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Ridgewood formally adopts $47 million budget with $7.1 million in unfunded liabilities

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MAY 28, 2015    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2015, 3:53 PM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

The local budget season came to an end in Ridgewood with the formal adoption of a $47 million spending plan on Wednesday night.

The budget, which was passed by a 3-2 vote, is primarily funded by a $33 million tax levy – $31 million for municipal purposes and another $2 million for the public library. The municipal portion of a Ridgewood resident’s tax bill will by increase 1.2 percent, or $46.12 on a home assessed at the village average of $690,062.

The municipal budget has significant investments in services and people, said Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, including revitalization of the Building Department, establishment of Human Resources, growth in technology, reaccreditation of the Ridgewood Police Department and enhanced support for the community center. Improvements in parking include the hiring of a chief financial officer who doubles as the parking utility director and implementation of ParkMobile and other strategies to minimize the handling of quarters, the village manager said.

The budget also comes with some risk as the village currently has $7.1 million in unfunded liability payments and utilized one-time revenues in 2015, such as the $800,000 reimbursement received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). There are also some expenses, such as legal fees for the Planning Board and police contract negotiations as well as maintenance of the village’s aging infrastructure, which could exceed the amount set aside in their respective lines.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/spending-plan-gets-green-light-1.1344552

6 thoughts on “Ridgewood formally adopts $47 million budget with $7.1 million in unfunded liabilities

  1. why did Sedon and Councilwoman Susan Knudsen vote against it other than their concerns about an HR professional ? Did they want to cut taxes or raise them more ?

  2. Why don’t you e mail theme and ask 2:07

  3. Sedon and Kundsen voted against it because Roberta shoved through some items without any full council discussion. They were right to make a statement about this. They are the two people up there who are actually paying attention and being thoughtful about how our money is spent. Please remember that our vilage manager is not an elected official.

    So happy to see that Big Al is continuing to vote with the other two as a bloc, even though he declared to the League of Women Voters last wee that he absolutely is an independent thinker and he never ever votes as a bloc. He is such a gasbag. I guess he thinks that if he states a lie loudly and clearly everyone will believe it. Who knows, maybe he even believes his own BS.

  4. people it’s time to clean house , starting from the top.

  5. Ma Sonenfeld is spending money she doesn’t have. Curious. I can’t wait to see her latest “working at my desk” photo posted.

  6. Village taxes have risen 1% since 2012. Compare that with your increase in BOE and Bergen County taxes since then. Decent effort here, and the HR role will only make the Village more efficient in evaluating staffing needs rather than having dept heads alone try to trade horses for staffing budgets. Investing for the future looks to be correct, and although it’s Roberta’s budget, the Council was involved from the early stages.

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