Roberta is, was and will always be Paul Aronsohn’s puppet. This move is part of a much larger scheme to discredit Susan Knudsen. Why? Because they are gearing up for the next election. The dark side has to win the two opening spots so they can regain the voting block. Jeff Voight is holding their third spot. Salivating for 2018. They have a lot of shady agendas waiting to push through.
Certainly not subtle that’s for sure. But she is calling attention to a real issue. A massive tax increase and debt increase has been proposed. After 4 years of 0% increases we are suddenly increasing taxes 2% and taking on debt to “acquire property.” What gives? What costs changed? Why the huge increases?
Why is always about Mayor Knudsen? There are 4 other members on the council. All five members have a equal vote. Maybe its time for the mayors or her posters to stop playing the martyr
If there is no clear explanation by Mayor Knudsen over the tax increase then criticism is deserved. I would never vote for any Aronsohn crony but I wouldn’t vote Knudsen either if there is no clearly justified need for a tax increase.
It makes Roberta look petty, no better than Rubrik.
Maybe she should run for office
Known and unknown detractors and calumniators of our mayor are diligent, working toward her political reduction and the resurrection of the Aronsohn faction. There is a level of sophistication in their machinations that our Village has never before seen or experienced. In some ways this speaks well of ordinary citizens in Ridgewood, in that the big guns of political wsrfare are now being rolled out to try to disarm and discourage them, and yet our non-political municipal heritage is not really yielding to the pressure. Most towns get caught unawares, leading to easy takeovers by the democratic machine. The reader who posted this is quite astute. Voight is undoubtedly recruiting like-minded candidates to run, win, and serve with him for at least a two-year period as a new majority that would marginalize Councilpersons Coughlin-Walsh and Hache much like the present Mayor and Deputy Mayor suffered at the hands of former Mayor Aronsohn and his cronies. Their treatment was atrocious and they are due a debt of gratitude for persisting and waiting for the dawn the way they did.
“Rubrik”–lovin’ it!
12:38–Great point! Does Bernie support using all these rainy day funds? Does Hache agree with raising taxes 2%? Does Mike really want to accumulate $7m more in debt to buy land in the village? It would be helpful to hear each weigh in on this outrageous proposed budget.
I remember when VM Roberta Sonenfeld advocated for a modest tax increase Ashe at the time was worried about depleting or lowering the emergency funds account. The extremely low tax rates in the past were well below the current rate of inflation. Many feel that this approach was in the long run ,did not make good financial sense. People who were not involved during Paul’s reign will not understand how truly awful he could be to his own colleagues on the bench and to citizens. The appointment of Ms, Sonenfeld was very political in nature. He got a 4th vote for his side when she became VM. The current council got rid of an un needed and not so nice Human Resource appointee saving us tax dollars and our sanity. They appointed a truly qualified individual as VM when they hired Heather Mailander.They are working overboard to address the parking issues and allowing for all opinions except the one from the Financial Committee that addressed the old garage design! I don’t expect that I will agree with anyone all the time but it sure is nice when you’re elected officials are at least nice people!
The 0% increase was orchestrated by Aronsohn as part of his legacy. As then-council member Tom Riche noted before voting against it, this provided no cushion for emergencies such as cleanup of multiple snowstorms or other weather-related problems.