Statement of Compliance with Open Public Meeting Act
Mayor: “Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village Hall, by mail to the Ridgewood News, The Record, and by submission to all persons entitled to same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting.”
Ridgewood NJ, Mayor Hache fills us in on all the details and where we stand . Since 2010, the governing bodies of the three communities outside of Ridgewood served by Ridgewood Water (Gen Rock, Midland Park and Wyckoff) have been engaged in a law suit, which challenged the allocation of expenses by the Village for the water company’s budget. The 3 towns felt that a 21 percent increase in rates in 2010 was excessive. The actual rate per 1,000 gallons is not excessive and, in fact, is in the lower middle of rates offered by other neighboring water utilities and still much cheaper than Suez. The challenge was started by the governing body of Wyckoff, whose auditor is a member of the former auditing firm of the Village when similar allocation methods procedures were used by the Village for the Water Utility budget. The claim argued that the methodology used by the Village in allocating percentages of Village expenses to the Water Utility was unfair (since it was not actual expenses) to the 3 towns and it caused the rates for water usage to be unreasonably excessive to the rate payers of the 3 towns and those rate payers were subsidizing the property taxes of Village residents.
The methodology used by the Village had been accepted by the Local Finance Board of the State in 2004, and the Village continued using that method throughout the years. This litigation which was started in 2010 (and amended in each of 2011 & 2012), finally reached trial in 2017. The trial court decided that the ordinances which approved rate increases in 2010, 2011 and 2012, did not have an adequate factual basis in the record that would warrant the rate increases that were adopted by the Village. As a result, the Court required the Village to hire an expert to calculate what the appropriate rate increases for the years in question should have been. The Village (while still disagreeing with the Court’s decision that the record lacked an adequate factual basis), complied with the preparation of the rate study by hiring the most qualified expert in the field of water rate studies, Howard Woods. Mr. Woods completed his rate study and has recognized that the Village did not adopt excessive rates during those years challenged by the 3 towns.
The three communities decided to appeal the Court’s decision, and that appeal is pending; the Village cross-appealed on those issues raised by Plaintiffs. Their requests to stay the rate study pending the outcome of the appeal has been denied (at least for now) by the trial Judge. The rate study was presented to the Village Council in early 2018. The Village Council adopted an ordinance to adopt rates established by the Woods study, with the purpose of establishing rates for the years of 2010 through 2017.
Ridgewood NJ, Mayor Hache fills us in on the court mandated forced over development know as Affordable Housing . According to the mayor ,this litigation started in 2015, as a result of the failure of the executive and legislative branches of state government to properly address the development of affordable housing in the state. The Village was mandated by the New Jersey Supreme Court to file a Declaratory Judgement complaint in Superior Court, seeking approval of its adopted housing plan and immunity from builders remedy lawsuits while the decision by the Court was pending.
Ridgewood NJ, Bookends in Ridewood will host Andrew Zimmern on Thursday, February 7th @ 6:00pm. Zimmer is the Host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Food, and the James Beard award-Winner, Andrew Zimmern, will take a quick photo & sign his new book:AZ and the lost City of Ophi .
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.
Ridgewood NJ, Please help support the RHS Alumni Association by honoring your favorite alum, teacher, local business, coach, team or academic club.
Ridgewood High School is built on a tradition of excellence. You can continue to support and inspire students by purchasing your own brick paver today. Commemorate an event, reunion or significant milestone by purchasing a brick. You can memorialize a treasured individual or simply declare your love of RHS through this program. These bricks will line the walkways of our campus and honor the past and the future of RHS.
It’s not a Ridgewood thing that we no longer have a downtown of butcher, bakers, and candlestick makers. Brick and mortar retail, anywhere, has been dying for years and is now dying at a very rapid rate. Next to wind things up are the banks, closely followed by pharmacies. This might not seem like much of a big deal to most, but these banks pump in a lot in the ways of rents, taxes, employment, and just a physical presence. What we are left with are the service businesses (hair/nail, cafes, & restaurants). The profit margins on these places is razor thin and it’s why they turn over frequently.
No amount of increased parking is going to change anything.
“The ONLY way to keep property taxes from rising exponentially is to encourage long time residents with no children in the schools to stay put. We do not ask for anything other than basic services such as police, fire, and plowing the snow and picking up leaves. Many of us spend time at our summer or winter homes, in order to meet the 181 day requirement to be a resident of a more tax friendly state so we don’t even vote here . Of the 14 homes on my block, only 6 have school age children. If you chase the other 8 homeowners out with higher taxes, chances are about 100% that the purchasers of these homes will have children, so add 12-15 students to the roster. Due to cheap interest rates the homes are more affordable to more buyers who struggle with a big mortgage for 10 years while their kids are in school, then bail out as soon as they graduate . I grew up here and historically empty nesters would stay since it is a nice place to live. The trend of turnover has been accelerated by these people who are “marginal” by financial qualifications who need to bail out and go back to cheaper living such as a small condo in mahwah or renting in NYC. The old timers ask for very little. Do us a favor and keep the charm of the village. Keep your dumb lawn signs off the property , rake your leaves so they don’t blow in my yard ,fix the peeling paint on your house, and keep your rubbish barrels in the back yard. Or chase us out and your kids will be on split sessions unless you want a huge tax increase to expand the school”
“The newer people will never believe that it was once possible to have a charming town. One had all types of stores. One could buy reasonably priced clothing and the merchants even notified you if you had a child that needed special skinny sizes when they received a shipment you could use. You could walk into a hardware store with a handful of screws and say “I need more of these.” We had our own butcher shop which had great meats at reasonable prices–and hired Down’s syndrome individuals to keep it clean. We had a news, stationery, business supplies and gift shop where you could buy anything practical you needed. If we didn’t have it in Ridgewood, it probably was not made. Now we have a great selection of restaurants and not much else.”
The problem is that we have too many short term residents. People are able to get elected because they have friends and contacts they make due to their young children in school . Where else could a short term resident like aronson or zuzsy get elected?
Many towns with a more stable population (instead of NYC people who live here for a 10 year term) would never elect some new resident to an important position. I am surprised that a long term resident such as hauck would go along with the apartment deals, but I guess she was close enough to aronson that he could literally whisper in her ear to convince her to go along with making this “east Montclair ”
I can tell you that as a life long resident who has the best interests of the village at heart, I would never get elected because the new residents are a larger voting block. Hence the decline of what we expect for the character of our village.
And if elected I doubt I could sit up there and put up with the general public or nasty anonymous online comments.
A real solution with be for all property taxes to reflect the purchase price of the home . This is done in florida. It protects the long time residents From tax increases that benefit the new people who push their agenda. Let them pay for their own schools and parking garages
Ridgewood NJ, accrding to the National weather service there is a WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM EST WEDNESDAY…
* WHAT…Snow expected. Total snow accumulations of 2 to 5 inches expected, with locally up to 6 inches in far western Orange County. Snowfall rates up to one inch per hour are possible at times this afternoon and evening.
* WHERE…Interior portions of the Lower Hudson Valley, Northern Fairfield and Western Bergen and Passaic counties.
* WHEN…Light snow develops late this morning, then possibly mixes with or changes to rain for a few hours this afternoon across most of the advisory area. The precipitation returns to all snow this evening, before ending later tonight/early Wednesday morning.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS…Plan on slippery road conditions. The hazardous conditions could impact the morning and/or evening commute.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS… A Winter Weather Advisory for snow means periods of snow will cause primarily travel difficulties. Expect snow covered roads and limited visibilities, and use caution while driving. Check local Department of Transportation information services for the latest road conditions.
Ridgewood NJ, The Family Promise Super 50/50 Raffle is Here!
Here is an easy way to support Family Promise – and have a chance to win up to $25,000!
Tickets are $100 each. Grand prize is 25% of proceeds up to $25,000, with 16 additional opportunities to win a cash prize! Only 1,000 tickets will be sold.
Proceeds benefit Family Promise’s programs that provide shelter and support to homeless working families with children. Every ticket sold will help make a difference for a family in need. Please buy a ticket today!
To purchase tickets… Please call 201-833-8009 or download this form and mail your payment to: Family Promise of Bergen County 100 Dayton Street, Ridgewood, NJ 07450
Ridgewood NJ, The 2019 Woman’s Club Annual Garage Sale is 2/22 -24. Hours are Fri.-Sat. 9 – 3 & Sun. 9-noon The address is 215 W. Ridgewood Ave.
We are accepting donations now through Feb. 21. M/T/F from 9:30 -1:30 and Sat. 2/16 from 9:30-noon & Sun. 2/17 from 2-4 at the Clubhouse kitchen door. Please donate only clean items in good repair, with all parts/pieces. For more info email [email protected]
Experts from Astor Galleries will be available Fri. & Sat. to appraise all types of antiques, collectibles, and vintage items for a fee of $10 per item or 3 items for $25. They will also purchase gold and silver on the spot. Astor Galleries will donate a portion of their profits to the Woman’s Club. www.astorgalleries.com
“If any of you who think the Superintendent’s is gospel, maybe you should read the entire law the Board is complaining about. It clearly states that is an election is moved back from November until April the members who would retire in April will have shortened terms. (When it was first moved to April, in case people don’t remember, the people who should have retired that November got the six more months to serve until April.) So now the same Board who gleefully accepted that six more months are crying that their terms need to be extended again. I hate to think that volunteers could become so power hungry that they can’t stand even the idea of taking away their spending privileges.”
RIDGEWOOD NJ, Special Properties Real Estate Services, LLC, an exclusive affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate and the fastest-growing real estate brokerage in northern New Jersey, welcomes the long-time real estate duo of Maribeth Germinario and MaryBeth Fahey to its Ridgewood-West office as Realtor Associates. Their addition to Special Properties is part of the real estate brokerage’s ongoing expansion throughout the region.
These full-time agents specialize in residential real estate throughout Bergen County and the surrounding areas. They have earned various sales awards in their 10 years as a team, and both hold the Accredited Buyer
Representative (ABR) and Certified Negotiation Expert (CNE) designation. They are members of several industry organizations, including the National Association of Realtors and the Greater Bergen Association of Realtors.
Fahey is a graduate of Villanova University with degrees in finance and liberal arts and in her spare time she enjoys gardening & travelling. She currently lives in Ridgewood with her husband and two sons.
Germinario has sold real estate all over central and northern New Jersey, before settling in Ridgewood with her family in 2002. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, the beach, travelling and walking her dogs. A
New Jersey native, Germinario graduated from Seton Hall University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing.
Ridgewood NJ, a Ridgewood Police officer was named as one of eight New Jersey police officers last year who failed random drug test, after a random testing policy was put in place across the state .
According to sources the tests uncovered law enforcement officers using drugs like marijuana, cocaine and the powerful prescription opioid painkiller oxycodone. The mandatory drug testing policy for all law enforcement officers was enacted in March by New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal .
