Category: Uncategorized

Reader says the Ridgewood municipal is budget is well managed and the BOE budget is where the runaway spending is

Do you want to base your conclusions on the faulty FAC report and ignore the fact that the Village provides more services at a lower municipal mil rate than all of the other towns I referred to in my post as #20 that is fine. None of the towns listed there provide garbage pickup, fully staffed fire services, recreation services for kids and seniors or a sewage treatment facility for their residents, that is a fact, and. How that is a union talking point is beyond me.

You claimed that I am only providing half of the story and I am leaving out the property taxpayer’s perspective,” I am a taxpayer, and have been a taxpayer in Ridgewood for many years. If anything is only providing half the story it’s your FAC report. It only tells half the story since it does not even consider the cost to the residents for the Board of Education (BOE). If your report included the BOE then I would have to agree that the largest portion of the Village Tax bill (BOE) has been increased at an alarming rate and is not sustainable.

How do I arrive at that conclusion? Here is the 2011 Bergen County property tax data showing the town – County – total tax levy – % County Taxes – % School Taxes % – Municipal taxes. This is the latest year available on the NJ.com by the numbers web site. There are 70 Municipalities in Bergen County. Below are 18 municipalities that have an equal or greater percentage of their municipal taxes dedicated to the school budget like Ridgewood. The other 51 municipalities have a lower percentage than Ridgewood dedicated to their school budget and a higher percentage number dedicated to their municipal services. Ridgewood’s municipal tax levy is lower than the other 51 Municipalities in Bergen county and is even below the state calculated average of 29%. You can draw your own conclusions from this data however this data clearly shows that the Village municipal budget is very well managed as contrasted with other Bergen County Communities and the overall state average. It also indicates that BOE budget is out of control and unsustainable.

Town – County – tax levy – % County – % BOE – % Municipal

Ridgewood Village Bergen $130,248,198.77 10% 65% 25%

Closter Borough Bergen $42,254,879.89 11% 65% 25%

Demarest Borough Bergen $27,942,242.71 10% 68% 21%

Franklin Lakes Borough Bergen $62,617,871.06 14% 69% 17%

Glen Rock Borough Bergen $59,596,958.87 9% 70% 21%

Harrington Park Borough Bergen $21,819,633.46 10% 69% 22%

Hillsdale Borough Bergen $41,482,921.52 10% 70% 20%

Midland Park Borough Bergen $27,063,090.79 10% 65% 25%

Oakland Borough Bergen $54,044,047.52 9% 65% 26%

Old Tappan Borough Bergen $29,120,723.48 13% 71% 16%

Park Ridge Borough Bergen $35,601,710.17 10% 66% 24%

Ramsey Borough Bergen $72,773,675.42 11% 67% 22%

River Edge Borough Bergen $43,666,177.86 9% 65% 26%

River Vale Township Bergen $43,739,302.11 10% 68% 22%

Tenafly Borough Bergen $86,534,847.47 10% 65% 25%

Upper Saddle River Borough Bergen $46,413,818.76 13% 69% 18%

Waldwick Borough Bergen $37,118,536.98 9% 68% 23%

Westwood Borough Bergen $40,321,173.87 11% 60% 30%

Woodcliff Lake Borough Bergen $38,129,520.22 12% 66% 22%

Statewide total $25,643,843,500.01 18% 52% 29% of 567 municipalities

https://www.nj.com/news/bythenumbers/

This information confirms that the Ridgewood municipal is budget is well managed and the BOE budget is where the runaway spending is since the Ridgewood BOE takes a higher percentage of the total tax bill than 51 other Bergen county municipalities. The FAC report ignores this fact, and therefor is even more faulty than I originally thought.