May 26,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, at Wednesday night meeting the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) presented a review of the fees. This is to be a context for fee reviews in various departments . This blog has never been a friend of the FAC , but we are a fan of stream lining fees, eliminating out dated fees and fees that cost more to collect than the Village earns .
The focus of the FAC report was three major issues :
majority of fees are outdated
sample fees were below comparable towns
Village can improve the bottom line , some fee cost more to collect than they take in
The FAC presentation focused on , process enhancement , review of the fees that matter , cost recovery , regulate activities , market approach compare to neighboring towns
The FAC report suggested to eliminate fees that are gratuitous or inconsequential and create a process to update or review fees.
According to the FAC most fees were set in the 90’s . Often the cost of collection out weights fees themselves . Some fees could also be paid on line like the garage sale fee
There are over 600 line items of various fees , the FAC just looked at the fees that the Village Council can do something about ,the FAC focused on significant fees that matter.
The FAC mentioned that fees a remarkable lack on uniformity , comparing against Redbank, Monclair and Summitt . Council is looking for comparisons with more local town.
