Officials from Ridgewood’s Parks and Recreation Department make budget requests
APRIL 16, 2014 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2014, 5:40 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
Supervisors and supporters of the Parks and Recreation Department pleaded with Ridgewood Council members last week, making their annual appeal for funding consideration and fewer budget cuts this year. Champions for the department also emphasized that employees continue to “do more with less,” but they cannot maintain high levels of service in the future without financial assistance.
The Ridgewood Parks and Recreation Department, headquartered at The Stable, has been doing “more with less,” according to department officials.
The recent session was the council’s latest meeting with various village supervisors in an attempt to trim the fat off of a municipal spending plan, which is just south of $50 million, and present a zero percent average tax increase to Ridgewood property owners. Council members are scheduled to introduce this year’s operating budget April 23, and they expect to hold a public hearing and vote on the plan May 28.
Parks officials have been dealt the brunt of financial reductions since the economic decline of 2008, and the department took one of the largest budget cuts between 2012 and last year. Last Thursday, Tim Cronin said running the department under such financial constraints “has been tough.”
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