The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
by the staff of The Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, we just finished watching the Village Council’s entire, 4 hour and 26-minute-long January 31st budget meeting on YouTube and will now say this about that:
Continue reading Ridgewood Village Council – Do as we say, not as we do
20181003 Village Council Workshop Agenda
THE RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL’S PUBLIC WORKSHOP AGENDA OCTOBER 3, 2018 7:30 P.M.
Continue reading THE RIDGEWOOD VILLAGE COUNCIL’S PUBLIC WORKSHOP AGENDA OCTOBER 3, 2018 7:30 P.M.
April 13,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to Councilmen Ramon Hache, “The budget process is never easy, especially in an age of budget caps that are below the rate of inflation. Basically we have to, at a minimum, deliver the same level of services every year with a limited capacity of raising revenues to meet the increased cost of delivering those services.” Hache goes on , “Changes to federal income tax laws at the end of 2017 have adversely impacted many of our residents by sharply reducing the amount of state and local income taxes (“SALT”) they can deduct in determining taxable income. Mindful of this, we worked very hard with our department heads to come up with a budget that would not place an additional undue burden on our residents. On April 11, the Village Council will introduce a municipal budget with a property tax increase of 0.99% over 2017. Please note this is just the municipal budget and does not include the Board of Education or the county.”
Final 2018 Budget Presentation
2018 Final Budget Presentation
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Village budget was up loaded on April 27th after it was approved by the state on New Jersey . The tax hike over last year is about .04% ,hardly massive. The previous administration increased the budget 1.6% , this Village council is looking for an increase of 2%.
The council made an effort to balance many competing issues and expenses with an eye on investing in the future of the Village as opposed to the previous administration which used emergency funds to pay for current non emergency expenses .
The Mayor and Council continued their on going battle with the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) which continues its ill informed agenda driven attacks on the Village Council.
The mayor explained the parking pass rate increase , and the overall allocation of parking. There has been an attempt to push use of less utilized parking through a lower rate and get employees off the street with discounted parking .The parking rate increase of $1000 was proposed by the from the Financial Advisories Committee , but the Council raised the rate to $750.It was important to balance commuters with shoppers with CBD employees.
The recent letter published in the media by former Village manager mirrored a letter that was sent to the Village council by the FAC.
In response to the Ridgewood News letter to the editor written by Roberta Sonenfeld: Residents should be cautious relying on the content due to errors, omissions and misrepresentations.
• Sonenfeld’s suggestion that the process wasn’t transparent is remarkable! The process followed is the same she was required to follow as former Village Manager. AS REQUIRED BY LAW, once the budget is introduced it must be reviewed by the Village auditor and afterwards, again as required by law, must be submitted to the State in THEIR BUDGET FORMAT for review with the completion of a check list and all required documentation. This process is no different than any other year – even during those years she was village manager. When the budget is advertised, it advises the public to contact the Village CFO with the appropriate phone number and extension. No phone calls have been received to date.• Sonenfeld’s feigned surprise about the use of “rainy day” funds is curious since Sonenfeld utilized the surplus over and over again. She need only review her use of $3.032mil in 2015 and $3.3mil in 2016. The 2017 use of surplus, at approximately 10% more, is well within the amounts stipulated by the guidelines of the resolution recommended by Sonenfeld and adopted by Village Council last year for the utilization of “rainy day” reserves.
• Sonenfeld writes, “the budget proposes $7.4 million in authorized general debt for 2017 – an 88 percent increase over last year.” If she had provided the actual 2016 amount of $6.021 million ( authorized general debt) readers would have recognized her math error…. The increase of 21% NOT 88% – the difference is for possible property acquisition. Remember this is not incurred debt, IT IS AUTHORIZED BUT NOT ISSUED
• Too other many errors, omissions and misrepresentations to list!!! The Mayor says you can email if you have any questions: sknudsen@ridgewoodnj.net
file photo by Boyd Loving
May 9,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Village council responds to erroneous assertions made by former Village Manager Roberta Sonenfled.
IMPORTANT: In response to a recent Ridgewood News letter to the editor written by Roberta Sonenfled: Residents should be cautious relying on the content due to errors, omissions and misrepresentations.
• Sonenfeld’s suggestion that the process wasn’t transparent is remarkable! The process follewed is the same shwas required to follow as former Village Manager. AS REQUIRED BY LAW, once the budget is introduced it must be reviewed by the Village auditor and afterwards, again as required by law, must be submitted to the State in THEIR BUDGET FORMAT for review with the completion of check list and all required documentation. This process is no different than any other year – even during those she was village manager. When the budget is advertised, it advises the public to contact the Village CFO with the appropriate phone number and extension. No phone calls have been received to date.
• Sonenfeld’s feigned surprise about the use of “rainy day” funds is curious since Sonenfeld utilized the surplus over and over again. She need only review her use of $3.032mil in 2015 and $3.3mil in 2016. The 2017 use of surplus, at approximately 10% more, is well within the amounts stipulated by the guidelines of the resolution recommended by Sonenfeld and adopted by Village Council last year for the utilization of “rainy day” reserves.
• Sonenfeld writes, “the budget proposes $7.4 million in authorized general debt for 2017 – an 88 percent increase over last year.” If she had provided the actual 2016 amount of $6.021 million ( authorized general debt) readers would have recognized her math error…. The increase in 21% NOT 88% – the difference is for possible property acquisition. Remember this is not incurred debt, IT IS AUTHORIZED BUT NOT ISSUED
• Too many error, omissions and misrepresentations to list!!!
Again readers should consider the source. Email if you have any questions: sknudsen@ridgewoodnj.net
file photo by Boyd Loving
Letter: Ridgewood budget issues remain:
https://www.northjersey.com/story/opinion/readers/2017/05/03/letter-ridgewood-budget-issues-remain/309712001/
May 7,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, in a recent letter to the editor former Village manager Roberta Sonenfeld looked to undermine the current Village Council on the Village budget . Tony Loving of Ridgewood asked “Doesn’t Ms. Sonenfeld have a formal ethics complaint pending against her? For allegedly using tax revenues inappropriately? And didn’t she resign in a huff? Makes me wonder about both the accuracy and intent of her letter.”
While the idea of a lawsuit was refuted by none other than Jan Philips.Anne LaGrange Loving followed up with some hard evidence “Actually, Jan, yes and yes. For those who are interested in the facts, here are three links to information regarding the ethics violation pending against Ms. Sonenfeld:”
https://www.northjersey.com/…/lawsuits-emerge…/94821932/
https://njfog.org/…/ridgewood-mayor-manager-accused…/
https://njrandomgovt.blogspot.com/…/ridgewood-mayor-and…
Loving went on , “I was in touch with the complainant yesterday, and indeed the matter is still outstanding. It can take up to two years for resolution of these complaints.
And as far as “resigning in a huff,” we all read the letter of resignation, which was made public, and it was not exactly a friendly lovey-dovey letter of resignation.”
Ridgewood village manager resigns, citing ‘contentious’ work environment https://archive.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-village-manager-resigns-citing-contentious-work-environment-1.1655420
Reader says Roberta was a time bomb waiting to explode left behind by the Aronsohn conglomerate
https://theridgewoodblog.net/reader-says-roberta-was-a-time-bomb-waiting-to-explode-left-behind-by-the-aronsohn-conglomerate/
file photo by Boyd Loving
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD – Ridgewood’s Village Council continued its budget meetings this week, with representatives from various departments reporting on their successes and needs.
Health Department
Dawn Cetrulo, a health officer, said, “2015 was a great year for the Health Department,” noting that the department was easily able to deal with the Ebola virus crisis from last year, showing the staff’s preparedness. She also stated that the village’s weight-loss challenge went well, with a lot of participants “keeping the weight off.”
Furthermore, she noted that Animal Control Department provided 118 rabies vaccinations and 32 dog microchips to villagers free of charge.
Cetrulo said that some of the department’s goals for 2016 are to “continue to improve outreach programs in the community,” as well as “focusing on a monthly health positive.”
https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/town-government/village-reps-talk-numbers-1.1514670
APRIL 21, 2015 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2015, 9:22 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The Village Council is getting ready to introduce its spending plan for the 2015 fiscal year after a final discussion last week pertaining to some items contained in the 2015 operating and capital budgets.
All five council members stated at least some support for the staff recommended budget, which calls for a 1.2 percent tax increase. A home assessed at the village average of $690,672 would see a $46.72 increase.
The budget is scheduled for introduction on April 22, while village officials are targeting May 27 for a public hearing and adoption.
One of the changes proposed in the budget is increasing the hours for senior human resources professional Sharyn Matthews from 29 to 35 hours, making her position full-time.
Councilman Michael Sedon questioned Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld as to why it was necessary to increase Matthews’ role from part-time to full-time.
Sonenfeld responded that the full-time human resources professional will work on an organizational redesign with the significant retirements the village is facing in the coming years, as well as putting a strong process in place for a performance evaluation system.
There will also be a general savings to the village in having Matthews handle responsibilities currently borne by other professionals such as the labor attorney, Sonenfeld said.
Treasurer Steve Sanzari noted that the village budgeted $60,000 for labor attorney fees, but actually spent $96,210 last year. With a full-time human resources staffer on board, $50,000 needed to be set aside.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-municipal-budget-to-be-introduced-1.1313737
APRIL 16, 2015 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015, 3:43 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Municipal officials gave high marks to the Ridgewood school system for its overall work and offered preliminary support to the district’s proposed $101 million budget.
At the annual joint meeting between the village’s governing and education leaders on Monday, Board of Education members and district administrators reviewed their anticipated 2015-16 spending plan, which will be up for BOE vote later this month.
The schools budget calls for an average tax bill increase of approximately $195, a figure based on an assessed home value of $690,662.
When combined with the district’s outstanding debt service levy, the amount to be paid is a 2.04 percent increase over last year.
In explaining the proposal, Alfredo Aguilar, district business administrator, highlighted the various programs that the budget would support. Included in his list were four additional staff positions, 13 new class offerings throughout the high school and middle schools, and $1.5 million earmarked for technology maintenance and upgrades.
AGENDA
VILLAGE COUNCIL SPECIAL PUBLIC BUDGET MEETING
MARCH 22, 2015
12:00 NOON
1. Call to Order
2. Statement of Compliance with the 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.”
3. Roll Call – Village Clerk
4. Flag Salute and Moment of Silence
5. Public Comments (Not to exceed 5 minutes per person)
6. Discussion Items
a. Review of Departmental/Utility/Other Accounts Budgets
1. Parking Utility
2. Tax Assessor
3. Village Clerk/Elections
4. Planning Board/Historic Preservation Commission
5. Emergency Services
6. Municipal Court
7. Attorney Fees
8. Finance/Tax Collection
9. Debt Service
10. Terminal Leave
11. Trust Funds and Surplus
12. Electric and Gas
13. Library
Review of Departmental Budgets (continued)
14. Village Manager
15. DEP Fines and Fees
16. Village Council
17. Water Department
18. Office of Emergency Management
b. Wrap-up of the Day and Next Steps
7. Public Comments (Not to exceed 5 minutes per person)
8. Adjournment
Readers debate long term sustainability on the Village Budget of employee wages, pensions and healthcare
When less than a 100 current employees and retirees consume over 50% of the Village’s annual budget in wages, pensions and healthcare, you have to question whether that’s an appropriate trade-off in a Village with only 25,000 people ? The BoE is similar, why should under 1,000 teachers and administrators (less than 4% of our Village population) consume 65% of our annual property taxes? It’s only going to get worse.
I was able to find a copy of the Village Budget Newsletter for the 2014 budget at the following link.
https://mods.ridgewoodnj.net/pdf/manager/2014BudgetNews.pdf
According to this document, which is provided by our Village Manager, the Village has a combined total annual budget of $46.2 million. Out of the $46.2 Million, the Police Department budget expenses are $9.6 Million (20.78%) and the Fire Department is $8.2 Million (17.5%). Combined, Public Safety amounts to $17.8 Million dollars or 38.529% of the annual budget. I can’t help but wonder why you chose to exclude the Debt Service of $4.8 Million from your calculations. By doing so you create the illusion that the overall costs for Public Safety are higher than they actually are in reality.
If you’d read the Budget Newsletter you would have noticed that, excluding the $4.8mn in debt service which we have to pay as a Village in 2014, police, fire and emergency service wages & benefits consumes $19mn of what’s left of the Village budget, or half of the budget… spent on less than 100 active employees plus retirees. The Village municipal employees and retirees number far more than just public safety employees and retirees, and yet Public safety contractual salary increases represent more than half of total salary increases of $900K+ in 2014, and that doesn’t include unfunded liabilities (future retirement payouts to police & fire) of $7.1M (against a reserve of $479K). We had to lay off 10% of the Village workforce in 2010 just to keep feeding this beast, and that has led to a reduction in Village services for all Villagers. That’s a poor trend for Villagers
While there has historically been a strong link between rising property prices and local property taxes, the link has broken down badly when property prices decline. Assessed property values in Ridgewood have declined from $802K in 2008 to $687K in 2013, or -3% per year, and yet the municipal budget grew +3.55% on average between 2008~2012 (2013 was 0%).
There are lots of reasons why our property taxes have grown despite declining assessed values (contractual promises, state mandates, cuts in state & federal aid, parking meter theft, etc), but shouldn’t we align our expenses with our revenues ? That’s what every responsible household does, why don’t we expect the same of our public officials ?
file photo by Boyd Loving
Village Council Special Public Budget Meeting – April 21 at 6:30PM
This meeting will be the Final Budget Meeting prior to the formal introduction of the 2014 Budget at the April 23rd Public Meeting. The April 21 meeting will be held at 6:30PM in the Village Hall Court Room.
The April 23 meeting will be held at 7:30PM in the Village Hall Court Room.
Readers respond to Councilwomen Gwen Hauck’s Ridiculous Ridgewood Library Comment
“It is an expensive department, but it’s not near as expensive as the police department and fire department. I would like it to be up there in that same echelon,” Hauck said
Really.
So you want the library budget in the same echelon as a 24/7 365 days a year department budget to include state and federal mandated training and equipment.
The library also benefits from private funding through the Friends of the Library organization and the Library Foundation, Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck said. But, according to Hauck, the library should be shouldered by the village.
“It is an expensive department, but it’s not near as expensive as the police department and fire department. I would like it to be up there in that same echelon,” Hauck said.
Duh? Are you friggin’ kidding me? Earth calling Gwenn, Earth calling Gwenn, come in please Gwenn! Police and fire operate 24/7/365 with specialized equipment and personnel. Including state and federal mandated training ?
Funny isn’t it. Loads of talk from Village Hall about shared services and using the County services when possible but no talk at all about combining municipal libraries and getting rid of some administrative overhead in the process. We could easily combine with HoHoKus, Midland Park, and Glen Rock, could we not?
Noble as libraries have been over the years, it’s hard to justify increasing public funding for Ridgewood’s. Such is the price we pay for past extravagances. As for Mrs. Hauck, she should probably keep her head down and steer clear of any other potential conflicts of interest at the taxpayers’ expense. In advance of the predictable counterpoint – I’ll concede that her advocating for another of her personal crusades is “legal” but it just continues to look bad.
Any of these name look familiar?
Library Board of Trustees
John Johansen
President
Elisa R. Legg
Vice-President
Arlene Sarappo
Secretary
Gail Campbell
Treasurer
James Mazzo
John Saraceno
Jayne Schroeder
Gwenn Hauck
Village Council
Paul Aronsohn
Mayor
Linda Diorio
Superintendent’s Delegate
Dr. Daniel Fishbein
Superintendent of Schools
2013 – 2014 Directors
Betsy Giordano, President
Shoshana Feiner, Vice-President/Sec
Stephen Petrick, Treasurer
Marie Bicks
Tony Damiano
Catherine Donnelly
Kathleen M. Entwistle
Janet Fricke
Kathleen Gatens
Paul Goldberg
Jeffrey Karpf
Helen Kim
Cara Murray
Anne Ramsey
Rahul Sharma
Melanie Stern
Associate Directors
Glenn F. Jorgensen, Founding President
Harlen Coben
Dan Cummings
Elia Desruisseaux
Thomas Dougherty
Josh Grunat
Jacque Harlow
Gwenn Hauck ****
Phyllis Heilborn
Teresa Hutchins
Michele Lenhard
William J. Meakem
Barbara Moreira
Ellen Quinn
Joan Popkin
Deborah Primiano
Albert Pucciarelli *****
Fred Strype
Reader says As long as the employee remains employed, this astounding rate of increase is all but guaranteed
Why have we made such generous promises on accumulated sick leave to municipal employees ? Ridgewood employees receive 15 sick days per year (vs. 3~5 for the average U.S. employee). Unused days may be accumulated at current pay levels until retirement, at which time retirees may elect to take half the accumulated days off with pay (up to 3-6 months, depending on department) or receive an equivalent lump sum payment at the much higher pre-retirement compensation level. The allowed sick days are in addition to generous vacations, with a starting vacation benefit for Ridgewood employees of 12-13 days, depending on department, which can grow up to a maximum of 31 days. This compares to median full-time U.S. workers receiving only 13 days of paid leave per year. The FAC recommended that the maximum number of permitted paid sick days be reduced from 15 to 7 days per calendar year, and that all sick days (up to a maximum of seven) must be used during the calendar year. Unused sick days should NOT be accumulated beyond December 31st of the same calendar year, in which they are permitted. Sick days should not be transferrable to another employee.
In practice it looks like unionized municipal workers automatically get their annual negotiated wage increases, PLUS annual step wage increases, cost of living adjustments, longetivity bonuses, etc. The STEP schedules rapidly accelerate employees’ base salaries every year, particularly in the first 10 years of employment. One Ridgewood Step Schedule for employees hired after 2010 starts at a base salary of $32,000 in the first year of employment. Under the schedule, the base salary increases to $81,971 by the end of the fifth year of employment. This represents an incredible 156% increase or a compounded annual rate of increase over 20%. This does not include the publicly disclosed 4.2% annual wage increase or a 2% bonus after year four. As long as the employee remains employed, this astounding rate of increase is all but guaranteed. Although the agreements state that the annual increases are “not automatic”, employees expect them and, in practice, it is rare that they are not approved.
