file photo by Boyd Loving
April 18,2016
the satff of the Rmidgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, from the “Take Back Ridgewood ” Facebook page,put forth a very taxing matter. According to “Take Back Ridgewood ” , “Our taxes are going UP this year. Public hearings on the new tax rates are not scheduled until May 11th (May 10th is the election date).
Since “two council candidates Evan Weitz and Janice Willett and ranking members of the Financial Advisory Committee;
when they knock at your door to ask for your vote, please remember to ask them about their role in Financial Advisory Committee and raising our taxes.
Also ask them why the news about tax increase is not being shared with the residents until May 11th. Please share and spread the word, so everyone can make an informed decision on May 10th.”
Evan Weitz is the chair of financial advisory committee. Janice Willet is Vice Chair. Janice spoke in favor of high density development on March 23rd at the High School. She favors building the apartments.
Who is on the committee and where are the minutes of their meetings?
And the original garage
Mr. Aronsohn kept forcing zero increases in the municipal portion of property tax (against the will of more circumspect council members who feared having no cushion against emergencies) to look like a friend to the common resident. In his final few months he will blast us with a large increase to subsidize his pet projects just before running for the hills. It’s like the parking garage drawings and information (e.g., it would have been Occupy Hudson Street) that were released just after the referendum vote. The scheming and manipulation that got us to this pass are unforgivable.
apparently this poster missed the 2016 Budget Introduction Meeting on April 13th… see HJames’ post here https://theridgewoodblog.net/village-of-ridgewood-2016-budget-highlights-and-low-lights/ and the Budget Presentation here https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/images/Ridgewood/Departments/Manager/2016budgeta.pdf
9:34, looking forward to the new Council cutting Village property taxes which current Council never did.
what emergencies 9:34? The theft of millions in quarters from the Village coffers? Contracts for favored friends?
9:34, the initial Budget presentation at the link below calls for a1.6% Municipal Tax Increase in 2016, or a $67.40 annual increase on an average assessed home value of $693,904… many Villagers think municipal property taxes should in fact be reduced, not increased, and not held at zero. So what’s your agenda pushing higher property taxes for “emergencies”? Emergencies are unpredictable, but once you raise taxes that becomes a permanent increase in the tax base. A far better solution is to have special assessments post-emergencies rather than permanently increasing the tax base in anticipation of such “emergencies”. https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/images/Ridgewood/Departments/Manager/2016budgeta.pdf
It has all become one big joke on village residents and the two mentioned above will only make matters worse. As for the high density housing i’am surprised at Willet considering she grew up in the village. Say no to the two above on election day.
We have minutes of Planning and Zoning online.
Why aren’t the minutes of the Financial Advisory Committee available?
Shine a light on this shadow government group.
That’s a governance issue 12:07, the leadership of the FAC should publish their minutes in an open & transparent manner
The leadership of Financial Advisory Committee is there just to stamp RS’s decisions. So she can say ‘an expert panel has looked at it and they agree with my approach”. She comes from the corporate word and knows how to put everything on outside ‘consultants’.
Its beyond funny that the Chairman of FAC, a candidate for the council election, Weitz is not even a finance guy. He is an attorney and we have seen how good attorneys are on the council (Albert). Try asking him some finance questions. May be he will do better than the CFO?
Willet also said that Linwood needs to be widened to four lanes by the hospital. Yep, grab your pants, here it comes.
Valley owns 3 of 4 houses on the corner. They were just setting the stage for their expansion.
So 1.22 widening of Linwood avenue means it now be becomes a COMMMERCIAL zone,Homeowners will likely start dumping prices to get out at any costs..let’s have some new realestate leasing companies perhaps from China or India buy them so to create a gateway rental area of distressed homes to flood the schools with ridgewood school district takers..moving trucks on the way…hey the Valley Hospital Garage will also be a neighborhood wrecker…we will have an pair of them also soon to be raised on hudson street…slum makers,thanks Village council for all the mismanagement.what a scandal….
1.37. So no permit needed when a commercial institution buys close in houses en masse?.meanwhile I had to offer my first child’s dowry for architects rushed redesigned blueprints and a repermitting fees for a 4 foot variance on a family room upgrade.For which VOR raised my tax rating and permanent house value.Homeowners always in their plundering BullsEyes..guessing VC greased the skids for Valley..this town is a Joke now. Watch the for sales signs explode for the summer selling season..
Last house on the old gangs block looses in this game called down the drain..
Ms. Haick got elected last time because the West side of Ridgewood voted and the Eastside did not. Check the records. I believe this “committee” came into existence after that election. Most of those in administration, on the board, and doctors from Valley that live in Ridgewood are also from the West side, and, I would be willing to bet, most of this front they call a Financial Advisory Committee live on the West side. Get it ? It is nothing more than a power play by a relatively small group of people with big money and egos that could care less about the overall well being of Ridgewood. And you are right 1:44, that could easily happen, but not just to that neighborhood.
Don’t turn this into a West v. East thing. That’s insulting.
Bill H. – please don’t make this a West v. East thing. That tears a community apart and it’s insulting. I happen to live on the West side, within spitting distance of the East side – the argument that we are 2 separate groups doesn’t fly.
Ellen… that has been the undercurrent for several years and now with all of the disputes going on, especially with the so called “crown jewel”, a lot of people are making this an east side west side thing… and some postings implying people living near the hospital are suckers, selfish, nimby etc. has done wonders to cement that feeling…and yes it is unfortunate but it is becoming a huge reality…
Bill H. I don’t really believe it is an east west thing. That is where Ms. Hauck lives. She is a nice lady and those were her neighbors and friends voting for her. She did not do what she said she would and turned out to be a third vote for all on Mr. Arohnson’s agenda but there were reasons why folks were upset and voted the old council out…
Ellen- Did not mean to be “insulting. I am an admirer of the work you, and others, are doing to try and stop what is turning into a train wreck for this town, but I’ll stick to my original comment for which I think I’m entitled after 33 yrs. It’s a power play, pure and simple. I have not said anything that people who have resided here have not said privately, trust me. But if nothing else, maybe it will get the people in this town to wake up, vote these people and their friends out, and stop the train wreck. That’s what the statement was intended to do. Sometimes being “politically correct “”does not work.
Bill H… you are spot on… I’m one of those awful newbies (only 20 years here) and have seen the small divisions that have marked business as usual mutate into chasms in the last 10 years… and your voter turnout is pretty valid when you see the results… lastly, yes, we need throw the pc crap out the window… we now have polarization and absolutism as the working model in this town based on 2 opposite camps.. which means we in the vast middle all lose…
9:46 AM, emergencies were unpredictable things like multiple blizzards dumping tons of snow, other natural disasters, exploding water mains and other infrastructure failure that has to be fixed immediately for a ton of money, or whatever.
I live on the west side and I have email from Gwenn saying the previous administration did not take care of the west side and she and the current administration are making sure that west side is not neglected. So, she definitely tried to play that card.
love to see it???
Exactly 6:37, so raising annual property taxes for such emergencies becomes a permanent increase in the tax base. Your base taxes are what increases next year and the following year are based off, so it’s a permanent tax increase for unpredictable events. How can you predict blizzards, natural disasters and exploding water mains? You cannot. So do you return the taxes raised in years without these emergencies? In reality, of course not. When have you ever seen a property tax reduction in years absent big snow storms or natural disasters? So where did those tax increase go if we don’t have a special emergency reserve? These funds end up being spent on retroactive pay increases for favored Village employees, or misappropriated to buy more bullets for the RPD, etc. What happened to the funds remaining after $1.0mn+ worth of environmental studies from the last municipal garage bonding? Were those funds used to retire the bond when the Village didn’t build a garage then? No. Some went in to the general fund and disappeared. A far better solution is to have special assessments post-emergencies rather than permanently increasing the tax base in anticipation of such “emergencies”. Only a fiscally irresponsible, tax and spend driven person could suggest otherwise. Ridgewood taxpayers, who pay some of the highest absolute state income and local property taxes in the United States, deserve clearer thinking and more fiduciary responsibility from our elected officials, Village Manager, and the BOE on property tax increases than you are proposing. It’s time for a better solution than your idea of tax hikes to provide “a cushion against emergencies” which is a crude and imprecise abuse of taxpayer funds. #taxedtodeath, #fidcuiaryresponsibility