Paramus approves budget with $105 average tax cut
JUNE 2, 2014 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY MARY DIDUCH
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
PARAMUS — The Borough Council unanimously approved a municipal budget that calls for an average tax decrease of $105 this year.
The $57.1 million spending plan also shows the borough will have a $9 million surplus this year, achieved largely through “fiscal discipline” and the borough reducing its debt by more than $10 million over the past four years, said Mayor Richard LaBarbiera. He said recently that the borough has increased its number of shared services agreements to 20 over the past few years, bringing in additional revenue.
“In my opinion, that is a herculean accomplishment in today’s economic times,” LaBarbiera said at Tuesday’s meeting.
The borough also has been working to manage the massive amount of commercial tax appeals that have been filed over the years, mainly from the borough’s many malls and businesses along Route 17, said Frank DiMaria, the borough’s auditor.
At the council meeting, DiMaria credited the borough’s team of professionals — the finance department and committee, tax assessor and attorneys — with working to put a plan in place to manage the commercial appeals. The professionals also have been working to keep assessments as close to 100 percent of properties’ true market value as possible to reduce the appeals’ impacts, he said.
“They’ve done a tremendous job over the years of stabilizing the impact of appeals along Route 17 when we took a tremendous hit,” DiMaria said.
And as for the $2 million that will be returned to taxpayers this year in the form of tax relief, more than half of that has already been recaptured by the borough, DiMaria noted.
This year’s budget calls for more spending on capital improvements and long-needed equipment — such as the purchase of an additional fire engine — and raising employee salaries by 1.5 percent on average across the various bargaining units in the borough, LaBarbiera said. There was a hiring and raise freeze about four years ago, but last year the borough began increasing salaries again, he said.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/paramus-approves-budget-with-105-average-tax-cut-1.1027372#sthash.1jZ8tdWe.dpuf
Congradulations to Paramus!
Lets see if we can do the same here.
Do the same here, where?
I fully expect a tax cut in 2015.
This is the RIDGEWOOD blog. where do you think I meant Nome Alaska?
Ridgewood/Glen Rock blog. IFf you want Paramus taxes then maybe you should just move one town over or find space in the village for several shopping malls.
If you want Paramus taxes then maybe you should just move one town over or find space in the village for several shopping malls.
Interesting you had to say it twice.
If you read the headline its about Paramus LOWERING taxes.
Its not Paramus vs Ridgewood.
OH…and this IS the RIDGEWOOD BLOG.
There is NO mention or recognition of GLEN ROCK.
Don’t confuse this with the Patch (if it hasn’t already withered away)
Duuuuuuuuuuh.
to # 3 are you smoking pot. dream on shit head it will never happen. last year and this year should of bin 2% not zero. not a good move. the manager even said so. no to zero
paramus has all the mall,s and all the people and traffic too. and it blows at 730am and 430 pm.
so wake up .
Eloquent #8, as always. Why do you want tax hikes? All of the increase in taxes has gone for BOE & Public safety wages, pensions, and healthcare, NOT to improve services to residents. The only person who would want tax hikes is someone who benefits from that giant black hole. So either you have an agenda, i.e. union hack, or you are a pensioner who only cares about “me”. Either way, we’ll have a cut next year, so you wake up. The manager said no to zero, she didn’t say no to -5%.
The residents of Maywood, Rochelle Park, Saddle Brook, Ridgewood, Oradell and RIver Edge should be given that money to subsidize the costs associated with additional police for traffic and crime caused by Paramus’ malls, not to mention quality of life issues.
Is that an Obama proposal?