Thursday, May 24, 2012
The Oradell Council approved their 2012 municipal budget which calls for a $167.27 increase on the average house
As surplus and revenues continue to decline in Oradell along with construction fees, the borough will face an even tougher budget year in 2013. But for now, the Mayor and Council unanimously approved the $13,508,603 budget for the remainder of 2012 on Wednesday night. The $13.5 million budget calls for a $10,592,710 tax levy to be raised while facing an increasing number of delinquent taxes. Approximately $456,217 is being set aside in a reserve for uncollected taxes; Oradell will also hold a tax sale for the 15 properties that have not paid. "Construction fees are down and we've had a large increase in delinquent taxes due to the continued sour economy," Councilman Garrie Murphy said. "There was also an increase to the BCUA due to an …
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Average home will see a $167 increase for the 2012 municipal budget
With decreases in revenue and an increase in delinquent taxes, Oradell was faced with a difficult budget season but finally introduced is 2012 Municipal budget on Tuesday night. The $13.53 million budget calls for a $10.59 million tax levy which falls at the state mandated 2% tax levy cap. "This was a very difficult budget year with many factors contributing to the difficulty," Councilman Garrie Murphy said. Murphy is chair of the finance committee. "We had a $400,000 shortfall between revenue and expenses that needed to be addressed." Among the lack of revenue issues Oradell has faced is a prior problem where neither Emerson or Haworith paid their sewer fees to the borough. Oradell serves as the lead agent for all three boroughs. On …
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Shortfalls in revenue and payment of delinquent taxes are complicating the Oradell budget process
Coming in under the state mandated 2% tax levy cap may have been the easiest thing so far for the Borough of Oradell as work continues on the 2012 municipal budget. Currently, the governing body is looking at a budget that comes a mere $165 under cap but is facing several unknowns including how many delinquent taxes they could be facing. "The biggest unknown to this budget is the delinquent taxes that are owed," Chuck Ferraioli, the borough's auditor said. "The borough could do a tax sale to force the 2011 payments, but could end up in the same spot going forward if they don't pay the 2012 bill." According to Ferraioli, Oradell is facing $595,385 in delinquent taxes from 2011 and 2012, but that the tax collector is still working to verify …
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
River Edge-based Neighbors Helping Neighbors was potentially facing losing their meeting location
Over the weekend, the River Edge Mayor and Council were inundated at Borough Hall during their budget discussion by members of the Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NHN) job-seekers and networking group. The governing body and its citizen budget committee discussed a $46,000 budget cut to the public library's budget based on moving the building's utilities and employee insurance under the state mandated formula of a third of a mil. The final decision was pending on Borough Attorney Saverio Cereste's legal opinion on whether the libraries utilities and insurance costs should be included in the state mandated formula of a third of a mil. The borough's contribution to the library is 33 cents on each $1000 of assessed value per residence. By state …
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River Edge Public Library
685 Elm Ave, River Edge, NJ
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Monday, February 27, 2012
New referendum could appear on November ballot
With only a little over $22,000 remaining in the River Edge Open Space Trust Fund, six groups will receive the last of the available tax money towards the maintenance of the borough's parks. The funding would be as follows: $10,000 to the Recreation Commission, $7,000 to the DPW, $2,000 to the Beautification Committee, and $1,000 each to the Shade Tree Commission, 9/11 Memorial and Environmental Committee. The majority of funding to Recreation will be used toward park attendant Carl Etter's salary as he is tasked with walking the parks and notifying officials of any damage to helping clean the area. This would be the first year for the Beautification Committee to receive any funding because for the previous two years, the bulk of the Open …
Following news of massive budget cuts to the library, River Edge resident Matthew Fugazzie issues a plea on behalf of the River Edge Public Library
- OPINION
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Monday, February 27, 2012
For a long time, I believed that a library was simply a nicer way of saying that it was a graveyard for unwanted books; a place to store away all those musty, outdated tomes, and ensure that they couldn’t contaminate the latest “Stephen King” novel or “Harry Potter” sequel with their crusty, yellowed pages and dust jackets covered in actual dust. However, my eyes were finally opened to the truth about a year ago, and I discovered just how incredible our town library actually is – and you don’t even have to pay a membership fee every month in order to join! I’m sure everybody has their own story of what the library means to them, but for my family and I, it became a sanctuary where we could go to escape the insanity of our daily schedules…
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River Edge Public Library
685 Elm Ave, River Edge, NJ
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Saturday, February 25, 2012
The Public Library, which presented a reduced budget from 2011, is now being asked for additional cuts and to cover their own utilities
Cries and pleas by residents, members of the Library Board and Library employees (past and present) echoed throughout the meeting room of Borough Hall in River Edge Saturday morning as the governing body and the citizen's budget committee discussed $46,000 in additional cuts to the River Edge Public Library budget for 2012. "As a resident I have the priviledge of working at the library since 2008," Adult services librarian Jennifer Kelemen said. "I saw all the wonderful things the library does for children and adults with concerts, speakers, movies, ESL tutoring. But then in 2010 my hours were reduced from 20 hours to 10 hours per week and residents ask what happened to the adult programs but my hands are tied. For many of us this is our …
MICHAEL R. HOOCK
10:06 am on Friday, November 2, 2012
I was just going to post that. Then I came upon your blog. EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING. more ›