the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, a recent email from Village Manager Keith Kazmark to Ridgewood Village Council members reveals that the true municipal tax levy increase for 2025 is 6.6%, despite public messaging indicating a lower figure. The discrepancy has sparked criticism among some residents who argue that the real tax burden is being underreported.
Behind the Numbers: What the Email Revealed
In the email, obtained by the Ridgewood blog, Kazmark admits that without the addition of new ratables—notably the inclusion of Valley Hospital’s property in the tax roll—the tax levy increase would have been approximately 6.55%, effectively aligning with a 6.6% increase in the Ridgewood portion of the tax bill.
Despite this acknowledgment, the Village has not shared the full 6.6% figure in public statements, instead focusing on a 3% average increase in taxes on individual homes. This has led to concerns that the municipality is downplaying the impact on overall taxation by framing the figures around the “average home” rather than the actual increase in the levy itself.
The Valley Hospital Factor
One of the central issues is the inclusion of Valley Hospital’s $208 million property assessment, which contributed to a boost in ratables. Kazmark states that this spread out the tax burden, resulting in a smaller per-household increase. However, critics argue that this increase in the tax base should have offset the need for any resident tax hike, particularly during a time of inflation.
Residents have pointed out that if the Village had balanced the additional $6 million in potential tax revenue from new assessments across the budget—particularly to cover inflation—it could have neutralized the municipal tax hike.
Key Figures from the Email:
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2024 Municipal Tax on Average Home: $4,760.84
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2025 Municipal Tax on Average Home: $4,910.47
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Tax Increase: $149.63 (~3.1%)
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True Tax Levy Increase: ~6.6%
Questions Over Transparency and Messaging
While Kazmark stated that there are “no hidden expenses or creative math,” critics say the Village is not being fully transparent with taxpayers. The issue isn’t just about the mathematical accuracy, but rather the narrative being presented to the public.
Furthermore, Valley Hospital has not yet paid its taxes, and should it fail to do so, the property would go to tax sale, adding another layer of uncertainty to the municipal budget’s dependency on new ratables.
Final Word
As the Village of Ridgewood moves forward with its $64.8 million proposed 2025 municipal budget, residents are urging the council and Village Manager to be more forthright about the true tax impact. With the numbers now public, transparency and fiscal accountability will likely remain hot-button issues as budget discussions continue.
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And then county, tax, state, tax, Board of Education,
I could see the village having a week of furlough’s,
We thought hospitals are exempt in paying taxes, even if they lose , then they will appeal it and maybe you might see money a long time down the road if they lose. But in the meantime, buckle up, that’s what we are hearing from the fly on the wall.
Because Kazmark is aligned with PauLIE who brought him in. He does not know how to tell the truth or he is being told not to and is a politician first and foremost. Residents are also being asked to foot the bill for a $1.5 dirty dirt clean up too which resulted from village worker negligence. Things are really bad so they just keep trying to fool the public which is clear.
Yes, Paul Vaginaos hired his campaign manager Keith Kazmark for this 200K+ job and a dedicated director or communication, to paint a good face on expenses he is incurring for improvements around his personal properties in CBD – Matt Platkin – are you reading these?
There should be removing a few personnel in upper management, you could save a good million dollars by removing all the directors, there are all needed and causing us village a lot of money, right there is $1 million think about that and how much is the village taking from the water utility to balance out the budget.oh shhhh’
And charge Healthbarn rent for 11 acres not just a few rooms in a house. Charge for the garden space, parking spaces, garbage pick up, landscaping, water bill, clean up crew and the new pavilion. I bet you could make some money there
The have a washer and dryer in the house too. Can you imagine that we are also paying for that. It is outrageous!!
Wow. Thats insane. It’s like a little country villa for that business owner. Ridgewood tax payers are so ignorant to this give away!!! Every penny counts and we are paying to support a private business in a park that was once beautiful now overgrown and so ugly and beat up
Do they pay for water??? We all pay a lot. A washer dryer and constantly watering a garden. Do we know who pays the water bill?
Let’s ask Kazmark. He is in charge of the lease and to make sure that the public stays out of the way of Ms. A conducting her private parties and what not and apparently they love her so much that they just celebrated a fabulous 10 year anniversary. How many other businesses do they parade around for?
healthbarn doesn’t pay for it’s own garbage pickup?
Nope but the businesses in town do. They don’t pay for anything except the small rent they pay for an entire house ( don’t be fooled ) and full use of 11 acres.
No our sanitation trucks fly backwards down the drive way to collect all the garbage produced by a 60 hour or so business a week. A lot of trash on our dime
As long as you have people like Kazmark who are in lock step with the slime buckets that this Mayor and council has turned out to be then this is what you get. This is probably the worst council in village history and you will never get a straight answer about anything.
Hmm, same thing is happening at the BOE.
BOE budget increase is at 2%, which will be effective zero for existing home owners.
Most of the existing BOE are tied to something except for Saraub Dani who is the only one who asks questions to get answers, the rest of the bunch just sit there and vote yes and probably have zero clue what they are even voting for.
Can someone tell us how can the village engineer still have a job when he had the ex village manager were shot at the time. How can these two nitwits still be employed by the village. They are causing us a tremendous amount of money every year. Not to mention their big screwup. It’s on them and they should be removed Immediately. How can the village condone these actions. Who the hell is in charge. The village has become some shit show, it’s embarrassing. It’s ridiculous, no wonder. The morale is down to the gutter line again the last five years the village is in the toilet.
Agree. Totally ridiculous that he is still there
Dirtbags.
Bamboozled by Vagianos and his cronies once again.
Not sure this constitutes fraud, but it certainly is stretching the truth. I have been supportive of the current VC and Kazmark in particular, but at this point someone needs to go.
6.6% is simply unacceptable when the biggest driver of the budget- salaries and benefits- all seem to be in the 2-3% range.
Smoke and mirrors my friend they have been doing it for years. Where is the 4 million that Healthbarn accepted alongside the mayor and Ramon Hache? Does anyone know? Just asking?
Kazmark needs to go. He is a LIAR
This manager is precisely what RW deserves. This town has chosen 5 amigos to lead them. They have a full mandate to do whatever they want and I hope they use it. Unless pain is felt for real, people will continue to vote for bad candidates. Look around. This town is nothing comparable to what it was even 2-3 years ago. It’s going down the drain, fast. Liberals, democrats, progressives are in full charge in this extremely woke town.
Can you imagine working for a private company and you caused a 1.5 million and more in a major screw up. We don’t even know what the outcome is going to be with public health between residence and employees, we had employees working on the toxic material for a pretty long time and the village is doing nothing about it. This is what kind of people are running the town. Real pieces of shit can you imagine this and no one‘s been fired how can this be. With talking with the State, the village is going to have to have some kind of health plan and finances put on the side regarding the toxic soil. Just like the 911 from the New York City. Same thing buckle up everybody if you think you’re crying about paying taxes for the toxic soil, you just wait for the lawsuits. Your teeth are gonna be falling out of your mouth.
And we don’t know how far it spread. Habernickel park has trees planted that continue to die by the meadow area. The barn was ripped down and now grass will not grow. This needs to be tested. The engineer supervised this parks build also. They built a pavilion with a cement floor to cover up what? Did they dig in contaminated soil and send it air born? That park scares me now and grosses me out. It looks like trash, dead grass all over and that God awful pavilion that will be garbage collector and an under age drinking spot. Very easy to run into the woods if the cops are called. It’s going to be trouble!
I was wondering why everything looks so dead at Habernickel. Is it the toxic soil. Grass patches are missing. It used to be so beautiful and vibrant.
Law suits will be issued very shortly on behalf of the contaminated soil.
It’s amazing. This group is going to bankrupt the village. They are spending money. They don’t have, they keep on borrowing floating bars. When is it going to end?
People are using Winograd’s ugly $1,000.00 planters now as garbage cans.
I thought planters were new garbage cans. Because Winograd is obsessed with designer garbage cans. Didn’t realize they were planters…it’s just so weird to be spending any money on this
New title for Kazmark: Village Mis-Manager
We’re talking about a large budget here. The bottom line is the mayor council manager should start addressing employees that are receiving highly paid stipends. With taxpayers demand to know who is receiving them and why we wanna know the total amount that’s going out to employees for paid stipends. We want to know who authorized it, and are they certified in receiving that stipend. Because in the past, the village is known for just giving out. promotions to employees without being trained. No test taken, no schooling, no certification, this is ridiculous. We the taxpayers demand us to stop. The manager has a list of who is receiving these stipends. This should be broadcasted immediately stop hiding. We’ve been requesting this list for a few years now why is it not coming out. What is it locked in the vault in village Hall.👀
FOIA
What type of stipends?
Page stipends you’ll see the list when Billy Joel releases them, I gotta tell you the village is so toxic to work for. Morale’s down to shit, everyone backstabbing each other, troublemakers what happened to this place and the ones that don’t see it that’s because their head is up one of the bosses asses. And then you got directors following everybody like big Brother, I in the sky, no trust, they really are a bunch of you know what’s, I don’t even want to use the language. I’ll just wait until I see them so I could call it to them to their face. I don’t wanna talk behind anyone’s back. I rather say right to their face when I see them. Because that’s what they deserve. And yes, I have the balls to do so.
What does the village of Ridgewood get out of accommodating a private business taking up a huge property, extending the boundaries of a Green Acres lease where as stated above, get a $350,000.00 pavilion that will probably have one or more private bathrooms installed (more $$$), all of taxpayer dimes, all the while they make tons of money doing private events and parties that may be outside of the confines of stated park hours, have a private washer and dryer at their disposal and garbage removal and probably get a tax deduction to boot?