some rubbings about creating digital requirements for municipalities and I'm sure we could all agree that Tene definitely stays on top of our digital
noticing as well So we're kind of ahead of the ball with that Uh for now I don't see the state alleviating us of our requirement really to publish Okay I don't see that happening anytime soon It's really the only way newspapers make their money Right This room benefits
from that at all Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Um and another quick note in the council budget is our special projects and underneath that is Tene Day We're just confirming with everyone that we still have a decent chunk of change sucked
away underneath council to help fund the terrific day that is Tene Day Any questions comments concerns quick question Code maintenance is up not by much I mean percentage wise but not by moneywise Is that it stuff code maintenance no that's strictly with our
office Me and Deputy Clerk Dorcho we work with General Code to do constant recodifications of our code keep it up to date hard copy most importantly online our digital e-code And uh we just put a couple dollars in there because uh some of those bills seem to have been a
little higher So we just want to make sure that we have you know some discretionary funding in there to help you do Yeah Thank No problem Just a quick question Have you I know we talked about this a couple times over the past couple years Have you um considered at
all how digitization would help your office with efficiency and being able to stretch yourselves yeah absolutely We are um evaluating pretty consistently different ideas of trying to get a digitization effort um in regards to
like stockpiles of records that we have here at the mother ship that maybe we could clear up space and put it in some kind of digital depository which normally with new things that we produce that is the case it's going backwards that we want to try and digitize things
and it is a very hefty price tag you know so we're constantly evaluating different ideas with that different kinds of grant funding but um nothing this year I think I actually saw is it Lagota or Anglewood actually got
congressional spending for that which was kind of nice Um but I'm just curious as long-term thinking Would that help how would that help your department with efficiency in general yeah I think it's definitely something that we could consider going forward I think I'd definitely reach out to those towns I'd
love to hear about how they were able to subsidize that because any way that we're able to streamline things we definitely want to Thanks Doug Have a question Um I know that you know thanks for mentioning the Tene Day we do you know your office does an extraordinary
job of of that every year Um and that's kind of like falls under the heading of goodwill goodwill for the community and so forth Um certainly I know during budget season you know we're often trying to find of course ways in which we can we can really kind of slim down
and so forth but there are certain uh things that we might want to look at And this may be something that may fall under the council or the clerk's office budget and of under the heading of goodwill is looking at uh some events that might be uh important to us like uh
the the um for instance the 20th anniversary of the Tene International Film Festival TIFF Uh TIFF Exactly Um so I mean falling under you know especially under a major milestone year um major milestone years of our institutions as
well Um how do you feel our budget looks when it you know as pertains to you know really kind of supporting efforts especially major milestone uh years uh could you speak to that Mr Clark yeah I I can definitely present you know what
it is and some options very briefly Right I think Issa might be more prepared to talk about if we if council is talking about considering maybe injecting more funds right to perhaps account for something like you suggest But underneath the council special
projects where Tene Day is housed um there are a couple other pots of of uh spending in there that may or may not apply to the subject matter that you're speaking of certain community groups community events Goodwill things And really of course like with all spending
it kind of comes down to a policy decision with council to see where or where not they might want to inject some funds that they may or may not have injected in the past You know we take uh I think it's it's a small example but a good example is the Martin Luther King
birthday committee um between Tene and I think maybe there's some Hackinack residents that's involved with that we participate every year by giving them a monetary donation It's just a couple hundred dollars but that also comes out of the council budget something like that So that's a that's a good example
of it small part of the master plan One of the components of the master plan was um arts and culture So we certainly want to really kind of like um ensure that we are you know supporting those efforts that speak to who we are as a community
Thank you Yeah absolutely TIFF is very special Was there any other questions from council there's one thing I want to bring to everyone's attention real quick um at my onset here or offset rather So we are all familiar with
um our agenda and minute software in the mothership here We call it Minutatra Asella IQM2 And uh I'm actually going to jump over to my computer because I just want to pull up on the screen to show you guys what it is exactly I'm talking about
And what this software does for us is it's kind of a database It's kind of a uh depository like we were talking about Councilwoman Goldberg It keeps a lot of digital
records This screen this screen Um so we have a bunch of different statutory boards on here Council is one of them This is where uh planning board board of adjustment agendas go Um council agendas our meeting recordings our videos go
here Um we spend almost 20 grand a year on this software It's a very old software Um and it's actually being unplugged from service in September 2027 Um so my plan is to start shopping
around to look for replacements uh to see if we can try and find something Obviously I don't want to try and spend more than 20 grand But I have met with a couple of these vendors um at the beginning of the year end of 2024 and you know prices are high just
everywhere So I'm going to be shopping around I'm going to be evaluating We aren't going to need to consider it this year but we definitely might see an increase in my budget a significant increase in my budget next year in the clerk's office budget We'll see We're evaluating options looking forward And
that's all I have Thank you Doug Um mayor did you want to comment on the council budget did you want me to um well anyone else have any comments on the council budget was there a desire to slash the council budget was desire to increase the council budget
why is Leadership Tina still in here why is still what i'm sorry Leadership Tina 10,000 in council budget Are we doing it again this year um so I I I don't know that we officially landed on it but I'd like to recommend that we do it every two years
instead of annually just because even last year when we were trying to fill up the class we it was it was fairly difficult to get people to sign up And then um even once we launched the program we did not have a full classroom So I think if we offer it every two years it probably makes more sense than
doing it every year So since we didn't do it this year I think we should do it for the following year 2026 Okay So if you would like we could also repurpose that um before I put it out there into the ether I'll consult with the manager because we have a request from a group
that we want to evaluate for an increase in their funding that we could possibly repurpose those funds for for this year at least if we know that we're not doing leadership team Yes And again the reason I left it in there with the manager is because I want council to have that flexibility I don't want to decide for you with the manager whether or not to
have leadership team Thank you Isa So are we thinking of um not doing a council uh not the following spring every other year that'll give us more than enough time to plan I have a uh I do have a question as to
uh you know I know that we have events and opportunities uh but I I just would like to hear my you know colleagues thought on um uh tiff this year in terms of you know supporting and what level of support is there uh any kind of conversation we'd like to have in terms
of I mean that's such a major event that is growing by leaps and bounds um you know an opportunity to really maybe uh perhaps to look at Um I know in the past it was only a mon smaller monitory Remind me what the numbers were I think
well what's the I think it was 1500 So it's typically 1500 and Oh damn Deputy Mayor Dr You read my mind I didn't want to put that out there yet but it's out there U typically it's 1500 We do provide that funding from a trust fund that's council donations and gifts that
has built up over time Uh obviously that balance has come down a little bit It's about $11,000 So my suggestion was maybe we repurpose that leadership teneck funding this year for tiff if that's that would be wonderful whatever whatever the council would like to decide it's your budget I mean I think
about it Mr Mayor when you think about the fact that this is a a pivotal year This is the 20th anniversary anniversary of TIFF They've done some extraordinary things They um certainly attracted a lot of business that week uh I believe the chamber is working uh to to try to you
know insert like a uh restaurant week in and collaboration uh with the days of the film So I think there are there is really um a good reason to there's definitely a merit for increasing I'm nervous about two things to go from 1500 to 10,000 then all of a sudden next year
hey we're back down to 1500 what do you mean you gave me 10,000 last year put that in the minutes i I I wanna I wanna I just want to interject They did submit a request in honor of their 20th anniversary So I I I think that council
might have the bandwidth over them to say this is a what did they request um I'm looking for the email right now I I saw maybe Jackie got the email I thought Can we discuss this with more information because if we do have that much to spend I'd also like to see if
there are other projects we might want to spend it on and not spend it all in one place And if I can just answer why because what what I believe is going to happen then again 20th year it's all very important now eight other organizations will be at the door asking for their ins and don't forget that is a
800% increase So just that's my concern not taking away from what they want Just something to think about that bigger picture Mayor I'll share the email with with all of council so you can review it and we'll we'll recirculate Was there a dollar amount was there a dollar amount um I believe it was 10,000 was or 10,000
I I I I really don't want to be quoted We'll find the email We'll remember what the ask was I want to say it was a little higher than $10,000 but that's why maybe trying to meet you know if they if they ask for more and we see this So it is 10 I found
the email It's 10 Thank you Isa Okay Um I just um everyone else satisfied right now Okay um the manager budget um on page one it also remains consistent with the 2024 request of
$79,250 uh for 2025 So I'm requesting that uh same approval Um I will jump to page to tab six which is our 2025
capital improvement budget Um I know we have gone through um some of the items with the department heads as they were here going through their budgets So I know police and fire equipment I don't know um if anyone has any questions That's the 2,280,000 [Music] um for police and fire equipment Um did
anyone from council have any questions about the items listed um okay Uh streets and roads Uh we also have 3,350,000 And that's covering our road resurfacing our emergency sewer repairs and um our pedestrian bridge uh Palisad
in Windsor uh which um Scott Salmon did get in touch with CSX and we are working on agreement on an agreement and Farah has been um a very important part of that getting the letter uh drafted for for us to CSX So that is um had some positive um
feedback Also our parks playgrounds and recreation improvements Um Sean went through all of those totaling 4,730,000 Um our municipal facility upgrades uh to include the library um improvements DPW municipal facilities
improve upgrades and the um Tene municipal pool that is 1,880,000 and our public works equipment which Trevana went through um the replacement um equipment that he will need totaling 500,000 So our grand total for our capital improvement budget is
12,740,000 Well can you can you just break that down to grants and and whatnot um the grant funding is 1,133,769 And the spend to get that 1.3 or the I'm sorry the 1 the grant the 1.3 is what we're spending correct um
for grants or that that is the amount that we're awarded that we will be reimbursed And how much do we have to spend to get that one um Matt meaning mean there's certain amounts that we have to spend 200 to get 800 or something Is that I believe that's on the It's actually $3 million I'm looking
at the spend three Yes But we get an instant return of 40% Yes But we lay out So really out of cash 4.2 million to get 1.2 back Yes It's great return on the money have seems like a big number but it's great return but you have to have patience to wait to get the money too
and you have to pay for it and you have to it hits our bottom line but it sounds worse than it really is Correct Isa how much um principal did we pay back last year um principal believe is 3 million on the bonds So just so everyone knows how it works and I'll make his teaching moment Um every year when we do capital
the financial adviser bond council auditor myself and the manager we issue a note A note is a one-year short-term finance The note is interest only You pay down for the first three years and then you start paying principal So only
in this year's budget do we have a principal payment because the our note from three years ago is finally coming due for some principal All the other notes when the time is right we permanently finance them at hopefully a lower fixed interest rate as bonds So
really up until this year we have not had a note principal payment only interest Isa can you please remind me what was the capital budget last year uh I believe it was around $8 million I could pull that up if you give me a moment Thank you Uh while I'm doing that
just so everyone's aware and I want to make sure we mention it tonight Um the capital is being brought up tonight so that we can discuss it again on Tuesday night under old business because the manager and I are trying to get the bond ordinance once it's decided upon by the
full council um to have it introduced on April 22nd and then hopefully adopted on I believe it's May 6th What that does is we'll be able to then have departments start utilizing capital by June I've seen has done other municipalities that I've been involved with and we continue
to do it and you only get first bite at the apple with these projects when you have funding available in June rather than September October November and next year hopefully the goal is to also do it even sooner Um that's why we're going a little bit faster this year with bond ordinance So last year I pull it up one
more moment I believe it was 8.7 if memory serves me correctly Give me one more moment to go into the right folder And so last year Councilman Pagan capital
was 8,145 split off Thank you Was this a huge increase in capital is this the I'm just genuinely curious Is this the largest capital that we've been presented with so I don't know if it's the for this council Yes In prior years I believe I
can go back to 2018 we had a significant capital budget when uh Dean became the manager and I became the CFO We did our best to keep it between 6 to 10 million roughly Um you know one of the items that the manager and I we sat down we went through this
back in February March we if it was up to us we would have probably cut down a little bit more on certain items but how do you cut down items that have grant funding tied to them and leave all that money in the table as we were discussing right i mean if you came in 2018 on a $6 million capital with no grants and now
we're coming in at a 12 million with 4 million of it grant and grant related that's 8 million net So it's really about the net It's not about the grow I mean it's the gross is the bottom line but the net is the what we're not match Usually we do one park per year It looks like this year we're just doing the two
parks in the same year because of the grants So it may be that next year we have an off year from a park Agreed And I think um it's important to note also um we are doing our police radios with some forfeiture funding in here Um and also um our streets and
roads we do have a full um we have the roadway that we are doing a full reconstruction of So that also is another $800,000 Last year we had a $2 million for road resurfacing So some of these bigger projects that we didn't do last year we are adding into this capital budget um along with like you
said the vote uh middlefield which we're looking to do as well So these are kind of big ticket items we do have listed here along with the grant funding So I do think that has has given us a little bit higher of a capital budget Um but I do not intend to do that on on every year I will try to keep it um a little bit lower for next year as well And
what's the total grant funding like the total dollar amount um that is the 1.1 uh 1,133 116 12 million It's 1.1 but but also the 1.5 for vault field replacement would
most likely then come out of PSENG money and or most so you're adding another $1.5 million to that 1.3 1.13 so it's actually almost 1.4 four a little bit shy And then as Deputy Mayor Organ said if you add the 1.5 you're
almost at $3 million right there um in grant or trust funds So would you say Mr CFO that of the 12 million that three million of it we're going to receive back um just based upon your your analysis of
from grants that I I would say up to three but at minimum just about 1.4 You're guaranteed 1.4 4 whether it's this year or next year We could still move it back and you know cancel that financing whatever we have to do So it's at least 1.4 possibly up to 2.9 a little
bit shy depending on the ball field and the most money I don't think we plan on doing the ball field unless we get funding for it So that 1.5 is just Yeah Is Scott on i have a question about that Uh Scott is not on this evening Oh okay Um I just wanted to know because the
state house commission said that we couldn't use it unless we had the land to give them we couldn't use it for recreation unless we had the whatever the amount and he was checking I don't know if he got that Um I'm actually um in conversations with Annette and we are short uh 0221 of land and we are in the
process of fulfilling that so that the grant funding can hopefully go before state house commission again and um finalize the grant award Um okay I I just think that this is too high I got to be honest I think that this is the highest tax increase in Tina history and
that we're not paying down our capital anywhere near this I mean $3 million we're not paying this down fast enough I don't think this is responsible uh capital at all I think this needs to be cut drastically What do you want to cut
Um I don't know what the subcommittee has talked about per se Um I think there's a lot of big ticket things like the pedestrian bridge is in 2026 We hear about that all day long Residents want to be able to cross over that bridge Um so I think that there's
things in here you know we if we're talking about it at the next meeting I think we need to kind of all go down and look Um but I think this is way too high Like it's like we're doing everything in one shot the fields the the um the the police
radios the um the everything is just at once And I think it's a lot And the swim the and I really have a problem with the $350,000 for the swim club as like a catchall I if we're going to do that I
want to know what it is specifically Like it's just it's too vague Well we we have to do the swim club I mean we have to do we have to account for that because we don't have BI Park No no The $350,000 that's in the capital budget We don't have specific
projects for that necessarily It's kind of run it for this year So why wouldn't that be in next year's capital budget versus this one that's the TK municipal pool We were putting a quarter of a million dollars a year away for the vote park pool Okay So but again we're creating a swim
club for an entire town Is it a lot of money absolutely That's not right So then what is that $350,000 for mr Specifically Mr CFO you want you want to answer how we that the answer
you want to discuss at the end so last year if not the prior year uh with with Dean that figure for votif park had we built it or done whatever would have been $3 million The 350 and the manager and Mr Romeo can expand is really right now for infrastructure repairs is my
understanding whether it's a roof whether it's anything else that has to do I'm not as involved as they are so I'll defer to them respectfully um yes council um I'm actually going to ask Trevon to come to the podium um I did go through a couple of general items
but he has been hands-on at at the at the actual community pool day in and day out and he has seen he also had a full inspection done of the property the infrastructure which I have shared with all of council which outlines the extent of the repairs that we will have moving
forward So knowing the vote park rule did have 250,000 in there increasing it by the 100,000 um was most responsible I felt in our conversations and with that report So Travon can you give us a little bit more background on what you see on the property and why this is a responsible number I think we will need
more more than that actually Um so when we started um when we acquired the pools apparently they were doing a lot of stuff um different but as a private swim club
but as a township we are required um to do things differently Um so we had to do a lot of electrical um upgrade like um for example um the swimming pools they had no um emergency shut off at the pool So
we had to run new electric from the the main building all the way to the end of the pool because regulation required that um emergency shut off be in line of sight at each pool So we had to do three of those and that was like
$40,000 um just for that Then um so when we started the project we had approximately 250 to do the whole project and when the roof was what was was evaluated that came up to
$180,000 So we had to put a pause on that and try and um do whatever patchwork we could this year and look for capital next year to replace that And there were some other
um issues that um we were unforeseen that we have to bring to code Um the New Jersey bailing court requires um certain um regulations be enforced and
we are we are trying to be in compliance with those and with that we will need I think we may we may need to come back I might need to come back to council for more funding What I hear you saying is that we have
to bring this pool up to compliance so that this is what accounts for such a high number Yes And this number is not even indicative of what it could be Exactly Okay Um great purchase price though Most
definitely $1 for the pool $1 for acreage You can't get a better price But unfortunately these these try to say this nicely was run down and um it's going to cost money but it's going to be a gem for thousands of people I mean I have people concerned and I bring this up Mr Mismanager that they're going to run out
we're going to oversell and they're going to get shut out because it's it's I think the first day of sales is on a Jewish holiday I'm like we're not selling but um it's going to be spectacular Yeah Oh smile smiling in DPW
spectacular Yeah So is the is the pool running in a going to be running at a fiscal deficit for a few years i I'm just um I'm just operation So I I mean I wouldn't call it a fiscal
deficit I mean it's not like we have a utility So it doesn't have to be selfquidating If it was like other towns have where it's a utility you'd have to ensure that your revenues equal if not exceed your expenses Um you know I really do believe as you know Mr Powers
said that with the increase in the fee schedule the cost should be less of a loss than it would have been had it we had we maintained it at OT Mr Mayor I have a question but it's not about the pools All right Um Issa sorry
to hit you with so many questions I usually like to give you those questions in advance so you can do some research But I've been sitting in county budget meetings all week and all day with John Reinhardt and guys like that and so some questions just keep popping into my head Um the township has a double A bond rating I know that we have four
different versions of the budget that we can consider and approve But are either versions of the possible budgets better for our bond rating or worse off for our bond rating cuz I would think that the higher you go the better it is for the bond rating But I I'll be honest with
you I'm not an expert on that So just wanted to ask what you thought So generally speaking the rating agencies do like to see tax increases They like to see a number of factors They like to see that you have a healthy surplus One of the beneficiary one of the benefits to the township every year we've gotten
rated is hey your proximity to New York City your residents average per capita income um you know other factors that we've been able to regenerate surplus Thankfully uh healthfully as a township has kept our rating stable Um I I don't know if maybe you may have said this a
few years ago I I remember it may have been you that said this Uh but you know there there's also a trade-off in life right so it's do we raise taxes really high just to get an extra letter after our name for maybe 40 basis points off a loan I don't know That's a policy
decision Uh we are still very strong at double A You know I I know there's towns in Burn County that are at AAA that are facing similar tax increases in our kind of ballpark where I know the council may like to be I know the counties has a AAA rating Um so it really depends It's a
policy decision Thank you Isa I actually thought you go to what you just said Can you talk for a second about the county ability for us to bond through the county BCIA at the AAA and I know there's pros and cons Improvement Authority So I I did go to a presentation uh last July um where the
county as well as another financial group kind of pitched that idea I did refer to our auditor um and his experience He has seen it done before There were some pros and cons that we could discuss with the budget subcommittee at our next meeting with him about that Um you know I'm certainly
open to suggestions but I also defer to him because he's had four times to the amount of years experience that I have had with it Uh there are certain restrictions I could tell you that you can go over with us when you can finance Uh because the county when they do a poolled loan it's hey you got to get it
in by April if not October Um I know there's some also other restrictions on when you could pay down paying down early rolling notes but we could discuss that with them at our next subcommittee if we could because I know it could a nice amount of time was spent at our meeting discussing always discussing the
concerns for the bond rating Correct And that's where we had some cushions and um Councilman G had some issues until you found the cushion She wasn't fine with the 6.9 Once you found the cushions it was you know that was issue for her So if we could definitely have that meeting with with the county aspect Do we need
to have our bound our bound counsel there or Dan could speak for him i think the auditor can if you'd like me to arrange for bond counsel we could work on only feel it's necessary that we don't Okay Thank you Isa So let's let's work on that date on that Okay Okay What else i just have a question
for uh the U budget subcommittee Um I know you guys have worked diligently in really looking at the budget and so forth but do you really um do you feel that the the 12 million uh million dollars is um uh we is there anything
that we can prioritize defer um you know put off to another time Um do you feel that we absolutely need to do what's reflected here so if you're asking me um it's the question I asked
Councilwoman Goldberg before What do you want to take out of it so when you look at it it seems high It always seemed high The fire trucks fire ladders also seem high When you factor in the matching grants and that you're you're you're bonding let's say approximately $3 million you're getting one you're
getting 30% back So we're paying four five and a half four and a half% on our money but we're getting back a return of 30% So you got to take that out of the equation For me once I saw that I instantly took both sides not just the grant money but the money that was paying to Gret the G I took it right off
the bat The second issue is is that we have a police department that has a large capital issue Now we are trying to work to see what we could do with it a lot of the capital I don't want to say it's hypothetical because we start the process over the year we remove some of it some of it doesn't get done but on
Tuesday we had TVAC had nine calls in 91 minutes five at the same time I was on one of them and they couldn't hear our radios because in the southeast portion of town as the police chief mentioned that the the radio coverage isn't there and and basic and basically the police
desk said please call us we can't hear you and I was talking very quiet very slowly for myself and very clearly and I'm sat there and I'm like I I hear what the police are saying So we can pro if we would like I'd love to go over each one if you want I don't I I don't have
that answer because do you um some again taking all the grant stuff out please someone pick something and say do we want this for this year or not and if so what is it i have a question I know this is more I'm sorry Well it's about the grants
though It's more rhetorical I would say to uh the question is I mean like you know you guys have kind of like uh we've all looked at this but looking at I mean parks the playgrounds recreation all those improvements We feel that that that it absolutely has to be done as
indicated here You know this it's that's you're asking the budget subcommittee when in reality it's an elected official question you as an elected official for the cost of again putting the police radios out there for a cost of give me one such item uh for $500,000 that
you're going to bond over 30 years and you're going to pay the money out do you want 41,000 people to not have that field no that's what I'm saying I'm just saying is there something because I know we had asked our CFO the last time we met let's look at the different options
so I'm I'm I'm asking you guys you kind of dissected those options you look because I also know what CFO does he puts things in there we can go through it line by line if you want I think we should go through it line by a lot of money Sure Yeah let's do that I think I think it's a good conversation Um can we
put it up on is it too early wait can I ask Isa a quick question how much of these grants are federal grants so I don't believe there's any that are federal in here you have either um the the vans are from
um NJ Transit and then the fields are believe it's the fields Jackie I forget who the field grants are from I believe the 1.1 EP is the EPA or isn't the EPA a federal grant that congressman does that's that's so so it is a federal
do we have any risk of any of this being cut so I remember you asked me this what was it um the recent meeting uh or by email Um I did mention it's the first budget meeting that we were looking at this So believe it or not one of our grants actually that we were being
awarded this year um the NJ and Jacho grant we were notified that it's on hold right now So I had asked the health officer to not spend any funds against it Um so it is a possibility Yes So if Doge cuts these how would this in fact
uh impact us i mean you would not be able to pursue the project So for example we were working on health accreditation You know it came in I believe the grant was like over 600,000 We've only gotten half of that And just literally this week they just emailed us saying "Hey we regret to inform
everybody that spending is on hold right now." So it's just that's it We can't move forward We can only move forward with the grant funds we have Okay But it was So it was just the two was the EPA you said health Was there any others in here i just want to get a sense of Well health was the prior year we' gotten it
Uh but it wasn't the capital What else is at potential risk since it's all up in the air and totally outside of our control sarah is there anything else on the capital that we're at risk federal wise that you remember seagamore Park is NJP
[Music] Um and oh sorry Wasn't the pedestrian bridge federal pedestrian bridge grant uh we we didn't bond for that for this year because we
are doing the um design assistance uh from uh NJ do DOT So we're going to do the design first and then we will uh bond the project afterward Got it Okay Yeah Well I think it's a that's a viable question and not just specifically for
engineering but is there anything we Mr CO and manager Miss Manager that we should really be really concerned about given the climate of cutting from the federal level and even filtering down to the
state and county I mean are we you know we we want to make sure that any kind of grants that we are anticipating really materialize So I I'm curious to know that's also a valid question because our our state aid money I believe came in
negative $352,000 this year if that's correct Yes I was just about to say that every municipality has felt that where last year um the governor put in municipal relief funds additional state aid and that was cut back this year So it's not just grants Sometimes it's state aid but
it's really just state aid at and grant at this point but to to your concern yes it's valid and it has happened already I I agree I think um we do need to be super vigilant as we apply for the grants and we think that we have funding
We need to be sure that you know the funding is going to still be there And I think all municipalities are in a holding pattern right now and I don't think we any of us have any concrete answers So I think Isa and I are just watching it very closely Um I'll report back to you and I if we hear anything Farah if she gets any kind of word on
any of the grants but um I think you're right You know we don't have concrete answers but we'll we have to be specific and and cognizant of which ones we we choose to apply for Sarah did you have anything else to add thank you so much Do we want to cut the police cars in
half from 650 down to 325 6 Okay Well we did line by line last week on most they can gladly do it again I recall last week did uh line by line So um if you look at if taking out the stuff without the grants and you know the police chief and the fire chief went went through this Uh he talked about the
rifles he talked to police cars Uh we talked about the surveillance vehicle Um you know we can talk we could take out architecture costs on a 100-y old building to start renovating it That's what we don't start this project We never start the project So you know that's I'm fine with taking anything
anything out that people say I do not want to do That means for people to say I do not want to do Okay Respectfully Mayor I I did um have a conversation with Issa about the the police cars Um I do see you know that is um an option that has come up to split them in half
Um I know it is delayed in ordering the vehicles and I will mention that these vehicles as they turn over they do get repurposed and then the DPW does use them So I would respectfully ask that we do keep those vehicles in there so we keep moving forward because during COVID
we did have um get far behind and their vehicles should we should continue that replacement So um I respectfully would like to keep it in there Um but I just wanted to let you know as we do bring them in the upfitting does take time I do understand that the company um we are I am going to plan a meeting with them
because I am disappointed on how long it did take for the upfitting Um and I will speak to chief about it but I do think that it is important that we keep those orders um moving forward as um requested by the police department Thank you Quiet
No no I I just and I I totally hear what you're saying Mr Manager that uh it is it is you know definitely justifiable I'm sure But is it justifiable given like an increase in the amount of tariffs that they're anticipating the cars are going to be we're going to be
seeing on cars uh you know I'm not saying don't do it but is now the time to do it is it can we defer something to take into account the fact that everything is going to be more expensive um and we don't know whether or not
these grants are going to materialize And I think if we look line by line just with that in mind you know everything here we can justify our teams our our departments need it Um but do we need it now is the question Just to clarify the
tariffs are just on foreign cars right we don't buy do we buy we don't buy foreign cars right so it wouldn't impact our car Okay Thank you for that Councilwoman Okay Um sorry Thank you Deputy Mayor I do recognize what you what you're saying and I think the whole list I think
everyone should take take out a magnifying glass look at anything that you really feel we should consider I would just be remiss considering I did have a a conversation with Issa saying you know what happened prior um you know with delay in cars and the turnover and
then understanding that then we're able to use these for our DPW knowing that it goes to other departments Um I just think it is probably more responsible to leave those in and then look at some other things that if you feel we should we should pull but I'm open to you know what the council would like as a whole We discussed using some forfeite funds
for the radio Um yes we are We are using some forfeiture I believe um about 500,000 500,000 Yeah I believe 500,000 That's off the 100 1.025 or above that So here I can explain that So it would
be off the 1 million25 Now here's how I did why I did it this way right you need a funding authorization first So in the event that something else happens and they use their forfeite funds we can use purchase the radio in the bond ordinance
and then let's say their forfeite funds get replenished where they can put in that 500 I would then replenish capital We could cancel that part of the bond ordinance And and frankly speaking that's what's going to happen to a lot of this list This list is going to be made up of money coming back for grants money that we're used to matching grants
jobs that are not going to get done jobs that are going to modify and change downwards and we go through this dance all the time Correct So this is not a ticket price of $12.7 million Correct I mean we we we use the
word dino or you you put in there as a placeholder Architect fire department architecture fees for headquarters $75,000 Is that a chance that is there a good chance that's not happening this year by the time it starts who do we hire is this someone we want to hire it could very well be next year And I'm just using that as an example I mean so
you know we can see here and cherry cherry pick things but a lot of this isn't not a lot A nice amount of it's not going to come to fruition or will be over time or be reimbursed So Mr Mayor yeah one Yeah
Sorry I want to comment I'm just looking at the five-year outlook this this capital budget is actually the lowest number over the next 5 years So I'm just curious if we cut this budget this year does that just further increase the capital budget in the out years and
create more of a burden um you know next year and look at specifically looking at FY I guess 28 $20 million anticipated in that that budget This is a letter to Santa That's really what this is You want you want to talk about what that was the um the the the
30 million for example there's there's three years in a row of $10 million for fire headquarters So that's $30 million That's why that goes up It's literally it's a Hanukkah shopping list or a Christmas shopping list This is what this is So you know it's not it's not
the Bible It's Council Member G's point over the next six years we're looking at $100 million Mhm I I just think that I mean what you will take out off the top of my head I don't know right now We can talk
about this next meeting But right now I'm saying that I think this is I mean $12 million is too high We're paying back if we were paying it back all at once That's fine We're only paying back $3 million a year if that you know um Councilwoman Goldberg I
think it has a lot to do with there were eight years of 0% increase in in in in in terms of uh of budget and taxes within our in in our township and we're kind of facing it now you know i mean that's kind of like the reality of what
we're seeing here you know So it's like the chickens have come home to roost Exactly Well I mean I'll stand behind those zeros all day long Anyone that attacks eight years of zero budget and now says "Well but this year we have to raise it 7% doesn't do simple
compounded math in sixth grade." And frankly speaking if we increase the budget every single year for 8 years by 2% that'll be a cumulative 16% Well over 20 on the compound Here we are at zero
for eight years and forget the last two years and now we're at seven Best deal ever still still the best deal But I beg the different um with you Mr No because of the fact that it's it's it's sticker shock It is it is really I mean I'd
rather see 2% every year than to be hit with something you know substantial like I understand So now you're talking you're talking emotions I'm talking math I can't No but also I just want to say I completely 100% agree with that being Mayor Pelter That that's great But it's actually not factual It's opinion She
made it very clear It's a very good opinion It's a very good feeling It's very good emotions It's mathematically not emotions at all Mr Mayor It's not emotions at all What I'm saying is that it's it's received by the community a whole lot better when they see an
incremental increase annually as opposed to something nothing for eight years and then something you know like a gotcha Mr Mayor can I think Daniel i don't know No I was just going to add So I hear you The math your your
point on the math is right 7% is better than 20 but what did we leave on the table what projects would we have funded like there are so many things that are falling apart We talk about the building is falling apart The bridge needs to be repaired We could have with that 2% at 20% made those little repairs so that we
don't have a hundred millions in capital projects now on the list that we can't fund So I think that was the missed opportunity not so much the the savings but the opportunity to refresh items in the in the town that needed to be refreshed I I think actually nothing on
this budget on the on the capital budget would have been different if taxes were different I think at the time when there were 0% budgets we were borrowing free money Interest rates were so low that it didn't matter what we were borrowing And the fact remains that it's
$665,000 to replace police cars every year It just is It's two million or in this case $2.8 million to pave roads every year And these are capital expenses and they have nothing to do with tax increases each year These are
things that that we've decided to do as a council There's another half a million dollars in here for library renovations that went over the buildings are old They have asbestos in them So if you look at each thing one at a time there's an extra million dollars plus in here to
redo the police radio system We have to do that We owe it to our police department for them to be heard when they scream on the radio We decided to buy a a ladder truck and in here is another $100,000 for that We need to buy rifles
for the police officers We need to fit the turnout gear There's half of the department is getting turnout gear this year Um the pedestrian bridge everybody in town is waiting to see redone That's in here We need to put fans in the gyms
because that's what all the children need to play and be healthy and not get sick and overheated We got grants for two different parks That's in here We can redo them with the grants this year or we can say we don't want to do one but we're kind of leaving money on the
table And then there's $1.5 million in ball field replacement that we're not spending We're not actually using it It's just a placeholder so that we can do a project Moving farther down we have to bring traffic lights up to code It has nothing to do with what a budget was
years ago We have to do that now We decided as a council to take over the pool It's a better facility There is money we we need to make the upgrades to get it started And we just heard that half a million dollars in here is for municipal facilities upgrades It just depends on what breaks in town And then
there are four trucks in here for the DPW It's half a million dollars Do we say that we aren't going to get another garbage truck for the DPW well what happens when people want to recycle and now the trucks are breaking down So it's a responsible municipal budget It just there to me there is nothing in here
that can be cut So if anybody sees something in here that they want to cut speak up now It's not so hard to go through it line by line It takes five minutes Um but speak up now We do need to pass a municipal budget having nothing to do with politics federal
politics or previous budgets Yeah I think we can again open going through line by line Most of this most of this capital improvement budget we've actually through in those eight years we've actually done For example we bought two fire engine two squads Oh during those zero budget packer truck we
bought a packer truck over those Many of these trucks were already done Now these other trucks were done So this is the same thing And in three years if we have three straight zeros in the next three years we're going to be replacing all these We did police cars we did all this before and we're going to do this all again And we're going to do this all again in five years It's just it's the
shopping list of stuff that's required Um and like you said so we and I didn't take that out The 1.5 million is another huge amount of money in here that we're not actually spending So this 12 million less the bonds less the forfeite money less the most money We're almost a half
We're almost at half Oh I do mean we have forfeite for the record 500 for 1.5 fields is 2 million plus the stuff that I'm saying we're already spending that related to related to grants So how much are we doing on grants was it four total or three total i mean for the record I do support this
budget I would not cut anything as is You just got me hyped up on sugar You brought me two bases Um okay So is there anything here people want to see removed and I'm fine suffering the consequences of 50% off the police cars
No I I I would say I I I support the budget too Okay Mr Mayor I I would say I am in support of the budget too However I would like us to really keep an eye out for the grants Well this is this is you
got it as a star This is this is your This is great I love No I understand This is weed This is this is should be proud Okay And do I hear any takers i mean you want to ask if you're up to me I have no problem I know he yelled
that with with that bridge I'm willing to bet of the 25 people in this room virtually no one's uses bridge more than once or twice a year if that much Never used it before You know where the bridge bridge bridge exactly bridge bridge Ladies bridge it Are you kidding i'm
having a conversation Everyone knows the foot bridge No knows I didn't say knows the foot bridge How many people actively use that foot bridge it was every almost every day my whole life That's great That's why we're having so you want to
pull it out Yeah So mayor I I have on time Yeah Mayor I do know where it is I have run by it many times Um just remember this is not the final say My recommendation with the manager would be to let council take the weekend to think about it We'll discuss
it again under old business on Tuesday night Excellent We're like that's where c where we will look for our direction to give to bond council Perfect So does that make sense under old business on Tuesday night people come back with their shopping list and fall in love or fall against their these projects I we started the site Anyone on the side want
to any comments on any specific project want to move usually when I look at projects like this I look at the big ticket items the ones that are worth over $500,000 but I got to keep looking at it as well as the other four versions of the possible
budget We might be passing the general budget Mhm But um it's a little alarming but I do know that there are a lot of different reasons why the budget will be going up You got no more COVID money no more American Rescue Plan money You have the debate about past zero budgets whether that helped or hurted the town
You have a bunch of contributions going up healthcare costs going up So it's a tricky it's a tricky tricky tricky budget Council member Pagani you just reminded me um Issa uh two questions actually One
can you just clarify um how much the increases would be for the next two years and then also is there any uh terminal leave money in here on reserve so I'll start with terminal leave There there is no money in the budget this year for terminal leave Uh we did say
that in one of the earlier PowerPoint slides that Miss Hashmat had Um second I mean which scenario would you like me to elaborate on uh councilwoman we came down we spent a lot of time on the 26 and 27 Correct I believe it was
down to 14% the starting bid on 26 but after Deputy Mayor Organ made a comment today I think we're closer to 13% now factoring in the 800 Um remind me what did it was the um factor in the land money n
dot So to show us that 13% now Yeah So so if it's if you're talking about the budget as proposed at 6.99% for rate increase Yes So next year again these are all estimates would be approximately
14.4% and then 27 approximately 16.7% That's before that's before the factor of um again I've heard it's about 500,000 so that bring it down one percentage point for the rate increase Again these
are estimates Was that uh next year again it could be less depending on how much your NVT your net value taxable goes up depending on what properties more go online get added to that Um because the higher the NVT then the lower the point you know is Um but
yeah again those are estimates right now Everything is subject to change Last year this time this year was 50 It was 50 approximately this time last year Pisa um where where would where at the end of this year does this leave surplus and what are we doing to ensure that we
stay closely on track for surplus so remember surplus is I cannot tell you that right now because it depends on how much higher your revenues come in from where they're forecasted It also depends how much less we spend than the adopted budget The manager exactly a month ago
today on March 3rd issued a discretionary spending freeze across all departments Um so really depends on those two factors We're a quarter of the way through you know I could prepare some kind of forecast but you know as people know sometimes your revenues especially construction receipts t kind of start to pick up now versus the
winter Um so I really don't have a clear answer for you on that unfortunately Right But to council member Pagan's point before so our surplus was the front the front page says was it 5.7 million and then we had to cut
1.7 in appropriations to bring us up Correct So your surplus was down last year We are cutting one and a half million on Tuesday night from last year's appropriations to kind of bring us back up to speed Um you know there are certain reasons for that surplus
being down There were some revenues that came in under what they were forecasted There are other mitigating factors Um you know including but not limited to you know the switch to basically self-insured health insurance that did significantly hurt Um you know but
that's like a one-off you're not going to see that you know at least this year because we went back to stay health benefits actually saved a little bit of money by doing that So that's why I say it is too early to tell Even in the first quarter you know there's only so much forecasting you could do before the end of the year and things come out What
we can ensure though and I believe the mayor answered this at the last meeting um you know some of some of the projects I'm heavily invested in is bringing our sewer revenues back up which should bring us significant money for next year that you're not seeing this year And if I don't know may if you want to reiterate the reason for why that lagged
behind from last meeting we two two answers well three really um one is that unfortunately we're relying on third party data we rely on violia this can we could be sitting here in two years from now and have ex a very similar problem very similar there's no chance um
unfortunately the reason for this is frankly speaking the authors of this ordinance did a great job and they said let's create money from somewhere and they did by basically saying "Let's take Viola's information let's see our high sewer users and let's add a new tax on them." And by the way
that tax actually applies to for-profit or nonprofit including exempt properties And that's important because Holy Name FDU or houses of worship all the larger ones all pay into the sewer fund The downside is that we have to wait for the entire year to be done then get the data
then they literally do DNA testing on the person who signed the data for NDAs and it's just brutal So what we then decided is this is actually a lot of money We built on Edmonds a system Would you be able to put Edmonds up on the system if you don't mind can you on the screen what we then did is we took six
months off We spent 40,000 30,000 No no way less Nick made I don't remember these weekly meetings whatever it was those those are quarterly meetings where we built a sewer billing module onto admins so we could track it because we were using Excel spreadsheets before and
so there we fell behind and then you know on boarding the manager we said let's let's do this first and now we need to work on those two years so um it's a great module if anyone ever uses if you don't use edmins it's a phenomenal site edm is lists basically all the property taxes per site um it's
on the whip Actually if we just maybe go up Okay let's go to um Yeah So if you look on it if you you don't have a here we basically built utility system and if you need the hospital address
78 which is actually 718 let's go down see if we built this account Um this is a small with a small address It's $442 At one point they were paying us
$60,000 Um that's actually that's actually across the street Shadows aren't going to be there Um next 78 Actually sorry We go back There it was there
[Music] 718 was a couple utilities This was down They were using a lot more if you recall we actually need to deal with them build them interest and when they called us up and they said well we don't pay this interest we're like cut a
check for the principal and they did and there were a few ordinances through the years sometimes we did buy ordinance sometimes but we don't have to where we we reduced interest payment on principal um and if you recall that was actually it there was an ordinance a few weeks ago where there was a the tick mikvah at 17 we canceled that via ordinance is
that correct no no I'm working on that with that with the resolution yes correct but those go back 10 years right their water bills reduced by $8,000 worth of utility So it's it's a lot of the works just it was an ordinance It's very it's great It's free money but it's very intensive to get it built and get
it done Isa how does the sewer billing work in the other towns that you work with i know um Leonia has sewer billing too No Uh so they have sewer billing It's not that much It's I believe it's like 125,000 a year that they bring in Other towns and to credit to Mayor Schwarz you said this at the last
meeting I think are very hesitant to do this because they see it as a tax on their business district when they want to bring in business Um you know I don't know of other towns Leonia has it but again smaller scale right i'm not that familiar with Maywoods I think our ordinance was based off of Maywood is
what I was told Uh I know the author was Maywood was built because there was a factory in Maywood It was like their largest taxpayer that I believe was burning through all the sewer was dumping it So they created this ordinance to recapture the money I'm not sure if that's that that plant moved or
not Um Gerald has all this information He's the one that reviewed it with me and it was Sorry I find this stuff fascinating So then what's the $90,000 request for the preparation of the 2023 and 2024 commercial billing in the
finance administration budget for then sure So that line item is professional services where we have some of our consultants being charged to there We do pay a consultant to assist us with that billing and reviewing the data helping us you know uh go through the data making sure it's accurate interfacing
with admins and essentially preparing the bills for us The way this worked historically just to clarify that's absolutely not me I'm not anything I do It is a private vendor who has experience with sewer billing that we use What vendor uh I could give it to
you afterwards I don't recall off the top of my head but I can tell you previously it was done in-house And to Mayor Schwarz's point the problem with doing in-house billing is that it was actually in the IT office And it was recommended to us that you really need someone more familiar with building
someone who's actually worked in it or actually an engineer to do that because there's suspended solids bods things I don't know anything about Um or actually back to Mayor Schwarz your point where the holy name we've had to amend their bill because they're like hey we didn't
use you use CCF and not MGL and then we had to recalibrate it So for accuracy accuracy sake we did go out and look for a consultant and obtained one for believe it's less than 20,000 a year and the between 15 and 20 and you see how much it comes in on uh the last really
full year I would say that was non-COVID impacted was the 2019 building where we brought in I believe it was over $900,000 and then obviously it depends on what happens in the community So in 2020 it came down a little bit 2021 was about 600,000 split between last year
and this year cuz by the time the billing went out and it was due for December and you had a grace period half the people paid literally by the end of 23 half paid early 24 So we're anticipating between 22 and 23 that's sort of to kind of rebound back and again hopefully bill for 24 and 25 next
year and then be back on a one-year look back after that All right If you could just get the name of the vendor and I'm just still I still don't get why we're two years behind I mean I was at the meeting that we had with the auditor where he seemed confused about why we're two years behind also And he said something about
potentially being four years behind I don't know what that was No four years was never discussion So as Mayor Schwarz said I believe at the last meeting you know the the way it works is it was trai traditionally a one-year look back and we typically build by the end of the year Co happened Everything was a
disaster at that point um with Mayor Schwarz we were working on the subcommittee the sewer subcommittee on the 21 building and he had the fabulous idea of why don't we just integrate it with the admin system Now people could look up their bill online pay it online if they want to And we did that took literally 6 months to get done By the
time it got done and build out it was late 203 when that happened And as he did say by the time we reach out to the water company several times by email and they get back to you have you sign a non-disclosure agreement give you the data it's already June if not July at
that point So that's that's typically why it's a year behind but that's really more the reason why it's two years behind Let we go through the list and please um come back with any comments on what you what you want Um just because the garden club ladies have been here all night Is it possible
for us to just give them an update on what we're trying to do sure Sure Um I think uh some of you may be aware but I will I want to reiterate that we are looking into um a prefab um greenhouse Travon is um acquiring some quotes So
instead of us actually um I guess repairing and renewing the existing structure we are looking at at uh funding and options to put a free P prefab uh greenhouse in place So he's currently getting quotes together and um we're hopeful that we can get something in place there for the garden club Thank
you manager Who else um mayor I just wanted to say thank you to Farah and Travon and Sean I know you stayed here for the evening with us um you all three of you I work very closely with you and all three of you work very closely on a lot of projects So I commend all three of you
for all that you do and and um I know you do everything from your heart for the Tina community and we do try to find as many grants and improve um as many um aspects of your departments as possible So I truly thank you and I I cannot um end the meeting without thanking Doug He
is always so helpful creative with all my flyers that I request of him for every event in Tene and even um the events that we run So um and also our deputy clerk she is also extremely helpful to me So um and Issa thank you Um he has gone through this whole process with me as well So uh with that
mayor if you'd like to Um um Ron do you have any questions before you end second All right Motion motion to adjurnn